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Customers’ fleecing feared

But recently, when I bought another cylinder, I was asked to pay Dh45 by the delivery man who told me that the prices of gas have gone up again. I think this is illegal because the next time, they might again tell me that the price has risen by another Dh5, and in this way, they will make the cylinder’s price come back to Dh50. We do not have any proper information from the Sharjah’s Department of Economic Development regarding the issue. I feel many customers might be fleeced due to lack of proper information.”

Reply

ALI BIN Salim Al Mahmoud, Director-General of the Sharjah Department of Economic Development, said that the DED was following the issue of the continuous increase in the price of gas cylinders and was also holding meetings with officials of main gas companies to identify the reason for the problems and find suitable solutions. “The DED has coordinated with the main gas manufacturing companies to set up the price of the gas cylinders and ask gas distribution companies to sell the price determined by the DED.” The new prices will be announced by the DED on the sixth of next month and will be effective during the whole month until the new price is announced the following month.

Empost toll-free number difficult to get through

A COMPLAINANT, Sham, said it is frustrating to call up Empost’s toll-free number 8005858 to get some information on the status of his documents. I tried calling up the number from 10am to 12.30pm continuously yesterday, but the toll-free number kept ringing and if at all I was able to get through the number, I would have to wait indefinitely for a call agent to answer my queries. I understand that the lines are busy because of the innumerable services offered by Empost. But the authorities should understand our frustration. I understand the higher-ups are making all efforts to provide the public with better service, but the service organisations should be more cooperative to streamline their system and provide efficient service.

Reply

AN official at the Empost said he can understand the frustration of callers trying to call our toll-free numbers for information on their documents. Due to the inordinate rush on our telephone lines, Empost has undertaken a mammoth project to remove the hurdles. Very soon, such complaints against us will disappear once the Intra-Voice Response (IVR) service being installed by Empost becomes fully operational. The new service will remove all hurdles of waiting and getting through our call agents. Currently, the new system is being uploaded, and hopefully by the end of June, it will be functional, the official said. He explained that once the new system is installed, callers — a majority of whom call us up to enquire about the status of their documents — can choose the option and key in their reference number. The data on their document status will be available to the caller through the IVR service.

Wrong spelling of‘no entry’

ON a recent visit to the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone, a resident of the capital came across a ‘No Entry’ sign. He noticed that ‘No Entry’ was spelt incorrectly as ‘No Entery’.

Reply

KHALEEJ TIMES spoke to an official at the zone who seemed shocked to hear it. Mohammed Saeed Al Maskari, Deputy Manager for Administrative and Financial Affairs at the zone, said he issued instructions to the employee in charge to check whether this was true. “In case this turns out to be true, then we will immediately remove the signboard. Of course, we will if the word is spelt incorrectly.” Commenting, an Abu Dhabi-based British educationist said: “It is hoped that the spelling of schoolchildren in the emirate is better than that of the person who wrote the sign.”

Overcrowding of school buses and faulty ACs

A PARENT whose children study at the New Indian Model School, Dubai, complained that the overcrowding of buses has been a big problem at the school for the last couple of years. Every year, when parents complain about the issue, the school informs them that they are upgrading their bus fleet, and therefore, they should be given some time before the problem gets resolved. Besides overcrowding, the parent complained that sometimes his children are forced to travel in buses with faulty airconditioners. When we pay such high transportation fees, we expect some comforts for our children, he said.

Reply

A SOURCE at the school mentioned that they are definitely in the process of upgrading their fleet and adding more buses to solve the problem of overcrowding on some of its routes. For example, there is a bit of overcrowding on buses plying to the Rashidiya area because most families are moving to the area due to the increasing rents in other parts of Dubai.

Earlier, we had only one bus on this route, but now we have added another bus and a new bus purchased yesterday will now ply on this route, the source disclosed. He also urged parents who are complaining about overcrowding to highlight the specific routes, if any, that were faced with such a problem and not hesitate to bring it to the notice of the school which will make all efforts to solve the problem. About faulty ACs in buses, he said that because of high temperatures, the ACs do get ineffective and stop cooling, causing inconvenience to the children. But any such incident or complaint is dealt with immediately and the school undertakes to get it repaired to prevent any malfunctioning.

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