Recharging  misery
Dear Sir,
After seeing an advertisement that “Now you can recharge your Karwa bus card through Ooredoo machines”, I tried it but the experience has been quite disappointing.
An error message appeared on the Ooredoo machine’s screen when I attempted to recharge my bus card.  But money was still deducted from my account. When I approached the Karwa operator Mowasalat for refund, I was told to contact Ooredoo directly.
I then called 111 to make a complaint but was kept waiting for around 20 minutes. All the while I was told to keep holding as “your call is important to us”.  But what about the poor customers’ time, I wanted to ask.  Isn’t that important for those manning the complaint desk?
Finally, someone answered and registered my complaint. I was told that “someone will contact you”.
The recharge attempt happened on July 3 and I got a reply from Ooredoo after 34 days that they had not received any money from my account! But I did not give up.  After getting the authentication reference number from my bank for the funds withdrawn, I approached Ooredoo once again and they were finally ready to pay back the amount, but without expressing any regrets. I think, expressing regrets to the customer may be against the company policy.
I started communicating with them from July 3, repeatedly sending e-mails referring each one as “A gentle reminder”. Within 37 days, I must have sent several e-mails regarding the subject. I also consulted with an advocate about the possibility of initiating legal action, spending a lot of time and money in the process. In situations like these, what else can we expatriates do?
Finally, after 37 days, I am happy to report that I have got the money back. Kudos to the Ooredoo team!
I don’t want to say that the system is inadequate. But if you take up offers like these published in advertisements from utility companies or other establishments, please keep in mind that if anything goes wrong,  you should have a lot of time to chase it up.
But my case proves that people will not lose their money; you will have to pursue the case relentlessly though, as I did!

Kassim Valiyakath
(e-mail address supplied)