Kenya's Safaricom clarifies money deduction claims

 

NAIROBI, KENYA: Safaricom has clarified that it has not been deducting money from its subscribers’ M-Pesa wallet when they buy airtime and data bundles for indebted users.

The telco says some customers must pay attention to the steps required to benefit from this service so that they do not incur costs they did not plan for when transferring credit and bundles to subscribers with a Okoa Jahazi debt.

“Customers, however, are always advised to note a few things about the services before going ahead and buying airtime or bundles for a loved one from their phones,” reads  part the statement from Safaricom.

Sambaza credit and Okoa Jahazi  come in handy when subscribers have no airtime.

Before finalising the process of Sambaza, Safaricom will first ask you whether to offset the pending Okoa Jahazi balance and also purchase additional resources within the same transaction, or cancel the whole transaction.

For example: To Sambaza a data bundle, dial *544#, select 98 to see more, pick option 13 to send a data bundle to another customer.  In the last step, you will be provided with the choice to also Sambaza them additional airtime to offset their Okoa Jahazi, should there be an outstanding balance.

That is, if a customer wanted to buy someone bundles worth Sh100 and they have an Okoa Jahazi of Sh 50, they’ll end up spending a total of Sh 150.

Once you choose accept, you are then directed to the M-PESA menu and again asked to confirm the transaction including both amounts by keying your PIN, explains Safaricom.