Opinions of Friday, 28 October 2022

Columnist: Andy Boadu

Let’s talk about Yaa Yeboah Adu-Gyimah, an Ecobank star

Ecobank Ecobank

Every year, Trans cosmos UK publishes incredible Customer Service Stories that make people go “wow”. A story is told of a Zappos customer service person who stayed on a call with a customer for 10 hours to solve an issue for them. Another story is told about Sainsbury, who renamed their tiger bread to Giraffe bread to satisfy a 3-year-old customer who thought the bread looked more like a giraffe cloth than a tiger. Another legendary customer service story that is yet to be told is that of Yaa Yeboah Adu-Gyimah, a relationship Manager at Ecobank Ghana Limited, Silver Star branch Accra. Yaa is an epitome of a star who is worth celebrating. I have banked with Ecobank for close to 10 years and have done multiple international transfers with them. My last transfer, however, in the week of October 23, 2022, is what prompted me to shower this praise on Yaa. Like any other day, I walked into Ecobank to initiate an international transfer. Yaa attended to me promptly and addressed all questions I had. She was very nice, soft-spoken, and swift. Her willingness to support me was incredible and took time to process everything for me. This is where things get interesting. The transfer did not reflect in the beneficiary bank by the end of the day (Contrary to previous experiences). By the end of the second day, the transfer had still not reflected. After unsuccessful attempts to get help from several emails to Ecobank customer service, I called Yaa and explained my pain to her. She empathized with me and promised to get it resolved. For the next 48 hours, I bugged Yaa with phone calls, emails, and direct contacts. At no point did she get tired of hearing from me or seeing me. She kept me updated with every step of the process to fix the delay. There are times she herself would call to brief me on the happenings and never reneged on her duty to get me satisfied. She would ask for swift messages, give me directions and things to do including what to give to the beneficiary bank when I contact them, etc. Then the good news came. I had a call from Yaa on the 4th day. She informed me that her team is reprocessing and is close to ending the investigation, tracking it, and promising to get it resolved within 2 hours. She asked me to call back if I did not get any traction within 2 hours. Even when I told her it was a bother and I will rather call her the next day, she said No. Her duty is to serve, so I should not worry about calling back if I do not get any good news. Lo and behold, within 2 hours, I received a confirmation from the beneficiary bank that the money had arrived in the account. I called Yaa to express my profound gratitude. She was also happy for me. Even when I offered to do more, she said “A Thank you” is enough. But reflecting on these happenings, I cannot but share this story with the whole World. Yaa Yeboah Adu-Gyimah is an Ecobank Star. She indeed went above and beyond to assist a customer. She deserves all the accolades, recognitions, and promotions due her, and I am calling on Ecobank Ghana to celebrate her. She is an inspiration to customer service, and I am truly appreciative. andyoduro@yahoo.com