Michael Akin, a Lagos-based software developer, has accused Interswitch Quickteller, Jumia Nigeria and Wema Bank of refusing to refund his N441,000.

Akin told FIJ that he had experienced a failed transaction while attempting to make an order on Jumia Nigeria on April 1.

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“As a result of the coronavirus epidemic that is still ravaging the world, my company approved a remote working policy. As a result, I decided to build my own workspace at home,” he said.

Akin said he ordered workspace tools on Jumia Nigeria by sending money from his Wema Bank account through Quickteller Interswitch platform.

“At that time, the payment option they were using was Insterswitch Quickteller platform with a Wema Bank account. The procedure was to send the money from my bank account to the account displayed. After completing the transfer, you would go to the Jumia dashboard to click on ‘I have transferred’ . It would automatically verify your transaction and then proceed from there. When I did, the screen showed that the transaction failed, but it turned out that I had been charged.”

Akin told FIJ that he reached out to Jumia Nigeria, telling them about the failed transfer but was told to contact his bank.

“I went to my bank but they also directed me to Jumia Nigeria. I was doing this back and forth from Jumia to Access Bank until I became frustrated,” he said.

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He told FIJ that he reached out to Insterswitch Quickteller to inquire about the status of the transaction but was told it was successful.

“I sent them the details and they told me that the amount was successful. They said they actually received the said amount. They said they would reach out to Jumia to give me back my money. I sent the details of the successful transaction they sent to me to Jumia Nigeria.”

He said after sending the details to Jumia Nigeria, they said the transaction was actually successful.

“Now that they have acknowledged my payment, and it is clear that they did not provide the service, I asked them to refund my money. Till today, I have not seen the money.”

Akin told FIJ that at some point, Jumia Nigeria claimed that they had sent the money to him but he did not receive it.

“Anytime I told them that I had not seen the money, they would tell me to talk to my bank. I often ask what my bank has got to do with. This is between Jumia and Wema Interswitch. But then I went to my bank (Access Bank) to deliver their message. My bank told me to get proof from Jumia that the money had been sent to them.”

The Lagos-based software developer said this back and forth nearly cost him his job because he was so stressed and frustrated. He also said it was one of the reasons he had given up on the money.

“It got to a point that they stopped answering my calls. Anytime I called Jumia Nigeria, they told me I was not allowed to call the number. I went to Wema Bank and they told me they had received the money from Interswitch. They said I should ask my bank to raise a recall. My bank hesitated before they raised the recall, but still, I did not get the money. Wema Bank, in collaboration with Interswitch and Jumia Nigeria, are claiming the money has been sent, but my bank says they have not seen it. I was very disappointed in my bank because they could not do anything about it.”

FIJ made several calls to Jumia Nigeria, Access Bank, Wema Bank and Insterswitch, but they were not answered. An email sent to them had also not been responded to at press time.