The Nation Newspaper

Tag: customers

  • Oxford rewards workers,gives plot of land to customers

    Oxford rewards workers,gives plot of land to customers

    Oxford Commercial Services International Limited has given awards to 13 members of its staff for their dedication and committment.

    Some of the awardees are: the Managing Director, Teni Adesanya, who won the Leadership Award; Head of Operation, Mr. Oti (Jonathan Business Leadership); Public Relations Officer, Mr. Lesli Ademola (Perfect Presence); Mr. Bayo Egbetokun (Excellence Award); Kunle Adesanya (Manager of the Year) and a host of others.

    At the ceremony, which held at Havanna Hotels and Suit, Egbeda, Lagos , recently,the firm also gave  out a free plot of land to one of its customers, Mrs. Akinbode Olajumoke, who won a raffle draw organised by the company to mark its first year anniversary.

    Apart from the free plot of land, located at Atan-Ota, Ogun State, with  receipt number 457, the outfit also gave out discounts ranging from 25 to 75 per cent as well as consolation prizes.

    When The Nation Shopping spoke with some of the winners, they expressed their gratitude to God and to Oxford Commercial Services.

    For instance, Mrs. Lateefat Abasi, who won a 50 per cent discount, expressed  gratitude to the company’s management. She said played the lottery with N1000 she borrowed from her friend, Mrs. Funmilayo Daudu.

    She said: “I’m so happy because I wasn’t expecting it. That is why it is good to be optimistic. It was my friend that lent me N1, 000  to subscribe for the land because I didn’t have enough money. I subscribed for half plot at Ewekoro, which costs N200,000 but now I will be paying N150,000.

    “It was Mrs. Toyin Adebayo, a staff of Oxford that spoke about the land promo to me yesterday and I just decided to come see how its being done,” she said.

    She said; “When Obatunde, a staff of Oxford, spoke about the land promo, some people said it was a scam. But I only came to see by myself if it’s real. I subscribed for Atan-Ota half plot worth of N175, 000 but now I will be given a full plot that cost N250, 000,” she said.

    Speaking at the ceremony, the firm’s Managing Director, Mr. Adesanya, said that the anniversary also coincided with the launch of its Oxford Flexy Housing Scheme.

    “The Oxford Flexy will give you opportunity to complete your payment in five years and allocation will be given to you immediately you pay your first instalment,” he explained.

  • Keystone Bank to satisfy customers with new campaign

    Keystone Bank to satisfy customers with new campaign

    Keystone Bank said  it is committed to delivering unparalleled products and services to its customers, with the recent launch of its new brand campaign, tagged: ‘I Bank with Keystone Bank.’

    The lender said in a statement that the campaign is geared towards creating awareness for the corporate brand and positioning Keystone Bank as a partner and enabler that supports customers to achieve their goals through opportunities made available by the bank.

    The bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO, Obeahon Ohiwerei, while speaking at start of the campaign, said with the new focus and drive within the bank, “we believe it is imperative for us to re-affirm our commitment to our stakeholders and to highlight the positive strides that we are taking in order to inspire confidence in our customers.

    “Every business requires a steady hand that lends the right kind of support and every year, Keystone Bank helps thousands of business people achieve their goals, with consistent commitment to quality service. This is one major factor we wish to showcase with this campaign.”

    Ohiwerei said Keystone Bank is a technology and service-driven commercial bank, offering tailor-made convenient and reliable solutions to customers’ needs.

  • Banking with tears … Tales from e-payment customers

    Banking with tears … Tales from e-payment customers

    Bank customers are embracing e-payment channels, given their speed and cost-saving benefits. But the gains of digital banking are turning into pains and outright loss of funds for many. The rising cases of e-fraud, insider abuses and poor quality of service are frustrating those using alternative banking channels, such as Point of Sale (PoS), Automated Teller Machines (ATM) cards and  mobile banking Apps. COLLINS NWEZE captures the experiences of some customers. 

    Despite getting more interesting by the day, banking has its pains and shortcomings. Think of cell phone-based banking which is getting transactions done within seconds and bringing millions of the unbanked people into the mainstream financial system.

    Transactions in the banking halls had dropped by 25 per cent in the last one year, as more customers embrace e-payment. But, mobile banking and many e-payment channels have brought pains and tears to bank customers.

    One of such customers is Mrs. Idongesit Umoh, who operates a company account with Diamond Bank Plc. She lost N2.1 million within 30 minutes to fraudsters.

    Mrs. Umoh, an entrepreneur and Managing Director of Idong Harrie Limited, is currently at war with her lender, Diamond Bank Plc. She is seeking a full refund of the money to save her footwear business from collapse.

