ALL NAIJA banks r bad, Zenith is the only managable 1

In my own opinion, UBA branches apart from their headoffices in lagos and abuja are like a kano cattle market on friday. you will see the banking hall jampacked with people waiting to collect their hardearned money. this goes on only when there is no network problem, when their computers are down then you will see pepper. thank God for atm cards. but in uba even the atm machine now you will see a queue for it like pensioners collecting pension in the baking hot sun. haba, the wahala is too much. their staff are also very unprofessional. i have been going to Zenith bank and quite recently gtb and they have never had any network pronlem where their computers are down. unless people start suing this banks and show that we are serious, they will continue treating us like beggarrs.

Since i've been back to the country early this year, the place I hate going most is certainly banks. Worst experience is with Oceanic at Aromire, Ikeja, especially with some lady at the CS desk. The day I had to go open an account was hell. It's like I was invisible and I had to ask so many questions to get answers to basic information that they should have passed across without having to ask. The way they look at you and address you, it's like they're doing you a favour! Withdrawing/depositing money is a serious task (all banks, well most)! By the time you manage to find the slips you need, you'll then face the crazy queue. Sometimes its so obvious you're waiting for someone to attend to you, but all you see is the staff chatting away. The only places that have been ok are GT(most branches) and Ecobank (Adeniran Ogunsanya branch).
Customer service and ego don't go together. Even if you lack motivation, it's just a civilised thing to give good service, you lose nothing, and you gain much. Having worked as a customer service supervisor in the UK, most of these guys wouldn't last a week with this sort of attitude.
To reduce contact to the minimum, I resorted to getting internet banking activated. Again, getting that with oceanic was a hectic process while GT was fair. Ecobank was ok too.
Banks should have have audits done by their headoffices which include customer services points with stiff penalties/deductions to those found wanting on any area. Individuals should also be assesed for the quality of service. Where I worked as a CS supervisor, we had mystery customers who went through the process from coming in to leaving with a product, and gave points on all stages of the service they got. This sort of thing should be done by banks to remodel their CS quality.

hi bjluv,
i suggest u open an account with oceanic bank.it has a package for Nigerians in the diaspora.u can access the a/c from any location, but at the moment their website is undergoing renovation or upgrading ,so you may not be able to effect transactions from on the net but u can send scanned copy of your instructions for withdrawals.

Dear all,

I have tried Ecobank sevral times, and I think Ecobank is the best of them all! Most of their branches I visted while in Nigeria are just too superb, their staff are well-trained. I think it is because it is an international bank.

The bank (Ecobank) has presence in about 20 other african countries. While I was in far away Central Africa Reppublic, I was surprised that Ecobank is there. The most surprising aspect is that they operate the same standard in those countries. At least, I have used their services in Cotonou, Lome and also in Accra. You can use their ATM card to withdraw your money from the naira in any of their countries of presence at no extra cost and you will be given the local currency of that country. They gave me an online internet banking profile where I monitor all my transactions online.

Their web address is ecobank.com

Guys, please try it out.

[quote="B.h.o.n.y "]hi bjluv,
i suggest u open an account with oceanic bank.it has a package for Nigerians in the diaspora.u can access the a/c from any location, but at the moment their website is undergoing renovation or upgrading ,so you may not be able to effect transactions from on the net but u can send scanned copy of your instructions for withdrawals.[/quote]

thnx for your concerns on Oceanic-do you also work at Oceanic? If you do, could you tell me if it is possible to send money from my diapora account to my sister's account @ GTB

I called that bank (ozumba) all the way from Europe and the person I talked with on the phone spoke with me like I was calling from Oshodi olosha or something,  And if it wasnt my dad who advised me to go there, what the _Zap am I looking for with naija banks? I have accounts in Iceland, Sweden, Finland, US and UK because of various investments and I do not have to go through this sort of thing so not to talk of where I am from 

Naija get too much problems really---they wont dare do this sort of thing round here. It is  my _Zap.i.n.g money I am bring to your bank so that you could use it to do various businesses and safe ya self before CBN comes with another blow and it isnt right you treat us customers like trash. I wont take that from any bank in naija-period!

The worst thing, is that I wont invest in that place, wont take my money there and would rather go to other emerging economies to do business

Will speak with UBA sometimes next week --- let's see the way their own NRN goes. If not fine, I will divert to another country
chikena!

angel101,
sorry, it's not only at zenith, Bank PHB, GTBank also have good customer service.d staff dont even look at u twice in terms of asking u for tips. check very well plz. am not a banker oh!

