By Bampia James Bundu
Dozens of Ecobank customers have expressed frustration over what they described as poor customer care service rendered by the bank for weeks running.
Speaking to Politico, Alimamy Dumbuya, a customer, described a new procedure set by the bank as “slow and corrupt.” He said because of the new system customers now sit under “a hot canopy” whiles waiting for a cashier to call out their numbers.
He said that and many more challenges were being faced by clients of the bank for the past weeks. He said they also have had to spend long hours in queues before they could even access their accounts. And this, according to Dumbuya, had been the case even before the Ebola epidemic.
Quite often than not, Dumbuya said that clients waiting to be attended to were not informed about problems relating to poor network, network failures, systems down, amongst others.
He called on the bank’s management to introduce more robust strategies to enable customers get their monies faster. He also pleaded with cashiers to start doing their jobs more effectively. “We have other things to do and we wouldn’t like to spend half of the day inside a banking hall,” he said.
Another Ecobank client, a business woman, Aminata Fofanah, explained to Politico that the bank`s ATM machine hardly worked on weekends, especially Sundays. She said many account holders depended on the ATM machines for rapid access to cash to run their homes on weekends. She said an ATM machine worked faster and easier but that the problems they have been facing with the system at the Ecobank has made life difficult.
Fofanah also complained about unfair treatment by the guard at the entrance, whom she said normally let in people to enter the bank without collecting ticket or standing in queues. She urged the bank to expand their branches so as to minimize the long queues in their few branches.
Head of Domestic Banking at Ecobank, Isha Sheriff, acknowledged the fact that there had indeed been some delays for the past few weeks, but said that that was due to the closure of their Siaka Stevens Street Branch.
She explained that the branch had to close down because they got a quit notice from the government. She added that they had to refer all customers holding accounts in that branch to the bank’s head office on Wilberforce Street, hence the problem with crowds.
Sheriff assured that they would soon resolve that problem as they were presently searching for a comfortable office space within central Freetown so as to relocate the already closed branch on Siaka Stevens Street.
Meanwhile, she said that the ATM machine that used to be at the now closed branch had been relocated to Total petrol station off Syke Street.
About clients waiting in the canopy, the Ecobank boss explained that they have provided a big canopy with chairs outside the banking hall in order to prevent customers from clustering together inside the hall as a way of preventing body contacts, inline with health ministry precautions against the spread of the Ebola virus.
Sheriff said the internet connectivity in the country had also been a serious challenge for the bank as they were using digital systems of operation. She said it was never in their interest to delay their customers, adding that they had been pilling pressure on their internet providers so as to ensure that the systems were up and running. She called on the government to fast track the installation of the fiber optic and in order to enhance fast and widespread access to internet.
“We prioritize our customers and their satisfaction is always our goal.” Fofanah said.
She encouraged customers to make use of the ATM machines, noting that that would help reduce the over crowing in the banking halls. She said customers that wished to withdraw monies could also do so easily.
“We can boast of 19 updated and standard ATM machines across the country, and we want customers to make use of them. We believe in making our customers comfortable,” she said.
She also encouraged their clients to make use of the bank’s other branches, pointing out that many customers leave even nearer branches to go all the way to the headquarter just to check account balances, which she added, could be done in all of their branches.
© Politico 05/02/15