    Although the bank has unmasked the identities of the fraudsters through their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), recovering the fraud proceeds has been stalled since June 7, when the incident occurred.

    Mrs. Umoh said of his ordeal: “I run a micro small business called Idong Harrie Limited. We manufacture and retail handmade footwear and accessories using genuine leather and African fabrics for men, women and children. A few months ago, I got shortlisted by the Mandela Washington Fellowship as one of the 101 outstanding young leaders in Nigeria to undergo six-week training in the United States (U.S.). I decided to go to my bank – Diamond Bank Plc – to request for Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) for the trip.”

    The customer said she wanted to request for $400 PTA but a bank official suggested she request for $3,000, which she did to enable her make some purchases for her factory while in the U.S.

    On the fateful day, Mrs. transferred N1.5 million to her account with the Diamond Bank to enable her secure the PTA. She was told that her password was invalid while trying to log in to her Diamond Bank Mobile App. The failure of the second attempt prompted her to contact the bank official who advised her to re-activate her Mobile App.

    It was in that process that her password was requested, and when she supplied it, the password was for the second time declared invalid. At that point, the customer was further advised by phone by a bank staff to visit the bank’s branch.

    Unfortunately, less than five minutes after the call, she got a text message. Umoh narrated: “When I checked, it was a Diamond Bank message showing a N100, 000 transaction. I assumed it was a payment from a customer, which I was expecting. I then instructed my workers to start work on the customer’s order in the assumption that she had paid. A few seconds later, more texts came in and I saw they were still from Diamond Bank.

    “I noticed that the texts were debit alerts and the names coming with them were strange. I said to myself that if Diamond Bank wanted to debit the money for the PTA, they won’t do so in tranches.

    It immediately occurred to me that my account had been hacked, and I called the customer service, while simultaneously rushing to the bank.”

    Continuing, she said: “I got through to customer care and instructed them to block my account. I was in the banking hall when more debit alerts kept coming in, and all attempt to get the customer service officer to block my account and stop further debits failed.

    “My account was cleared of N2.1 million within 30 minutes. Since June, I have been going back and forth with the bank over this issue. In July, they refunded N668, 000 and closed the case. I was shocked at how unconcerned they were about my situation,” she stated.

    Mrs. Umoh said the bank has refused to take responsibility for the fraud, prompting her to seek legal redress. She claimed not to be an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card user and that her cheque book was locked up safe and her token secured as at the time of the incidence.

    She said: “I didn’t click on any suspicious link like the bank has claimed. I always go to the bank or call customer care if I had any issue with my banking transactions. No one knew of the transaction I was making in relation to the PTA procurement except the bank officials handling the transaction. How can I put money in a bank and the next day it is gone,” she lamented to The Nation.

     

    Independent findings

     When contacted, Diamond Bank Plc said it will not comment on a matter that is already in court. But independent investigations from an insider in the bank who pleaded for anonymity, confirmed Mrs. Umoh operates an account with the Onikan branch of the bank.

    The source also confirmed that the customer had in June, tried to log on Mobile App but her password was declined. The sources also confirmed that Mrs. Umoh called the bank’s Contact Centre and was advised to visit the branch for password reset, but only visited the next day.

    “Umoh said she noticed a message on her phone but did not bother to check as she was busy, but got worried when alerts kept dropping on her phone. She then tried calling the Contact Centre on her way to the Ogunlana Branch, Surulere, Lagos. And the alert kept coming even while she was on her way to the branch. When she got to the branch, she lodged her complaint but unfortunately all funds had been fraudulently moved before the staff could block the accounts,” the source said.

    Further investigations showed that the customer was later called by the bank on June 8 to confirm what happened. The lender promised to investigate and recover the funds.

    The source narrated: “The complaint was investigated on June 8, 2017 and concluded on July 10, 2017 but the recommendations were only sent to the branch July 17, 2017 for implementation. The customer was advised the next day.

    “The bank found out that the customer compromised her login details –Personal Identification Number (PIN) during a device change. However, during customer’s visit to the branch, she confirmed that she received registration codes on her mobile phone. The customer was advised via a letter dated July 18, 2017 of the outcome of the investigation and also that the bank was able to secure funds moved to other accounts in the bank over N600, 000 and this was to be credited to the customer’s account.

    “The bank also informed the customer by writing that some other monies were being traced at other banks while the investigation continues. This letter was received and acknowledged by her relative as she was out of the country and sent to her via email as requested seeing she was out of town at that time”.

