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du recalls faulty recharge cards

By Sajila Saseendran DUBAI - du , the UAE's second largest telecom operator, has recalled a large number of its 'Pay As You Go' (prepaid) cards due to a printing defect that results in the top-up codes getting erased when customers scratch the silver panel. The company has also promised to replace defective cards already bought by its customers.

Khaleej Times raised the issue with du after receiving complaints from many supermarkets and groceries that customers were asking for a refund or a replacement of du prepaid cards which reported a manufacturing defect.

Aboobacker Cheruvangote, Manager of Al Madina Supermarket Group, said customers' complaints pea-ked over the last fortnight which indicated that the problem was with the new batch of the cards.

"One customer was so angry and upset that he could not recharge the phone when he was heading to the airport. As some others had also complained, I personally visited the customer service centre of du in Bur Dubai where officials admitted that it was a manufacturing defect," he said.

Retailers said they started advising customers to "scratch with care" as overly scratching the silver panel on the card could result in the 15-digit top-up code also getting erased. Many of them also switched to the 'open cards' (the ones printed in the form of bills).

"You can't top up the card if even one digit in the code goes missing. We cannot do anything but tell the customers to approach du for refund," said Saithalavi of Alavi General Trading. After a thorough investigation, du 's Corporate Communication Vice-president Luma Jasim on Tuesday informed KT that the company was in the process of recalling a large number of defective cards.

"We want the customers to know about this issue at the earliest. So, we are issuing a media statement about this," she said.

The statement said most of such cards had been withdrawn from stores around the UAE and replaced with fresh stocks. "However some customers may have already purchased in the past few days and may have the cards ready for topping up their mobile. Customers holding such cards can get a replacement from a number of our premium dealers (Axiom Telecom, One Mobile, Fono, Eros, Digital Home, Jumbo Electronics, Sharaf DG) or any du store, bringing with them the original card, or by simply calling our call centre for free by dialing 155 or 055 5678155," it said.

Jasim said there were 41 du shops and 150 partner shops from where the customers could avail the exchange option. "They can call our call centre anytime as it works 24x7," she noted. The shop locations can be had from the call centre or by visiting the link: http://www. du .ae/en/about/dushop.

In the statement, du said its call centre teams were able to recognise the faulty cards based on the scratch card's serial number and would apply the recharge onto the customer's account. Apologising for the inconvenience experienced by its customers, du assured that it was taking "this matter with utmost seriousness with our suppliers to prevent any inconvenience in the future'.

du 's WoW prepaid cards are printed in the denominations of Dhs20, Dhs50, Dhs100 and Dhs200. However, it was not immediately known if these cards were affected.

© Khaleej Times 2011