My friend and I stared with utter disbelief as we were denied access to use the automated teller machine installed within the banking premises of Ecobank, Omoku branch, Rivers state. The reason for this being that we were not customers of the bank and that the money available in the machine was only for their customers. We were in fact dumbfounded. While trying to decipher the reason for this discriminatory policy, the new CBN directive, which required that banks forfeit the N100 ATM fee charged when a non-customer withdraws money using their machine, came to mind. I have to admit that i was seriously disappointed especially since i had to pay N200 to transport myself to the location. If banks do not want to implement this CBN directive, they should have voiced out their disapproval rather than causing unnecessary hardship to individuals.

Dear All,

Our attention has been drawn to this story and we wish to apologise sincerely for the miscommunication. The ATM within the banking premises of Ecobank, Omoku Branch in Rivers State developed a fault and was trapping the cards of users from other banks. In order to avoid the embarrassment clients from other banks would have to go through to have their cards returned to them, the explanation was not well communicated. The intention was not in any way to prevent clients of other banks from accessing the cash in our ATMs. Once again, we apologise to the people affected and to the general public for this incident.

Management has put in place measures to ensure that this does not recur.

Regards,
Ecobank

Always two sides to every story.

I hope this is the correct story. Because the way the security man talked to us was really rude.