Ajayi Abel, 32, a Jos-based management consultant, has told FIJ how GTpay, a digital payment company linked to the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), withheld his N303,002 for several months after he paid for flight tickets.

Abel told FIJ that he first made flight reservations with Arik Air on August 23, 2022, but payment wasn’t successful. He tried again after two days and the money was debited from his United Bank for Africa (UBA) account.

@Ojanimata. Hi, GTPay is one of our payment platforms which has the capacity to process both local and international Cards (Verve,… 1/7

— Guaranty Trust Bank Help (@gtbank_help) August 9, 2017

“I booked flights with Arik Air on August 2022. Reservations were made, but I noticed my bank sent a message that I had exceeded my transfer limit. Eventually, on August 25, after trying again, I was debited from my UBA account the sum of N303,002.00,” Abel told FIJ.

Abel said that despite the deduction, he didn’t get flight tickets. This made him reach out to the airline through its customer relations officer on two occasions. On September 28, he was told that the flight booking was not processed.

“I was unfortunately told that our flight was not processed. We had to book another flight immediately,” he said.

Abel reverted to his bank on the advice of Arik Air. However, his bank confirmed to him that the transaction was actually successful.

“I reverted to my bank, and they confirmed that the funds got to Arik Air’s payment portal,” Abel told FIJ.

On November 14, 2022, Abel started exchanging emails with Arik Air, and the airline gave him a complaint form to fill.

“After an exchange of emails, Arik said that I should report to my bank. I have obtained my account statement, and it shows that the money went to Arik Air’s payment portal,” Abel told FIJ.

“Only UBA has provided solid evidence that the money actually left my account. If the money is not with UBA as the statement has indicated, my analysis of the situation is that the money is with Arik Air’s payment platform, the GTpay.

“I wouldn’t want to forego such an amount.”

When FIJ contacted Arik Air via mail and telephone call, its representative, Ola Adebanji, stated that the airline had done its in-house investigation and discovered the transaction in contention failed. He then advised that Abel contact UBA.

“The transaction failed and was done through GTpay gateway. The customer should log the claim through his/her bank,” Adebanji stated in response to FIJ’s email.

Also, FIJ’s email to GTB returned a plethora of automated responses. Telephone calls to the bank were not attended to.