First Bank customers decry poor ATM service in Ogun, Kano

Customers of First Bank Plc in Ogun and Kano States has decried the poor Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) service of the bank.

The Customers in the Ibafo and Mowe area of Obafemi-Owode Local Government in Ogun State over the weekend said that the poor service of the ATMs has continue to make life difficult for them to have access to their money.

The customers who queued up to make use of the machine discovered that out of the 12 ATM machine, only two were seen working while the others were dysfunctional.

Customers of First Bank Plc on a long queue at Ibafo, Ogun State branch

An Automated Teller Machine is an electronic banking outlet which allows customers of various banking institutions complete basic transactions without the aid of a bank representative, teller or without being physically present in the bank.

When NEWSVERGE approached the Head of Cash unit of the bank, a certain, Ms. Baliqs Solebo, to make inquiries on why the machines were not working, she hissed and drove off in her car.

Meanwhile, customers who have spent hours on the queue were still expecting miracles on the machines.

Customers who spoke with our reporter said that it has become a usual occurrence where the machines will not work and the staff members at the branch will not care about the number of hours they spend on the queue before they could withdraw from their respective accounts.

One Engineer Jonathan James, lamented the bank was not like that before the CBN stopped banks from taking N100 charges whenever customers use another bank’s machine to transact.

Also, Temitope Henry, a customer, said that he could not make any withdrawal with his ATM card at the First Bank ATM centre in Mowe area.

She said that the machine did not pay her, but only debited her account.

“An official of the bank told me that the poor service was due to technical problem and he assured me that my money will be remitted later,’’ she said.

Another customer, Segun Fiwasaye, said he no longer had confidence in the ATMs, adding that “I now prefer to use my cheque book”.

NEWSVERGE recalled that First Bank in 2011 adopted cash deposit ATM but did nothing to improve services of easing process to making customers have access to their money whenever they need it rather than using one machine to service fifty customers.

In the same vein, customers in the Federal Capital Territory as well, numerous clients have bemoaned the difficulty they face in withdrawing money from most of the First Bank’s ATMs.

Customers of First Bank Plc on a long queue at Ibafo, Ogun State branch

Some customers in Kano on Tuesday also decried the poor services of the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the town.

At various branches visited in the state, there were long queues of customers at ATMs making it difficult for numerous customers to make withdrawals from their accounts through the ATMs.

Although, many of the ATMs displayed an “out of service” message on their monitors, while others were unable to dispense cash due to network problems.