How Pesa Story Is Making Our Complaints Heard
If you have dealt with a bank outside of Kenya (especially in Europe, US, and Canada), you will admit that while our banks have done a lot, sometimes a lot more than their peers in developed countries, to make banking convenient for us, the power dynamics here are heavily in favour of financial institutions. Our banks charge us a lot more for basic services which should be free, they are more inclined to ignore customer complaints, and there is a lot less consumer protection in our market.
This is why the work FSD Kenya is doing with Pesa Story is important. Pesa Story is an FSD Kenya-Princeton research project on conceptions of dignity and fairness in financial services in Kenya. The initial phase which aims to gauge customer sentiment and the response rates / complaint resolution rates by financial institutions is being implemented on social media, via the @PesaStory Twitter handle and Pesa Story Facebook Group.
Part of @PesaStory ‘s work is to monitor how well our banks are serving us. They do complaints monitoring, and also share information on how customers can escalate complaints.They also track areas where banks may not be fully compliant in serving customers such as disclosure and display of bank charges, loans and interest rates etc.
For the next one month, I will be working with Pesa Story on Twitter to raise awareness of the work they are doing, and also educate on the rights of consumers in regards to their dealings with financial services.
Here is how you can participate:
- Tag @PesaStory on any financial services concerns you may have, and any unresolved complaints. Here, financial services include banks, mobile networks, digital lending apps, and insurance companies. If the affected company is online, tag them too so that Pesa Story can track the concern/complaint to its resolution.
- Follow our discussions online and share them widely
Updates