    The source went on: “the bank had a meeting with the customer in the third week of August during which she insisted that she did not compromise her login details alleging that the insider, who had advised her to buy $3,000 PTA, could have connived with fraudsters to defraud her.”

    On the step taken after the latest claim on PTA purchase, the source said: “We carried out a second level investigation on this and confirmed that the teller or the bank is not liable. The customer was verbally informed of the second investigation outcome and she threatened to use other means to recover the funds, insisting that the bank was to refund her entire money.

    “The bank called the customer first week in September, to inform her that efforts were still being made to get the funds transferred from other banks that they were able to hold. She requested for the details of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries’ names and amounts transferred were given to her.

    “The bank called the customer again between the last week in August and the second week in September, 2017 to provide updates on the recovered funds and she said that the bank should be able to track down the other beneficiaries at-large using their BVNs as they are not ‘ghosts’.

    “She was assured that the matter was not over and the bank would continue to trace and work with the authorities to recover what they could. She gave the bank an ultimatum that she would go ahead with legal action on the bank if her funds were not returned completely by mid-October. The matter is now in court. She served the bank legal papers on the 14th of September, 2017 and as such, the bank could not make an official statement at this time as it would be sub judice,” the source disclosed.

    Another Lagos-based bank customer, Sanya Oni, who was debited N10, 000 twice for a single transaction by FirstBank took his complaints to the Consumer Protection Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after the Tier-1 lender failed to resolve the matter.

    A copy of a letter to the CBN unit, which was received by Mohammed Maryam Ndume, was sighted by The Nation. FirstBank was also copied in the mail. The customer wrote: “After series of representations to operatives of the First Bank of Nigeria to no effect, I am constrained to formally report to the apex monetary authority on my travails with FirstBank in the course of a routine PoS (Point of Sale) transaction.

    “On Tuesday, October 10, 2017, I attempted to reload my electricity pre-paid meter (Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company) via my ATM card in the sum of N10, 000.  I could not get through as the payment machine returned ‘transaction declined’ message. Nonetheless, I got a Short Message Service (SMS) alert on my FirstBank account showing my account had been debited. The transaction finally sailed through on a second trial the next day. Unfortunately, every effort made to get the bank to reverse the value of the abortive transaction done the day earlier has met with frustrations.”

    According to Oni, the bank gave him conflicting information on time of resolution, and has failed to reverse the transaction till date.

    Responding, the customer Complaints Unit, FirstBank, in an emailed report, acknowledged receipt of the complaint, which has been ‘lodged through the appropriate channels against the acquirer’.

    It said: “Enquires show that the disputed transaction was successfully processed from FirstBank to the distribution company and further investigation based on your insistence, a further inquiry was made and was declined by the distribution company with the attached receipt as proof. Seeing that you carried out the same transaction on October 12, 2017, we will investigate this with the acquirer and provide feedback within 10 working days’.

    Unfortunately, the complaint is yet to be resolved over one month after the transaction was done.

    Michael Azuka, an Abuja-based businessman lost N200, 000 in one day to fraudsters. The incidence occurred in mid-February after he activated his internet banking platform, obtained a token, chose a password. Until the disaster struck, all his transactions, including bills payment, cash transfers, and balance enquiries, among others, were done via mobile banking.

    “I kept receiving text messages of multiple debits from my bank. The first was N50, 000 followed by another N100, 000 and finally N50, 000 alerts. These happened within two hours and all the calls to my bank to stop the fraudsters were not answered,” he explained.

     

    •To be continued

  • Fidelity Bank to reward customers

    Fidelity Bank Plc is set to reward loyal customers at the 2017 Lagos International Trade Fair holding at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.

    As part of the financial institution’s ongoing loyalty scheme for its teeming retail customers, 10 lucky beneficiaries – 5 FPSS account holders and 5 SWEETA account holders – will be presented with cheques of N500, 000 extra income and N150, 000 school fees support respectively. The amount totaling N3, 250, 000 will be given out on the Fidelity Special Day at the fair, taking place on Wednesday November 8, 2017.

    “There is always a reward for banking with Fidelity”, said Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo. He urged Nigerians to take advantage of the bank’s customer loyalty and rewards system which ensures that customers benefit immensely.

    In addition to giving out monies in its customer loyalty and rewards system, Fidelity Bank is providing free business and financial advisory services to SME operators at the fair in demonstration of its long-standing commitment to supporting small and medium enterprises in Nigeria.

    “The Fidelity SME Advisory clinic at the Fair is anchored by a crop of qualified SME Business Advisors whose mandate is to help SMEs address challenges associated with setting up and running a growing business in Nigeria” he stated.

