Gulf News has traditionally tackled all reader-related consumer complaints. It is a customer service that we have offered over the years.
However, several factors have changed including the size of the readership and the number of businesses in the country.
As both escalate at a fast pace, we have decided to evaluate our consumer complaint policy and make the necessary alterations that reflect the changing environment in the country.
1. The Reader’s Desk will tackle consumer complaints that are related to organisations/companies that offer a public service such as telecom providers, banks, housing, health sector and government departments including the municipal bodies, water and electricity boards, roads and transport authority and other emergency services.
1.1 All other consumer complaints will not be entertained.
1.2 Gulf News reserves the right to reject a complaint at any stage of the process. The reader will be informed of this at the beginning of the procedure.
1.3 A consumer complaint related to the sectors covered as detailed in paragraph 1 would first be evaluated for the Nation section, if they could pursue it as a “Reader Complaint” article.
1.4 If not, it will then be appraised to see if the response/result would be of service/value to a larger reader base.
1.5 If yes, the following procedure will be put into action:
The reader will be contacted and asked to fill in a form with the following details —
Identify the business/organisation:
• The name and current address of the business.
• The phone numbers and name/s of the people you contacted.
Describe the problem:
• What is the problem?
• Were you told something that was untrue?
• Describe what you were told and how it was untrue.
• Explain what is wrong.
Your information:
• Name
• Address
• Telephone numbers
• Are you a Gulf News subscriber?
2. If the reader is not a Gulf News subscriber, we will only pursue the complaint if it is of high value to our readers when published. Otherwise the reader will be informed that we cannot pursue it.
3. Procedure for tackling a consumer complaint:
• Once the form is filled and returned, a complaint letter will be sent to the organisation/business with the details.
• The company/organisation has the right to get in touch with the complainee to resolve the matter directly. A reader can withdraw his or her complaint if satisfied, but we would need this confirmation in written format from the company/organisation.
• It will be first sent to the manager or the company's customer service representative. Most problems should be resolved at this level.
3. 1 After two reminders, each one 10 days apart, if there is still no response, the head of the company could be contacted. But, this is optional and dependent on whether the complaint is worth being pursued further.
4. For complaints that we cannot tackle, we would advice the reader to file it with the Economic Department or a consumer service body.
