First Bank has refused to credit the account of Monica Ukpabi, a Delta State resident, with the N100,000 she purchased a data subscription with in October, despite Glo reversing the erroneous data subscription.
Ukpabi told FIJ on Friday that she had mistakenly recharged N100,000 data on her Glo phone number on September 24. When she realised this, she rushed to a Glo office to plead with the network provider to restrict her phone number.
Glo obliged and told her to return the following day as they were experiencing poor network service. After leaving Glo’s office, she headed to a First Bank branch in Asaba. There, she was told to wait 24 hours and return the following day.
Ukpabi’s bank statement.
Ukpabi returned to Glo and First Bank offices the following day.
READ ALSO: Lagos Electrician Sent N10,000 to Wrong Account in July. First Bank Offered Him No Help
“I went to Glo’s office the following day which was a Friday. The manager told me they had blocked my line. They then unblocked my line and after doing so, the N100,000 data was reversed. I was instructed to go to my bank that very day,” Ukpabi told FIJ.
“I went to First Bank and was given a form to fill out. The bank instructed me to return after four or five working days. After the five working days elapsed, I returned. They told me to return in three working days.”
First Bank’s email informing Ukpabi that the issue had been resolved.
Ukpabi added that she was sending emails to the bank while she was visiting the branch in Asaba.
At the end of the three working days stipulated by the bank, she got an email from First Bank informing her that the issue had been resolved. But when she checked her bank app for confirmation, she realised the money had not been reversed.
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On Friday, she returned to the bank yet again to inquire about the progress of the reversal but did not get a positive response. Ukpabi told FIJ that the bank manager told her to forget about the money.
“The bank manager called me into his office and said he noticed that I had been visiting the bank for the past two weeks. He told me that there was nothing they could do because the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a memo stating that banks should not reverse such transactions to customers with similar experiences. I reiterated that Glo had reversed the data and I needed the money urgently,” she said.
FIJ found no such memo on the CBN’s website on Friday.
FIJ emailed First Bank on Friday. The bank had not responded to FIJ’s inquiry at press time.
Tolu Akinola (not real name), a Lagos-based electrician had a similar experience in July. The electrician had sent N10,000 to an unintended recipient in July, but First Bank, the recipient’s bank, offered him no help in recovering the money.
The post First Bank Refuses Delta Resident N100,000 Refund After Glo Reversed Data Recharge appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.