The truth of the matter is that to most of the banks, ur money is very little compared to their other transactions so unless you are a Dangote or Otedola or some other big shot who is a mover and shaker, they don't really give a shit about you and of course the Dangote's and Otedola's and co do not have to go to the banks for anything rather the bank is moved to wherever they desire to do their transactions so why do you think the bank employees in most cases should care about ur couple of hundred thousands? I'm not defending them but i'm just trying to explain what causes the lethargic and sometimes downright insultive behaviour of most of them. Some of them are actually better than others, in this sense i think Zenith, GTB, BankPHB and some other ones are fair, I can't comment on those i've not been to but i think some like firstbank, Union, Uba and Intercontinental can improve on their customer friendliness. For some of them it's 'cos of the large number of customers but for other's whom i won't mention, their staff just need an outright change of attitude.

I am a banker with seven years of banking experience behind me. I have been trained and retrained many times by local and foreign facilitators in customer service excellence and other aspect of banking. When I read all the comments posted I felt very bitter. Bitter because it bothers on attitude mostly. It goes to show that we are yet to meet the full expectation of our customers. You customers are great and the reason why the banks even exist at all and the bank workers get salaries. I hope many bankers are reading these comments by our customers. The customers that we have served poorly in the past are voicing out their pains, we have to be sensitive.

There is a comment by someone that bankers beg for tips or money in the course of discharge of their duties for which they are paid handsomely. Please this is a disgrace to bank workers and it is against banking ethics, it should be stopped if it is true. Please, dear customers report such cases to the branch manager or head of processing (HOP) as the case may be.

However, it is important to note that customer service delivery in banking can not be compared to any other sector or industry (I will explain later). I have friends who have left banking for other sectors like telecoms, oil, et  we talk alot. It is a different ball game entirely. Telecoms companies for instance do not get to see face to face with all their customers. The pressure is taken away by the retailers who sell recharge card.
Also some other posters tried to compare baking in Nigeria to what is obtainable in other countries, particular in advance world. Guys, the environment and the populace are not the same. The attitude is different.

Here are some of the reasons why banking in Nigeria is tough and requires a little extra carefulness and the job complicated for the workers.

1. Banking has to do principally with money, and anything that iinvolves money is risky.
2. Very many Nigerians are not honest, also many are fraudulent. (My apology, but I am talking from experience)
I have seen cases, cases and cases. Nigerians need to repent of greed for unearned money. Desire to dupe others, commit fraud, confuse or use juju for a cashier to get overpaid. Stealing of friends, room mates, spouse or relatives passbook or cheque books and subsequently forging their signature. At the end if the fraud is successful the bank staff suffer first before any party.
3. As as result of the above, the people who visit banks for transactions can be regarded as customers as well as suspects. (apology but the fact).
4. Nigerians are a difficult people to please. Check out your relatives, when you do them good, they still ccomplain about you to people. No appreciation.
5. Nigerians are talkative (apology). They want to unduly occupy the bank workers' time at the expense of other customers.
6. Nigeria population is high at 140 million people. And the economy is highly driven by cash transactions.
7. 90% + transaction in the country are paid for in cash. TV cable subscriptions, school/enrolment fees, Visa fees, GSM post paid, PHCN, paydirects, salaries etc.
8. Our people have not fully embraced electronic banking and cheque paymets, as well as account transfer settlements.
9. Our people (Nigerians) love visiting the bank often, at times for issues that can be settled otherwise. Salaries earners prefer to go to the bank to find out from the bank workers when their salary diskette or schedule will get to the bank, instead of asking their account or ppayroll dept.
10. Banking in Nigeria is over regulated. Too much policies from CBN, EFCC, etc. At times when customer service officers try to explain or demand for KYC documentation the customers get angry uneccessary.

The list is in-exhaustive, the summary is that there is so much pressure the average banker has to contend with everyday. Banks on their own have to continue to train and retrain their staff. The staff on their part should develop a positive attitude towards service delivery. The customer is the reason we are in business. There is no excuse for service failure at all. We can do better.

Finally, from my experience the banks that are deep in retail banking have much more of these problems to contend with. This is because the more people you meet the more problems you get to solve. This explains why a Fidelity or Zenith staff may be more position to giving attention to a customer than a First bank or UBA or Intercontinental staff who have multitude to serve.

