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Working Lives: The Banker Who Loves GTBank’s Fun Fridays 

Working Lives:  Bank Customer Care Staff

For this Working Lives, we spoke to customer service staff (a mix of those working in call centres and in branches) in three different banks about their jobs. We got to learn the technical names for some of the issues we face as bank customers e.g. “dispense errors” and we also got a peep into how prevalent fraud seems to be in the sector, at least the variety perpetrated by family and friends trying to get their hands on other peoples’ cash. Nothing on the level of Hushpuppy.

Working Lives: The Banker Who Loves GTBank’s Fun Fridays 

When did you start the job? 

I started in January 2019.

How did you get the job?

A very close friend of mine that works with GTBank told me the bank was recruiting. I then submitted my cv through him to the HR department. I sat the aptitude test. I passed and got the job. This friend helped to push my case by talking to his bosses but I would not have gotten in without passing the test.

What did you study in school?

I studied Mass Communication at the University of Lagos (UNILAG)

How were you trained to do the job?

We had a 3-week orientation but I mostly got experience and knowledge about how the job works from my superiors. The 3-week orientation helped but there is nothing like starting the job and seeing how things are done.

How many customers do you attend to in a typical day?

On a regular day, about 50. On very busy days, 90-100.

What’s their most common problems or demands?

The majority of them come in for complaints about dispense error, requesting a new ATM card, or to open a bank account. And then few also come in for fraud related issues. People steal debit cards or borrow it for a short while in their own view! They withdraw money and the owner is shocked to get alerts. People also find ways to grab other peoples’ phones and make transfers using the installed bank apps.

How many of these customers leave you happier?

About 70% of the people I attend to. These are the customers who have issues I can resolve 100% on my desk. For example, people who come in to open accounts or to get a new debit card. My success rate is very low with people who come in to resolve dispense error. Most of them expect me to make a few clicks on my computer to refund their money. But I don’t have the power. I have to send emails to the headquarters for investigations. It may take about 7 days to resolve. More than 90% of customers are angry about this.

How do you deal with the ones who are not happy?

I apologise and try to calm people. Imagine an old man that just got money from his son for his monthly upkeep and then he tries to withdraw and there is a dispense error and you tell him it is going to take a week to reverse. The anger is justified. GTBank has been improving on this though. Reversal takes a day or two at most now.

Also Read: Working Lives: The Man Who Left His Family So He Could Become A Street Sweeper

What are the trickiest issues to deal with?

For me, it has to be errors in information inputted for a customer into the system that stops them from using their accounts. For instance, when a customer inputs the wrong date of birth, surname or makes a mistake in writing their names. This can’t happen again because banks now verify forms against identity documents. But there are still legacy problems i.e. people who opened their accounts some years ago before BVN and stricter identity checks. Issues like this are very tricky to handle because you really don’t know who is who anymore.

It is also tricky handling requests that require authentication especially when the person you are attending to is not right in front of you. You could release information that compromises a customer’s account. Exercising judgement is important.

What customers are easiest to deal with?

Educated people. It is easier to explain to a literate person that he or she would not be getting a reversal immediately when  debited as a result of a dispense error because of the emails I have to send to the head office which of course will take time because we are attending to many dispense errors daily. Most  illiterates automatically assume that banks are thieves, we just don’t want to refund their money.

Who is the typical unhappy customer?

A customer who you try to explain to that he or she needs to bring a certain document; affidavit, national I.D card and the like. They get angry and unhappy because of the  the stress of getting these documents. The national I.D card for instance takes weeks to get from the National Identity Card Commission.

Your best days on the job?

When I am able to resolve a customer’s issue at that very moment and they don’t have to come back, and then there is Fun Friday we have at work which helps to relieve all the tension from the week.

The bad days?

When there’s a lot of customers on the queue and when we have network issues in the bank and you cannot fulfill customer’s requests.

The most difficult customer you have ever dealt with?

There was this old woman that came in to complain about how money had miraculously left her bank account. She came in all angry and was insulting everyone. It turns out that she had gone to charge her phone at her neighbour’s place and he had used her phone to transfer money to his account and deleted the alert thereafter. It was very hard for her to understand how this could have been done. She kept arguing that her debit card was with her all the time as if the card is required to transfer money from her phone. My supervisor had to intervene and carefully explain everything to her.

How has the Coronavirus pandemic changed your job?

I have to wear a mask all the time, and then I have to wash my hand from time to time. The of course there is the social distancing, giving customers physical space. And there’s some reduction in the number of employees so we now have to do double what we used to do daily.

What is the most important skill in dealing with customers?

One just has to be patient with them no matter how angry they are or how rudely they have addressed you. If you react, you will aggravate things and the customer may end up making a scene. This would earn one a query from the management. Apologising profusely tend to calm most customers.

How much do you earn? And do you consider it fair? 

I earn N102,000 monthly. No, it is not fair, especially when you consider the number of people I have to attend to in a day.

Also Read: Working Lives: The Banker Who Encountered a Chinese Man with Ekiti Accent

What’s the career path for your job?

There is really no career part per say. The majority of customer care representatives are contract staff. We have limited advantages unlike full time staff. Many of us could do more on the job, like show more initiative, but we do not bother because we know we might have to leave in 2-4 years to look for another job. I do not want to wait for the uncertain opportunity to be made a permanent staff. I am looking for another job. I would like to work with a TV station or a radio station.

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