  • Marketers warned against short-changing customers

    Fuel marketers should desist from any act capable of short-changing their customers, else they lose them (customers), former Managing Director, Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Sam Okeke, has said.

    The development, he said, became necessary in view of the untoward practices in recent times among owners and operators of fuel stations in the country.

    Speaking at the opening of a mega station built by Emadeb Energy Services Limited in Lagos, Okeke said short-changing motorists and other petroleum products’ users affected operators in the downstream sub-secto. He urged operators, who engage in such criminal activities, to stop or lose their market to other competitors in the sector.

    According to him, marketers do not have to be greedy before they survive in the sector, emphasising that quality service is key to sustaining customers’ confidence.

    Okeke said:“No operator can survive through exploitation of unsuspecting customers in the sector, especially at the retail end of the market. By exploitation of customers, I’m talking about the issue of short-changing the customers by owners of fuel retail outlets across the country.”

    He noted that Federal Government-owned agencies such as Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), PPMC and others, have frowned at the issue of short-changing people by marketers in recent times.

    The DPR, Okeke said, has clamped down on retail outlets that engaged in such unwholesome practices to serve as deterrents to others.

    “During my tenure as PPMC’s Managing Director, I laid emphasis on quality of the services provided by operators in the downstream sector. I spoke about quality service delivery a lot and through the advocacy programme initiated by the PPMC, we were able to know operators, who allow ethical standards to guide their operations. I’m, therefore, not surprised to see the landmark achievements recorded by Emadeb Energy Services Limited, especially in the area of diversifying to retail business,” he added.

    Okeke advised downstream operators, especially owners of retail outlets to stand out by not seeking outrageous margins, which according to him, will ultimately destroy their businesses.

    He said a market-dictated margin should be the focus of marketers, if they want to succeed in the market.

    The sub-sector has witnessed several cases of sharp, especially manipulation of fuel pumps by marketers. Motorists have complained about the ways they were being defrauded by marketers, who use measurements that have been tampered with to sell fuel to them.

    Former President, Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE), Prof Wunmi Iledare, had called for proper calibration and adjustment of pump prices to the pricing template of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), and market dictated margin.

  • ATM charges: Report banks to us, CBN tells customers

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged customers to promptly report unnecessary charges by any commercial bank especially on transactions carried out through the automated teller machine (ATM) to the apex bank.

    CBN’s Director Monetary Policy, Moses Tule, assured the apex bank has the means to sanction any bank found imposing unnecessary charges on innocent citizens.

    He however said such sanctions will follow if only the affected customers draw attention of the CBN to such frauds through formal report.

    Tule spoke in Jos while delivering a public lecture on “Monetary policy at uncertain time”.

    He said: “The CBN considered it fraud the act by commercial banks to exploit innocent customers through unnecessary charges.”

    A student of the University of Jos has asked during the question and answer session after the public lecture why the CBN is not doing anything to stop unnecessary charges by banks each time customers withdraw cash through ATM.

    The student complained he was aware charges on ATM transaction can only be done after the third withdrawals but had noticed N65 charge is often deducted from his account at first withdrawal.

  • Gunmen attack warehouse, rob customers of million of naira

    Gunmen attack warehouse, rob customers of million of naira

    Gunmen numbering six have reportedly attacked and robbed a clothing warehouse located at Ehi road in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia State.

    Sources within the area who spoke to our reporter on Tuesday said that the gunmen made away with over N1million from the owner of the facility and customers who had come to purchase goods from the dealer.

    A source that simply identified himself as Kelechi told our reporter on Tuesday that the gunmen who came in two commercial tricycles struck at about 2pm on Monday while many customers were making payment for the goods that they have selected.

    Narrating the incident Kelechi said “The owner of the warehouse offloaded his goods at the weekend and normally, people will come to buy from him. About 2pm on Monday while people were making payment for the goods that they have selected, some guys numbering 6 in two commercial tricycles alighted from the tricycle.

    “Nobody suspected them because everywhere was busy as many people were paying for goods while others were making arrangements on how they will convey the goods that they have paid to their shops. As the young men in their late twenties and may be early thirties approached the entrance of the building some people who saw them thought that they were members of one of the security agencies who come to collect royalties like it has been the system.

    “It however dawned on them that the guys were the unfriendly ones when they asked the people to lie down and face the floor pointing guns at them. They collected the women’s handbags and asked others to hand over to them all the monies that they have.

    “The victims including the owner of the warehouse complied and handed over to them, the monies that they have and released gun shots into the air before they drove off. It was at that point that passersby and neighbours became aware of what happened.