I have worked in Lagos and Benin but I will not mention which and which bank I have worked and where I currently work.
Warmest regard.

Nairaland Bankers Forum here they are chatting away-as usual

@elampiro, so having an account there might definitely be a big risk then.
Now I have to think b4 the next step, UBA, Oceanic or notatall bank plc

Bjluv

when it comes to naija, you have to erm manage if not you wont get anything done

I bank with bank of america (BOA) and the only problem i ever had with them was few years back. I just quit a job for another one and i decided to withdraw my retirement fund from the previous employment. The fund was electronically tranferred to my bank account but instead for my bank statement to read $10,000 it instead read - $10,000 (negative) ! I screamed and before you know it, i was at the banking center. I don't even remember how i got there, but i think i drove there.

, have you ever walked into a bank and you were told that you cannot withdraw your money because your balance is not upto N100K??
, can you imagine that??
that was my experince some months ago in UNION BANK BRIGHT STREET ONISTHA
it was a frustrating experience
despite all my explanations
thank God i called my office to confirm that my salary have been paid
if not, nothing for me that day
the worst is that the guy didnt even check my balance, he simply told me to go away that its the "BANK POLICY" that i cannot withdraw online except i hv a minimum of N100k

well, when i got back to my domicile branch i was fuming and coming to close the account straight, but they infromed me that its not the polciy at all

it was a bad experience for me
i dont know if anyone have had that kind of experience before with UNION BANK??

i think it goes for most banks. the rude staff especially the marketers, female cashiers and down to the security staff are soooo rude that i just want to go as far as slapping one of them.some of them actually see us the customers as a serious threat to them. ALL bank staff need to go for a serious Attitude management Course coz majority of them have little or NO customer relationships.

@switpea

well said.

@elampiro
not bad gist from an insider's view. Nigerians might be hard to please as customer but i know there are some of us that can tell the difference between what it is and what it should be.

There are different kind of customers-
Also what CS personnel should know no matter the organisation should remember is that they are because of their clients

- Clients, can be difficult b'because they are:

Distracted Clients
Disappointed Clients
Disruptive Clients
or they just don't know better!

Your job is to know how to deal with each without punishing the next client for the previous guys sins.The retail banks know who their market are and should have room for their wahala!(have u heard about "insult allowance", it's the company's problem am hired to fixed?)

You might have gone through d toughest and most expensive trainings but, how many of your colleagues actually bring back what they learnt into their day to day work?

I guess from this thread you can see that only few!

Hi guys. Hope u r all fine. I dont have any bad experience i can recall. I have been to several banks, & was treated nicely. I cherish d following banks for d their customer services: Oceanic Bank, First Bank & most especially GTBank cheers.

Skye and UBA are my banks and I v got no reason to complains so far, well-done Skye well-done UBA

Zenith Bank treat their Customers Soooo Bad!

Their Bad Customer Service are making people to close their accounts, including me! The Branch Manager nearly cries

The Other Bank that treat their Customers Soooo Bad is UBA, I hate this two banks now, and would never deal with them again,

Banks that deal their Customers properly are: GT Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Eco Bank, and FCMB. These are the banks I know, and its my own opinion only, Thanks,

bjluv:

@elampiro, so having an account there might definitely be a big risk then.
Now I have to think before the next step, UBA, Oceanic or notatall bank plc

You don't need to fear. All you need do is to use any bank of your choice that you can easily monitor your transactions online via internet. You may also request for an account officer whom you can rely on to give you information on 24/7 about your account. An account officer is a bank staff usually a marketer or relationship manager who manages your account, provide you information and solve your complaints.

Once you are able to secure an account officer from your bank, you become more of an insider. If he or she does not manage your account to your satisfaction you request for another account officer.

I use Zenith for my naira account (superb e-banking) and recently I have tried UBA NRN for dorm. The e-service from these banks is more than impressive. UBA will get your dollar to the US in less than  3 days, no stories. Good feedback from the account reps too. Kudos to Ms. Pat and Mr. Tope of UBA NRN. Keep up the good job. Even BOA and Chase can't offer a better service. I also have good words for them per face2face banking. Kudos to Zenith for their local money transfer, for just N210 you can send money to anyone anywhere in Naija. Bye bye to Western Union and Moneygram.

This is my candid opinion based on my relationship with these banks. I don't work nor intend to work for any of these banks.

