The past several months have been quite bad for some Steward Bank customers. Some of the bank’s technology platforms have been going offline without explanation. Some customers have complained that their account balances in the system are often wrong. Some have complained that failed transfers somehow still reduce account balances, and that such errors go unreversed for a long time. And there’s the issue of unexplained bank charges.
The bank hasn’t said exactly what the problem is and why only them and not other banks are being affected by such problems. They have only offered the template “we’re sorry and our people are working on it” response.
Observing from outside however, many have concluded the bank’s banking technology platform just can’t handle the huge amount of customers they have attracted. There are also suggestions the bank may have not followed best practice in the implementation of some technology systems.
Today, the bank has released a statement apologising the for all this and promising that they are fixing the problems this weekend by upgrading the bank system.
Here’s the statement:
Dear Valued Customers
The Bank’s system has been intermittent and unstable in the past few months. This has resulted in a number of our customers being inconvenienced when transacting on some of our platforms. To address these challenges, the bank has made significant investment in a robust ICT infrastructure. As a consequence, we will be conducting a system upgrade and maintenance from 1800 hours, Saturday 25the of March to 0600hrs, Sunday, 26th of March 2017. During this period, limited service will be available on all platforms including:
- ATMs
- POS
- Banking Services
- Mobile Banking
The following will not be available during this time:
- MasterCard
- Internet Banking
- Agent Banking
We thank you for your patience and advise that all effort and expert skills are currently being directed towards improving stability and our customers’ banking experience. We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused.
Even as they promise to fix this over the weekend, the problem for Steward is that they have made such promises before and not fulfilled them. Last time for example, in response to some questions we had posed, the bank told us they expected all systems to be fully operational by 25 February. That’s exactly a month ago.
So whether this fix will finally restore the bank, or not, is something only time can tell.
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8 comments
Guinea pigs, don’t act surprised..
I’m a victim of Steward Bank’s flawed systems. The best they can do as a matter of urgency is to remove the Square App. This app is a scam! Consistently giving false account balances on every enquiry, which by the way attracts a charge all the same. As customers, we must act collectively to demand the charges reversed or else these are the profits they declare at the end of the day…scamming customers it’s unbelievable!
Or simply jump ship, surely you can’t be fleeced twice in broad daylight..
muitirei zvinhu kana musingazvigoni
Maybe it’s a skills issue we have here. check this: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=kNcmGhI09uw
Maybe it’s a skills issue we have here. check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNcmGhI09uw
Steward bank made a big blunder yekuita gumba wakumba thinking they are doing to their clients before upgrading their system. It’s now the new “POSB” yataiziva kare kuti they would take any jack n jill but these days they are much much better than what Steward is doing.
Wheerever you go to their banking halls you won’t access your monies whether on ATM or banking hall you won’t get it easily no matter what time of the month. With other banks mid month you monies easily.
It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Up until now none of the top execs has come out to take responsibility for the mess and apologise to their banking clients. The impression among all of us is that they don’t care. The CEO should call a press conference with his coterie of merry men (IT engineers, fellow managers) and explain what exactly is going on. They should show cause why clients should not shut their accounts and ship out. To say that our patience has worn thin is an understatement. We are just fed up and tired.All attempts at getting recourse seem to fall on deaf ears. The scrummage being witnessed outside all their branches is criminal to say the least. On my Facebook page, with 5,000 friends on tap, I wrote this:
“t clearly makes no sense for a bank to keep on registering more customers when their service and systems clearly can’t cope #Stewed by #StewardBank.”