My Zenith bank ATM expired on the 31st of March and on the 30th I walked into the bank and applied for a new ATM. The card came in Mid April but not with the pin. I visited the bank from that time till the end of May for my pin. The problem they said at first was that the bank sent my pin to Umuahia (I opened the account there during my NYSC 2009) and that it would take a while for me to get the pin. The solution was for me to fill a form for pin re-issue which I did towards the ending of April.

The re-issue gave me 'issues' as well when I went back two week later. I was told they had a system failure while sending the pin so they were not sure the pins given would work. I was told to go and try it on the machine and if it failed to activate, it meant my pin was affected by the system failure. I tried and it did not work and then I was told to come back and try another day. Towards the end of May, I went back and couldn't activate the card so I went into the hall and complained and was told by customer care to fill another form for pin re-issue.

At this point, tired of the whole thing I calmly asked the lady at the customer care how I could go about closing the account. After making futile attempts to dissuade me, she told me all I needed to do was write a letter. I asked for pen and paper, sat there and wrote that I wanted my account closed.

There were many reasons for these:
I was charged for over-the-counter withdrawal from March to May

I was spending too much time from the office because it later seemed as if I had other personal things to attend to and was just using the bank as an excuse

Uyo was/is going through a re-structuring, so the main route to the bank was/is no longer accessible so I had to use a long roundabout route.

So after closing my account, I withdrew all my money, deposited some in Access Bank and opened a GT Bank account with the rest (Come oh, GT Bank where is my ATM?)

One day in June, I was at Access Bank and since Zenith is opposite the Bank, I crossed and tried the Zenith ATM that was still with me. The pin worked but the machine 'swallowed' the card and I thought that it was probably because I no longer banked with the bank but on the 12th of this month, I received an alert from Zenith on Card Replacement Fees being deducted from my 'supposedly' closed account. The amount was N500 and my balance was then (432.92)...this is a negative for those that studied accounting.

My question is this, I thought a closed account was supposed to have no transactions on the account?
Did the lady at the customer care lie to me about just needing a written letter to close my account?
Does this mean that if someone pays into that account, apart from N432.92 being deducted, that I could still go and withdraw? Is this normal?

Enoquin: My Zenith bank ATM expired on the 31st of March and on the 30th I walked into the bank and applied for a new ATM. The card came in Mid April but not with the pin. I visited the bank from that time till the end of May for my pin. The problem they said at first was that the bank sent my pin to Umuahia (I opened the account there during my NYSC 2009) and that it would take a while for me to get the pin. The solution was for me to fill a form for pin re-issue which I did towards the ending of April.

The re-issue gave me 'issues' as well when I went back two week later. I was told they had a system failure while sending the pin so they were not sure the pins given would work. I was told to go and try it on the machine and if it failed to activate, it meant my pin was affected by the system failure. I tried and it did not work and then I was told to come back and try another day. Towards the end of May, I went back and couldn't activate the card so I went into the hall and complained and was told by customer care to fill another form for pin re-issue.

At this point, tired of the whole thing I calmly asked the lady at the customer care how I could go about closing the account. After making futile attempts to dissuade me, she told me all I needed to do was write a letter. I asked for pen and paper, sat there and wrote that I wanted my account closed.

There were many reasons for these:
I was charged for over-the-counter withdrawal from March to May

I was spending too much time from the office because it later seemed as if I had other personal things to attend to and was just using the bank as an excuse

Uyo was/is going through a re-structuring, so the main route to the bank was/is no longer accessible so I had to use a long roundabout route.

So after closing my account, I withdrew all my money, deposited some in Access Bank and opened a GT Bank account with the rest (Come oh, GT Bank where is my ATM?)

One day in June, I was at Access Bank and since Zenith is opposite the Bank, I crossed and tried the Zenith ATM that was still with me. The pin worked but the machine 'swallowed' the card and I thought that it was probably because I no longer banked with the bank but on the 12th of this month, I received an alert from Zenith on Card Replacement Fees being deducted from my 'supposedly' closed account. The amount was N500 and my balance was then (432.92)...this is a negative for those that studied accounting.

