Ok, usual Kenyan tech trend, we love last minute hence usually taking the easiest and fastest route to our solutions. I have a $85 bill to pay online and normally, I use my Equity bank card and all is smooth. Today, I was lazy and I didnt see the need to go deposit the cash into my Equity account since I had my Safari Card which I got recently from Safaricom. So I went to an M-Pesa agent and loaded the money into my M-Pesa account. First of all, instant has a whole new meaning when you are talking about Safaricom. M-Pesa had its own share of delay… but eventually got through.
Next, at 1.12 pm I sent the money to my card account and got confirmation from Safaricom. Happily, went to login for the first time to the online interface of the card. Unfortunately, my balance read 0. I decided to give it a while and try a little later. 30 minutes later, nothing. I went back to the card brochure which I still have, it says reload of funds is instant. This is the first time I wanted to use the card since I got it about 2 weeks ago. 1 hour later, I call I&M’s support number that is on the card, 020 3221000 and unfortunately, it could not go through. I call Safaricom, they confirm everything is ok on their side and that the money was transfered to the bank, but they are not able to tell of the other side… so I still had to call the bank. Got a different number and I called. They said we shall get back to you shortly.
Its 2 hours later, instant still has no meaning and now, they have my money and I still cannot pay for what I needed to pay for. Unfortunately, I needed to buy something urgently for a client, they paid and now they want their money back, but I dont have it. Its the weekend, I do not get what is happening, Safaricom and I&M need to be realistic and not give a new meaning to the word instant as Safaricom already did give a new meaning to “Unlimited”.
This is so frustrating and annoying, anyone who likes efficiency, keep away from this crappy service.
