No-one likes standing in a queue to pay for service that can be provided online. It’s part of the new age arrogance that comes with mobile broadband and it’s also the simple truth that explains why we love the idea of using ubiquitous technology like mobile money to power simple solutions.
Mundane tasks like buying prepaid electricity vouchers fall into that segment which is what services like pre-paid.co.zw are thankfully trying to address.
Pre-paid allows users to send there ZESA account details, the amount they wish to buy and their phone number through an online interface. This is followed by a prompt for payment through EcoCash or Telecash via SMS. You can make transactions of between $2 and $490.
This essentially automates the process of initiating mobile money payment for ZESA tokens through an independent agent. Most of these independent prepaid agents are the people behind the numerous adverts that have started popping up on social media, especially in various WhatsApp groups.
I had the chance to use Pre-paid twice over the past four days, and the service seemed like a fairly reliable way of avoiding the hassle of leaving a football or rugby match just to go and get a ZESA topup. I was, however, a bit squeamish about the absence of channels for following up on a delayed transaction.
The last thing you want is to effectively deposit money into a faceless EcoCash merchant wallet and be faced with the nightmare of following up on it when the transactions is delayed or its improperly executed.
Which is why this payment automation should also include an EcoCash biller code alternative which, at the end of the day feels a lot safer. It’s not a reflection on the type of service provided by Pre-paid or any other independent agent, but a reality around the perceptions around any electronic movement of money.
As long as ZESA doesn’t take on Econet’s EcoCash platform as an official channel for selling prepaid electricity vouchers, there will be more of these workarounds like pre-paid which has joined other EcoCash/ZESA prepaid alternatives like recharge.co.zw and TelOne’s telpay.co.zw.
Perhaps now that Nettcash is an official seller of prepaid ZESA and Telecel’s Telecash also appears to have gotten the green light to tap into ZESA, we just might see EcoCash being brought into the fray. For now, we’re best served by providers like pre-paid.co.zw.
21 comments
Simple and to the point, love it 🙂
I ve tried it convinient
“Which is why this payment automation should also include an EcoCash biller code alternative which, at the end of the day feels a lot safer. It’s not a reflection on the type of service provided by Pre-paid or any other independent agent, but a reality around the perceptions around any electronic movement of money.”
Very crucial points in there!
The reason not to include Ecocash is more political than techinical. If Ecocash gets intergrated with Zesa, we all know that will be the end of these side kick companies for those in the Party.
What puzzle me is you will here politicians claim that they stand for people, to make life for masses easier.
Ecocash have masses behind it who use it. So why cannt they force their political hands and have Ecocash registered with Zesa!!
I recently have been using ecocash extensively to pay for people doing work for me in rurals, you will only appriciate how convinient it is when you use it for critical projects.
And the idiot goes again, making baseless claims just to look knowledgeable
Just to certify your appetite for trolling my comments, lm very knowledge it the field of IT, try me!
You threw in a baseless claim about politics, prove it. This is my problem with you, you lie to look intelligent. As of your IT skills, couldn’t care less, obviously you have none to talk about. The louder you are, the less you know and you are very loud. Fix your grammar first and stop lying, then I will accept your challenge.
Baseless claims when your economy is total mess, what is there to prove.
As for my grammar, lm not english teacher so l care less. With all the quality english zimbabwe has and pple like you, where is it now.
Kana makadziidza muchigona chingezi nyika iri kuonereswa nei??
.. lm very knowledgeable in the field of IT…
Yes, lm an idiot who is making a good life out of it, the kind of life you can only live in your dreams.
Im an idiot who is able to feed my family from my hard working, no boot licking or kneeling for a dollar to someone or proceeds of corrupt activities.
l am a idiot because you say l am, if l was not, then why would you say lm??
I totally agree with you here, you are a total idiot
Ko iwe wabva nepi? Wats ur point?
Abva nekuSaith Technology ndokwaakatanga kundimakira.
“What puzzle me is you will here politicians claim that they stand for people, to make life for masses easier.
Ecocash have masses behind it who use it. So why cannt they force their political hands and have Ecocash registered with Zesa!!”
This is not that I agree or disagree with your sentiment.
But merely to explain those political people you have an aversion for.
To be simple, if they are what you say they are, then naturally they would be driven by money/greed and not the desire to make people’s life easier.
“If that robber claims he does things for his family, why does he not understand that he is creating the same situation for the families he robs?”
But you just defined him as a robber! That’s what they do!
“If the demon knows that it’s bad and it’s life is headed for ruin, why does it not convert to a demon?”
But its a demon! That’s what it does!
We have good politicians and bad politicians. We have people who gets into gvt to change their lives and we have gets into gvt to work for the people who voted them into gvt.
Now, you have MPs who are selling fuel coupons they get for free from parliament because $700 they get monthly is not enough to sustain themselves: http://www.newsdzezimbabwe.co.uk/2015/10/broke-mps-selling-fuel-coupons.html
What about those who doesnt even have access to that monthly $700, how are they surviving?
You have MPs who wants luxury cars and 4x4s because their jobs demand them to have one, they then demand to be spared from from paying toll gates.
You have politicians who use their influence to borrow money from banks beyond the capability to pay it back.
Some politicians gets paid way in advance when doctors and nurses are luck to be paid.
We have to ask ourselves, what is the job of a politician in Zim? Whos interest do politicians save in Zim?
a bit squeamish about the absence of channels for following up on a delayed transaction. – the first thing i worried about when i got to their site.. it tells you nothing about who prepaid.co.zw are..
True Percy, i was even suprised how they can leave simple yet crucial information like – who they are, how we can get in touch with them & maybe there addresses!
& Nigel, how did u tracked dwn these guys with no information about who they are! We appreciate innovation & solutions which simplify our living but the basics are also important. Like – Abt Us, Contacts etc
Atleast they have sorted the about us and contacts. Over 3000 likes on facebook and they have an SMS solution for people without internet. They need however put more information on their website. Only knew about the SMS request when I visited their FB page. Very convenient though. Got my token within 3mins
Why is there so much noise about clunky solutions when Telone has been running a very efficient system for a long time telpay.co.zw
twice I have bought from telpay.co.zw and twice I have had to ask EcoCash for a reversal, their system never gave me a token. There are no contact details on their website, if u go to a TelOne office, they say they dont even know about the website. So who do you ask in such a large organisation? They need to put direct lines for support to that service. Really sucks when you are stranded on a Saturday evening, try telpay, it takes your money but doesnt give you the token and on Monday you visit different telone office trying to get your money back or the token and u dont get either
Very efficient and convinient service hve been using it for some time now and no problems yet