[quote="elampiro "]You don't need to fear. All you need do is to use any bank of your choice that you can easily monitor your transactions online via internet. You may also request for an account officer whom you can rely on to give you information on 24/7 about your account. An account officer is a bank staff usually a marketer or relationship manager who manages your account, provide you information and solve your complaints.

Once you are able to secure an account officer from your bank, you become more of an insider. If he or she does not manage your account to your satisfaction you request for another account officer.[/quote]

Sounds like u are in for UBA. Well, I am leaning more to their side I guess and I should be opening a current account soon. Let's see the way it goes. Not fine, then I will pack my bags off 

[quote=" Panache"]I use Zenith for my naira account (superb e-banking) and recently I have tried UBA NRN for dorm. The e-service from these banks is more than impressive. UBA will get your dollar to the US in less than  3 days, no stories. Good feedback from the account reps too. Kudos to Ms. Pat and Mr. Tope of UBA NRN. Keep up the good job.[/quote]

have exchanged couple of emails with Ms. Pat.C and I can tell she knows what she is doing and does what she should do. Friendly customer service and nice advise via email. It couldnt have been better, hope the quality of service remains excellent or gets even excellent  Well  you all know what I mean 

@elampiro well said, i agree

Well, Banking in Nigeria and bad experiences?

I operate three bank accounts (UBA, Oceanic, Intercontinental).

UBA: Useless Bank of Africa. Uba will bill you for anything including depositing money in your account. If not for the fact that it is a salary account and I am trying to exhaust the cheque books that I paid N25 per leaf for, I would have closed the damn account. the branch at Iwo road, Idi ape is the worst especially the bulk room. Filled with old women who look like ex-pros. A particular incident ticked me off. I was behind a particular semi-literate customer who didn't fill his slip properly. The teller asked him to fill it in and the guy went away to do just that. I asked the teller to take my cash and save me the hassles and time and she told me "I have already started dealing with that guy and until I finish with him, I can't take money from another person. Do you want me to divide myself into 2". I told her she does not have anything belonging to the guy since she has not taken the guy's cash and she remained adamant. I simply moved to another person. If I can help it, i don't go to that branch. Seems UBA took all their old staff (abi na contract staff?) and put them in the bulk rooms. The queue there is something else.

Intercontinental: Another damn useless bank. I have withdrawn all I have there and they can keep the N1000 initial deposit. Customer care is wacked. Ever tried sending a message through the site? no answers will come to you and you can wait for eternity.

Oceanic: Okay but I have a problem with the internet banking which went down few weeks back and has not been resuscitated. Other than that, Oceanic is superb.

Thinking of moving to GTB though. i have heard good things from colleagues who use it

@bjluv
I will advice u not to bank with UBA until u have
found out their charges. They usually would still
not be honest with you until you start the
account and start getting surprise deductions from
your account.

I had quite an experience when i just returned to naija
from the UK last year and opened a current account
with them. On discovering Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank),
I have since abandoned the account and have opened
up accounts, inclusive of Dom accounts with GTBank.

Most of their service is free and where there is any
charge at all, they aren't oppressive. You can also check your account
online free of charge.

Wish u luck as you look for a suitable product.

A friend of mine went to the bank one day and the clerk at the front desk just dogged him out completely. My friend was so pissed that he quickly thought of how to pay the idiot back. Behind the clerk's desk was the picture of him and his wife with her name on it saying "michelle, i love you". At the end of the transaction, my friend simply thanked the clerk and informed him that his wife had an affair with one of his boys and if he thinks his lying to ask his wife if she knows anybody named Krammer. He wittingly said that he already knew that michelle (clerk's wife) would deny the affair but he has the proof if he needs any. My friend said that the clerk's face became red all of a sudden and began to create a scene as he left the banking center. I wonder what happens when the clerk gets home. I'm sure he couldn't wait to get home.

WEMA BANK PLC , TOGETHER TO GREATER HEIGHTS,

VISIT ANY OF OUR NEAREST BRANCHES AND GET CONFUSED,

WE WILL SURELY PUT SMILE ON YOUR FACE,

hmmmmm,na wa oooo!
well i can only speak for oceanic.if u got problems with any of their staff just send a mail to customer care and i can assure u of quick redress.

Mine is 'bout my corporate account with GTBank.

When we opened account with them, they began charging N200 every month as fee for SMS service.
My company never registered for any SMS report or service. Neither did we receive any sms notification for any transaction.

Can you explain dat?