M-Pesa has overtaken the use of hard currency in transactions as the most efficient and reliable payment method in the country.
There has been an alarming outcry from several business personnel including customers who have been hit by the rampant reversals as the fraudulent cancellation of transactions before finalization saw a rise in losses.
In a statement Safaricom said: “Within a few seconds, you will be notified that the transaction reversal has been started, and an update will be shared within two hours. Safaricom will at this point begin engaging the second party, for the reversal.”
Mpesa has now introduced an approval feature for M-Pesa cash reversals whereby a trial at canceling a transaction is followed by an automated call from Safaricom to the affected customer with a request to approve or decline the action as the cash is held by the service provider.
Upon approval is when the funds can be released back to the sender while in case a reversal is rejected, both the sender and receiver are to prove their cases.
This feature is an improvement to curb the cries and losses from traders particularly, who receive payments through M-Pesa only for their clients to reverse the transactions resulting in losses.
The same case also applies in the public transport sector, where the payments are done by Mpesa only for the passengers to reverse transactions, leaving the crews of public transport shortchanged.
The minimal intervention did not really take into consideration both parties involved in a transaction, as one could reverse by simply sending an mpesa SMS to 456. The new feature will now ensure the safety of both parties.
After sending the message one would then receive a response from ‘Reversal’ reporting the beginning of a reverse transaction and stating an update would be shared in two hours.
Well with the new feature, there is an option to call the customer service team on a toll number (100) to reverse erroneous cash transactions.
It is through this option that one is required to dial 100, and select an option to speak to a Safaricom customer care agent, who verifies details such as identity and phone numbers that the money would have been sent to mistakenly.
Upon verification, the reversal is to be initiated when one can receive their money back within 72 hours.