    “I guess that these guys were the same syndicate that robbed a warehouse at St. Michael’s roads in a similar way just that unlike the St. Michael’s warehouse robbery, they didn’t shoot at any person. But the style of their operation is the same as they use commercial tricycle in apparent move to beat police, army and other security operatives.”

    When our remoter contacted the Abia State Command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Geoffrey Ogbonna, he said that the matter was not yet reported at the police station.

    Ogbonna however, urged members of the public to report such matter to the nearest police station for prompt action, stressing that the police was ready to fight and nip crime in the bud in the state with the collaboration of personnel of sister agencies.

  • Infinix mobility rewards customers with home appliances

    Infinix mobility rewards customers with home appliances

    Infinix mobility has rewarded 15 Infinix ‘Note 4 and Note 4 pro customers’ at its just-concluded ‘Infinix Independence reward promotion’, as one way of appreciating its customers.

    ‘The Infinix independence reward promotion’, which ran for three weeks, bringing together customers from seven regions in the country as well as from online platforms, selected winners weekly, to win home appliances. The weekly raffle took place every Thursday during the promotion in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan. The selected customers from the weekly raffle who went home with synix standing fan are Ajisefinni Tawa; Mutui Abdusalam; Aderonke Modupe; Rosemary Richard; Victoria Susan; Daniel Mayan; Funsho from Region 2; Akande Funmilayo; Lateef Abiodun and Oyekanmi Biyi.

    For the grand raffle draw, Infinix selected five customers from region 1, 2, 4, 5 and online customers on Jumia. Each of the customers went home with 40-inch Synix Television set. They are: Amaechi Odika; Airenbuwa Kayode-Iyasere; LT T Sahabi; Alimi Nofisat and Yemi Peters.

    The presentation took place at the Infinix Nigeria office in Lagos, where gifts were presented to customers by a Celebrity and Entrepreneur, ‘Noble Igwe’.

  • Eunisell educates customers on engine lubricants and industrial fluids

    Eunisell Limited, a specialty fluids management company, organised a one-day technical training and seminar for lubricant additive customers, as part of its efforts to raise the participants’ technical awareness of the lubricant market to enable them have a better understanding of the link between engine design lubricant performance and knowledge of global trends especially in the downstream sector of the oil & gas industry. Currently in its 15th year, the seminar with the theme: “Advances and Trends in Automotive, Transmission, and Industrial Fluids” was held recently in Lagos.

    Speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer at Eunisell Limited, Ramesh Hullur, said the training has been designed to help participants gain cutting-edge knowledge on trends and developments in the automotive, transmission and industrial fluids market. “This training is essential and is meant to bring together professionals who are into blending of lubricants and other petroleum and allied products in Nigeria, with a view to bringing them up to speed with industry developments and technological breakthroughs that have led to the advancement of additives and lubricants in other parts of the world,” he said, adding that the seminar creates a veritable platform to access the latest information on specialty fluids, thereby enhancing application expertise.

    Chief Executive Officer of Eunisell International, Iain Fraser, who was also at the event, expressed the company’s determination to see Nigeria benefit from the development of the downstream sector while the participants are also empowered with quality knowledge. He said: “Nigeria must not be left out of the developments in the downstream sector; this is why we carry out such training for various organisations at no cost. We have done this every year for the past 15 years, empowering participants with the requisite knowledge to guarantee the production of top quality lubricants for automobiles and industries in Nigeria.”

  • Infinix to reward 21 customers at Independence

    Infinix to reward 21 customers at Independence

    Infinix Mobility is celebrating Nigeria @ 57 as the brand aims to reward 21 customers with ‘BIG’ gifts.

    The reward promo, which is ongoing, will end on September 28, with customers winning 14 standing fans and seven 43-inch television.

    Infinix introduced the Infinix independence reward for its customers and fans looking to purchase the Infinix Note 4 and Note 4 pro at any partner store in Nigeria.  The Infinix Note 4 is a bestseller all over Nigeria, the product features include a stylus ‘Xpen’, Xcharge, 4500MAH battery, XOS 2.2. It also guarantees users five minutes charge for 250 minutes talk time.

    The brand will appreciate Nigerians during the October 1, celebration with multiple raffle draws which will take place every Thursday in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Ibadan, for customers to win Synix standing fans among other gifts.

    The raffle draws will also be broadcast live on Infinix Nigeria’s Facebook page. The grand finale raffle draw will take place on October 3 for customers in deven cities to win seven  ’43 Inch Television sets. All winners will be announced on Infinix’s   Facebook page.