My question is this, I thought a closed account was supposed to have no transactions on the account?
Did the lady at the customer care lie to me about just needing a written letter to close my account?
Does this mean that if someone pays into that account, apart from N432.92 being deducted, that I could still go and withdraw? Is this normal?

e be like say dem never close d account. its not supposed to be normal, but this is naija.

try do a dep/withdrawal yourself before someone else does

very nice write up, btw

yamakuza:

e be like say dem never close d account. its not supposed to be normal, but this is naija.

try do a dep/withdrawal yourself before someone else does

very nice write up, btw

Se oro write up lan so ni abi oro ibinu? What if I do a deposit and I am told I can't withdraw?

naijacutee: Thanks for being so articulate! I haven't got an answer to your question, but hopefully, others who might have had similar problems with the bank might be able to offer some advice.

Okay, thanks...but on a lighter note, one would think I was in the literature section...

Enoquin:
Se oro write up lan so ni abi oro ibinu? What if I do a deposit and I am told I can't withdraw?

u can take the gal out of lit section, but you cant take lit outta d gal ...

felt like i was watching a home video

why vex? dont u know what it means to have a Zenith bank account? it spells class ! think twice before you close it o! sho gbo?

walk into the bank and retrieve your atm card. also deposit like N2k into that account. will they deduct N500 or N432?

anyways, u'll still have like N1k left to test the atm withdrawal with. if it doesnt work, just walk back in and collect your N2k

shikena

yamakuza:

u can take the gal out of lit section, but you cant take lit outta d gal ...

felt like i was watching a home video

why vex? dont u know what it means to have a Zenith bank account? it spells class ! think twice before you close it o! sho gbo?

walk into the bank and retrieve your atm card. also deposit like N2k into that account. will they deduct N500 or N432?

anyways, u'll still have like N1k left to test the atm withdrawal with. if it doesnt work, just walk back in and collect your N2k

shikena

Hmm...nice suggestion, made me feel foolish for not seeing it that way. Hmm home video ke? Perhaps I should mail you some short stories to you...bawo ni? Ekujo meta.

Enoquin:
Hmm...nice suggestion, made me feel foolish for not seeing it that way. Hmm home video ke? Perhaps I should mail you some short stories to you...bawo ni? Ekujo meta.

hmm ... who am i to say no?

will be waiting eagerly for part 2 of your trip to the bank

ojo kan pelu.

This is what you call a massive system failure. Just go back to the branch and make a complaint because further testing the account might make it more complicated. For the person who says owning a Zenith bank account meanth class. That was in the olden days o! That doesn`t apply anymore.

The card was probably swallowed cos the account was closed and it working would be an abnormality. The debit for Card Replacement Fee should not have been passed into your account as the account is supposedly closed. seems it's an IT issue...different platforms for different e-banking parts of your account and they didn't all properly synchronize.

anyways nothing to fear since you've emptied the account. whatever they do on it is their own wahala.

trae_z: The card was probably swallowed cos the account was closed and it working would be an abnormality. The debit for Card Replacement Fee should not have been passed into your account as the account is supposedly closed. seems it's an IT issue...different platforms for different e-banking parts of your account and they didn't all properly synchronize.

anyways nothing to fear since you've emptied the account. whatever they do on it is their own wahala.

I took yamakuza's advice oh...went to the bank and went straight to their CC...everyone that I previously knew had been replaced...the man who gave me my pin too had been replaced. So, I laid my complaints and the lady smiled. She told me that in Zenith, a savings account didn't have a dormancy limitation...unlike their current account and that my account was definitely not closed and was not even considered dormant even if I came back a year later.

Meanwhile, my new/retrieved ATM card was in their possession, so I paid in some money after much persuasion...

*got my card and pin...

*the first machine was down, the other had a pop-up dialog box blocking the screen...

*tried changing and the machine swallowed the card AGAIN after telling me three times to put in my PIN...
went back to the hall and complained...

*my card was retrieved with the lady at the CC instructing me on how to change my pin...

*I looked at her and calmly replied 'I know how to do all you have said...I have two other bank ATM cards, so I think the fault is from you guys' but she persisted that I tried again, I did and the problem was still same...

*so instead of trying the third time, I simply took my card, put it in my card holder and went back to the office...
wasted nearly four hours from complaint, to issuance, payment and pin change...

*the card is with me with its non-active status...perhaps, it is for the better.