du customers claim they have been hit with "unfair" charges after using their phones abroad over the holidays. Sarah Dea / The National
du customers claim they have been hit with "unfair" charges after using their phones abroad over the holidays. Sarah Dea / The National
du customers claim they have been hit with "unfair" charges after using their phones abroad over the holidays. Sarah Dea / The National
du customers claim they have been hit with "unfair" charges after using their phones abroad over the holidays. Sarah Dea / The National

Du cancels huge charges after 'bill shock' for returning UAE holidaymakers


Gillian Duncan
  • English
  • Arabic

Telecoms provider du has waived the phone bills of a number of holidaymakers who returned to find they had charges totalling tens of thousands of dirhams.

The company cancelled the charges of at least two customers The National spoke to in recent days for Dh6,000 and Dh30,000 respectively, citing a glitch in both instances.

Many more customers took to social media to say they arrived back in the UAE after the Christmas period with bills of between Dh7,000 and Dh15,000.

In each case they claimed they used their UAE sim card for calls or data for a matter of minutes, though that could not be verified.

But regulations set out by the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency in 2016 ensure that du and Etisalat customers' use of data must be capped to prevent 'bill shock'. That does not extend to cellular mobile phone calls. Customers are generally encouraged to set an overspend limit themselves, for example, of Dh100.

Georgina Evans, 25, arrived in the UAE on Sunday night after a five-day trip to the UK to discover du had cut her phone off as the result of what she discovered was a Dh30,000 bill.

"My phone was saying it was out of service and that my bill was Dh0.00, so I thought it was telling me that I hadn't gone over [my monthly bill charge]," Ms Evans told The National.

“Then I called du and the woman on the phone said I had been cut off because I owed Dh30,000. I was like, ‘what?’. I felt sick.”

Ms Evans said she ran up the charge, thought to be for data use, because she switched her phone on two or three times for five or 10 minutes at the most each time.

After phoning du to challenge the charge, she was initially told she could not raise an official complaint until her next bill was generated.

Du has since cancelled the charge, blaming it on an online glitch in a phone call, she said.

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Read more:

Peter Nowak: High-cost mobile wireless is a shared cultural issue

Du waives a Dh65,000 charge to cancel a three-minute phone contract

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Emma Harvey, 43, also from the UK, had her phone cut off as a result of a bill for more than Dh6,000, which she claims was generated while she was using free wifi during a flight to the UK and her phone’s data connection was disabled.

“I have lived in Dubai for over 10 years. I travel and I know how phones work when I go overseas, so I am always very vigilant in making sure my phone isn’t connected to data,” said Ms Harvey.

She phoned the telecoms company for an explanation and was told, like Ms Evans, that she could not be given any more information about the charge or challenge it until the bill is generated in January.

So she visited a du shop with a friend and a manager there called the billing team on Skype, who then showed her details of the charges.

“It showed that within the space of about six minutes, Dh6,337 had been charged to my mobile phone account. I was just over half way to the UK during the same period,” she said.

Efforts to cancel the charge were initially unsuccessful but du has now told Ms Harvey the charge will be waived when her next bill is generated.

A number of du customers on Facebook said they had been cut off and worry it is because they have racked up substantial bills.

“This was me,” one wrote.

“We’re still in the UK, and they’ve said we can’t do anything until [January] 6th, which is when our bill is due. Seems it’s happened to a lot of people!!!!”

Another said he had "returned from the UK with a 5000 aed bill which has lead to my mobile services being disconnected. I am in exactly the same position where I cannot raise a complaint until the next bill is issued".

Another Facebook user said: "I have had the same - arriving in UK from Dubai to find my service disconnected due to a whopping and unexplainable Dh7,000 charge emerging overnight. The du staff can't explain what's gone on until the generation of the next invoice."

Du confirmed that the cases of Ms Evans and Ms Harvey have been resolved but would not comment further.

A call centre representative further explained that bill caps are imposed on postpaid account holders once they reached a certain credit limit, which was decided by a “number of factors” and varies between customers.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20Mother%20
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How being social media savvy can improve your well being

Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.

As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.

Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.

Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.

Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.

However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.

“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.

People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

Teenage%20Mutant%20Ninja%20Turtles%3A%20Shredder's%20Revenge
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The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Under 19 World Cup

Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka

Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies

Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe

Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE

 

UAE fixtures

Saturday, January 18, v Canada

Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan

Saturday, January 25, v South Africa

Closing the loophole on sugary drinks

As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.

The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.

Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.

Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
 

Not taxed:

Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.

Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:

1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition