Background to the Report:
The unwarranted extortions of customers and wanton disservice by banks on many occasions are not new in Nigeria, being an integral part of the evil elements called Nigerian factors; perhaps because of the systemlessness of the country itself.
Daily deductions of customers’ hard-earned money by banks without any justification or explanation for such is now going out of hand. To worsen the case, it is the masses who are painfully at the receiving end in most cases as they are being impoverished the more by banks. Can you imagine a scenario where someone’s total savings is N2,200 and on getting to the ATM to withdraw N2,000, he was given the shock of his life when he got a report that he had an insufficient balance; checking the balance he saw N1,850 and there was nobody to give him the explanation of what had happened to N350?
How long will this mess continue unchecked? It seems nobody is looking in this direction of the broad daylight robbery by the banks, even government always have their ears corked at several complaints of the banks’ customers for illicit reasons best known to them. The reason Customers Action Forum (CUSTOMAF) was born!
This narrative of customers’ fund mismanagement is more grievous in the case of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) as it seems the bank has got different automated templates for different deductions, ranging from different unnamed taxes, to fund transfers without delivery to the beneficiaries. Well, in our usual way of presenting cases at CUSTOMAFcare, we will soon have the direct speech of a victim of this felonious act by GTB, in person of Prince Adebowale.
We capture and treat cases the same way at CUSTOMAFcare even when it happens as it is in this scenario which is a case of our own in-house person. Therefore, this case of Prince Adebowale who is one of our key stakeholders at CUSTOMAFcare, confirms an African factual saying that opines that all people should be treated equally well with no sentiment of visible status attachment as no one can tell which action or person will make or mar you.
From the Horse’s mouth:
Apart from different unaccountable deductions in my account virtually on daily basis with different unclarified tags like telco fee which everyone is already getting accustomed to, transfer or payment of funds is no more safe with GTB.
Telco fee is deducted each time there is an attempt to buy airtime from my network provider through the bank and whether sold or denied, the sum of N6.98 would be deducted as many times as such attempts are made. I have heard this happen to customer of other banks likewise, so everybody is getting adapted to the heinous misdemeanor.
This report is basically about two different recent fund transfers or payments I made without delivering to the beneficiaries and yet no reversal of the funds till date, even despite a physical presence in the bank hall to make an official report.
I made a payment of three thousand naira (N3,000) to IBEDC on 25th October, 2024 to purchase power (electricity units) but the money didn’t get delivered to the destination and yet my account was debited with the same amount. Some moment later on the same day, I got a reversal message on my phone but with no money credited to my account. It was on a Friday so I couldn’t access the bank during the weekend.
To actually have a justified and pursuable case to escalate, I visited the bank at Lagere, Ile-Ife the following Monday’s afternoon, precisely on 28th October 2024 where I joined a very long queue at the customers care service unit for over an hour, all because of lodging a complaint of N3,000 only! At the end of the day, the customer care person that attended to me, Mr. Oluwaseun by name (surname withheld for now), instructed me to go back downstairs to be attended to, where I also had to wait for my turn. The officer downstairs eventually checked his system and told me that my money had been paid back into my account going by the phantom reversal I earlier mentioned with nothing credited into my account. The officer who could not show me the money in my account, was not even ready to hear any defence but was convinced by the lie on his system which could be as a result of any mechanical or technical error on their part. I eventually left the bank disappointed after hours of fruitless standing on queue and merry-go-round within the bank hall all because of N3,000!
Feeling the pang of the cheating and the gross nonchalant attitude of the bank officials more the following day, I chatted up my account officer, in person of Ms Adenike (surname withheld for now) who responsively and responsibly attended to me, and promised to attend to the issue as soon as she got to the office. Unfortunately, that was the last response I had from her, all other contacts made to her were ignored. It was then I chatted her that I was going to explore an alternative arbitration which she also took as an empty threat as she didn’t even have a spare minute to engage me in a mutual discussion.
As if the punishment apportioned me by GTB was not yet fully served, I got another round of punishment on the 11th November, 2024, barely two weeks after one was served. I made another payment of three thousand naira (N3,000) for another utility but failed to deliver to the beneficiary which I later paid from another bank account of mine. Till the time of making this report, no reversal had been made by the bank for over two weeks now! I now begin to wonder how many “N3,000” from the already pained and economically crippled masses banks are eating up on daily basis with nobody to fight our cause, not even the government, nor the central bank, nor the SERVICOM or the Consumer Protection Commission! Hence, my resolution to come through the CUSTOMAFcare. Thank You.
Remark and Conclusion
Having heard or read directly from the horse’s mouth, we hereby take the case up officially and shall be escalated to the appropriate quarters as and when due. We give a respite of 48 working hours from the time of publication of any report for the concerned individual or organization to do the required needful after which the post will be escalated to the organization’s headquarters while the names withheld will therefore be mentioned and post will be made viral on all our social media and those of our associates’, and could be culminated with any possible legal tussle.
For any report relating to any form of maltreatment or abuse of customers by any institution or merchant, do well to contact us via our email: customafcare@gmail.com or visit our website to have full knowledge of CUSTOMAFcare – www.customafcare.com.
To join and be part of us is the best for us all to corporately move mountains and salvage situations of customers in the hand of all insensitive merchants together, all can be done on our website.
You are invited! No money attached, membership is FREE; no hard copy forms out there, everything is done via our website!