Lately you might have come across a message titled Econet Urgent Notice which reads as follows, “Do not be delayed by calling EcoCash for reversals and hanging transactions simply contact the 24 hour Econet EcoCash Customer Service and get assistance in a matter of seconds. 0778050376.” As it turns out, this notice is not from EcoCash and is actually fake. Econet then recently went no to issue a communique sensitizing the public that there are official ways in which customers can contact EcoCash. There are 5 official channels that people can use which I will briefly highlight shortly.
EcoCash Official Channels
You can contact them through their toll-free number, 114. You can also write to their Facebook (@EcocashZim) and Twitter (EcoCashZW). The third option is to SMS or send a WhatsApp message on 0771222114. You can always visit any Econet Shop. Lastly, you can visit the EcoCash Mini Service centres. These are the official channels one can use to contact EcoCash if they have any issues.
Some Notable Talking Points
Why Not Block The Fake Number
This has been on every critical mind i.e. why not just block the number and the culprit is grounded. This is the easiest and fastest way to just rectify the issue. You then begin to wonder what is really going on. Even further, they could have even traced the owner of that line and get them arrested. When they first got wind of the situation they could have even baited the culprit and trapped them. Overall, it is very weird that with so many options on the table, they did not at least explore one or more of them.
Poor Customer Service Is Being Leveraged On
When you examine this whole issue there are things you can immediately notice. For starters, why would someone have the audacity to set up a fake EcoCash customer care platform? It is a common experience for people to contact EcoCash through the official channels and they are not responded to in time or not at all. I have experienced this first-hand just like many others. Why am I saying this? There is a possibility the culprit could have capitalized on that to create the fake platform. The culprit obviously knows that many EcoCash users encounter issues numerous times. Due to the poor response rate via official channels people become desperate. Thus any semblance of a faster alternative is so alluring that people cannot ignore.
Why The Fake Platform?
I have not come across any public discussion on the possible aims for creating the fake platform. There are many possibilities as to the intentions of the culprit. It is a given that the motivation could have stemmed from the poor service rendered by EcoCash through its official channels. However, there must be a catch somewhere, I mean, why just set up a fake EcoCash Customer Service platform when there is no catch. What could be the catch? That is where you can come in and we have a discussion. Kindly comment below with your thoughts on what the intended aim of the fake platform could have been. It could have been a ploy to ultimately lure people into giving up their personal details. Possibly it could have been to end up getting money from them and so on through a fee for facilitating the transaction reversal.
Where EcoCash Is Getting It Wrong
I do appreciate that there are many EcoCash subscribers – probably they get overwhelmed. That is not basis enough, though, for poor customer service. They have done well in providing various platforms for customers to air their concerns. Some of the platforms are convenient e.g. the WhatsApp platform – many people use it so it is easier. However, WhatsApp is easily replicable as has been the case with this fake customer service platform. Facebook and Twitter are great because they cannot be easily replicated and so is the 114 toll-free number. The problem on those platforms is that they are not being diligent in responding to customers. Which is why the fake platform could be set up. So EcoCash is not doing a great job in responding to customer concerns. If they were doing well there would not have been a loophole for the setup of a fake platform.
At the end of the day, it is vital that EcoCash review their customer service framework moving forward. They also have to decisively deal with the fake platform. Then as I said earlier, they need to pull up their socks regarding timeous and thorough responding of customers.
besides the intention of the fake administrator charging a fee the intention could also be social in compiling a schedule of unresolved queries, make a statistical computation in order to notify econet management of the magnitude of the problem. i am not an IT person but i once thought of such a platform seeing the magnitude of people crying for an alternative service. people talk good of econet but also bad about their problem solving mechanism and time. visiting econet public office usually inform of container placed at convenient places is a night-mere those guys are overwhelmed to the extend that they have discarded the proper customer service methods.
Insightful comments. Thank You
Thanks, Chimbidzikai. Perhaps there was a benevolent motive behind it. Better communication would’ve helped to make all this clear.