EcoCash agents fleecing customers
EDITOR — There is a huge and rampant racket going on involving many of the country’s commercial retail shops, which include groceries, supermarkets, hardware dealers and others which do business over the counter such as stationery suppliers. They are all EcoCash agents. They are making roaring business because of the cash shortages in the banks. Customers are required to purchase goods worth a minimum of $10 and a customer can only be given $10 in cash as pay-out regardless of how much balance there is in the wallet. The public is being exploited by these unscrupulous traders left, right and centre.
Surely using common sense, the contract is between Econet and the agent and so they remunerate each other as per the terms of that contract.
And yet what is happening now is that the traders charge me a dollar for the transaction, when I have made purchases, more often than not, very much against my free will, worth a minimum of $10 as said above.
Econet have of late been “flighting” a message to the effect that we report to them agents who charge for cash-out transactions. These traders are skinning the public alive. They have no ethics and they are thieves without morals.
I feel sorry for them for they are the dark side of humanity. Even worse, they are exploiting not only the public but also Econet company as well by tainting its name and corporate image. The company has to be discriminating when approving agents.
As mentioned above, when these agents say, “we can only give you $10 cash-out” the trick is that you come back for the balance and they charge you till your wallet is empty. This is daylight robbery. You cannot tell the police. They are busy on the roads . You cannot tell the ministers. They are also busy trying to ban imports. Zimbabweans are going through a traumatic time.
Our pain is felt by both mother and child. The former is burnt on the back and the latter on the stomach. The people of Zimbabwe need someone, or something to lean on in these troubled times.
They need someone or something to assuage the excruciating pain they are bearing. Otherwise they are feeling rejected and abandoned. They are so vulnerable as to be at the mercy of a tuckshop owner operating around the corner.
As for the Econet agents, the money they withhold in our wallets is ours, not theirs. They are not doing us a favour.
Econet should look into this matter seriously. In addition to going hungry many or us live on medication of some sort and yet we fail to access the little money we receive from the diaspora and whatever we receive is in the form of change.
Let us come off it, please! The agents’ business with Econet is in bad faith. Martin Stobart, Nhlahlandlela Village, Lupane A 10KG pack of rabbit pellets was selling at $7.07 a few weeks ago, now it has increased to about $7.75. Most people who dumped quail farming had taken up cuni-culture and the number is still rising. The untimely increase in rabbit feed price will see many farmers falling by the wayside since most are still at “foetal” stage; still trying to find their feet. Those who persevere will use alternative feeds and reduced rations, thereby compromising the meat quality. - Thomas Murisa. Harare.
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