‘Technical hitches’ erode Kenyans trust in M-payment
With over 18 million mobile phone money service subscribers, who transferred more than 600 million U. S. dollars between July and September 2011, according to Communication Commission of Kenya, mobile money payments should be vibrant in Kenya.
The East African nation ought to be leading in the adoption and use of mobile phone payments because of the system’s convenience.
Therefore, Kenyans should be using their mobile phones to pay utility bills like water and electricity, purchase groceries and pay loans among other functions.
But that is not the case as both consumers and businesses still prefer cash over m-payments.
This is despite the fact that several companies have partnered with mobile telephony firms, namely Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and Yu, which are all offering mobile money services.
Of the things stalling the adoption and spread of m-payments among Kenya’s 26.9 million mobile phone subscribers are high charges for using the services and frequent technical hitches.
It costs between 0.25 and 1.2 U.S. dollars to use m-payment services.
In particular, to pay for utility bills like water and electricity, one pays about 0.30 dollars on top of their bills, which many people consider expensive.
“This is too high for many people especially when you consider the fact that there are many readily accessible cash payment options,” Graham Ngeno, a marketer in Nairobi said on Monday.
According to Ngeno, it is expensive to pay up to 0.5 dollars on top of one’s bill every month for the sake of convenience when you can walk into a supermarket or post office and pay for the service without additional charges.
“While technology is supposed to make things easier, consumers should not pay for it dearly especially for things like paying bills because this is just an added service for companies,” he said.
Ngeno noted that paying high fees for m-payment service is defeatist if the aim is to encourage many people to adopt the system.
“The way the charges are fixed in Kenya is like those who adopt convenient technologies like m-payments pay dearly for it,” he noted.
On the other hand, those who stick to the old system are “rewarded” by not paying additional charges yet they are the ones who engage the company’s employees.
“It is as if companies do not see that greater use of m- payments while help them save lots of resources since they will not need to employ cashiers,” he noted.
To encourage use of mobile money payments, he said Kenyan consumers should pay at most 0.06 dollars per transaction.
“If companies, for instance, those supplying electricity and water do these, the huge queues they experience in their offices will disappear.
“Some of those queuing in their offices line to confirm their bills yet they can do it and pay through their mobile phones if the charges are not prohibitive,” he said.
Besides costly charges, most consumers who have used the services have been greatly inconvenienced by technical hitches that make it impossible for payments to be effected, especially in cases where mobile money services have been integrated with other systems.
When the hitches result in delayed payment in the case of utility bills, it is the consumer who is penalised.
Take the case of Nairobi resident Gabriel Mungue. When he saw the deadline for paying his water bill was fast approaching and he could not make it to the company, he decided to use a mobile payment platform.
Mungue deposited 12 dollars in his mobile phone account and following instructions he had read in a newspaper send the money to the company for his December, 2011 bill.
He was happy with himself. January began well for the private school teacher, but when the month neared the end, he was perplexed when he returned home one evening and found his water had been disconnected.
“I could not believe. At first, I thought someone has stolen the meter but a neighbour later told me the water company employees had disconnected it for non-payment,” he recounted.
The next day he went to the company offices only to be told he had not paid. When he informed them he had paid through a mobile money system a month ago, he was asked to show proof.
“That is where my problems compounded.
“I had deleted the message that showed the transaction number after about a week because I believed the method was foolproof,” he said.
Mungue was forced to pay again for the service as the company sorts the matter with the mobile phone firm – Safaricom, which runs M-pesa.
“I have gone to the water company several times but they are yet to resolve the issue. While I believe I have not lost the money, this has discouraged me from using the service again and I cannot recommend it to anyone,” said Mungue, whose predicament is shared by several other consumers.
A Safaricom agent who was promoting the mobile money payment system at the water company’s offices in Nairobi on February 18 acknowledged that it has had technical hitches.
“The system has previously had hitches but they have has now rectified that is why we are promoting the service” said Julie.
It is a similar experience for electricity consumers in Nairobi who use pre-paid meter system, where they purchase unit codes through mobile phone.
Some of them have had to go without electricity for several hours due to hitches on Kenya Power mobile payment system.
“I am still waiting for the prepaid voucher code I bought through M-pesa. I paid 18 dollars but the invoice does not indicate the transaction I made.
“So, this is the second day I am spending without power.
“Can someone please follow up and help me,” complains Isaac Owino on the company’s Facebook page.
