Barclays Kenya Throws Their Customer’s Account Balance to the Social media Jungle

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Social Media is a boon for brands. It is a free medium where brands get to interact directly with their customers, and in some cases, they can even partly port their customer service function to it. Some brands, and Safaricom is a good example here, have done this excellently.

Barclays one of the most well known brands in Kenya joined the social  media jungle, to handle the customer issues and complaints through twitter account @Barclays_kenya. Personally I have not been following what has been going on the Barclays account until they decided that the World should know the balance of one of their customers through the twitter public timeline..

Here is what they said which you would not find on their account at the moment because they were quick to delete after an outcry from Kenyans on Twitter (#KOT)

What was absolutely shocking about the tweet was the obvious breach of confidentiality and this was made apparent by the fact that that particular tweet was eventually deleted. Let’s be honest, some people don’t reveal the true value of what they have in their bank accounts to even their spouses but here comes Barclays Bank which reveals it all to the world and on the twitter public timeline no less.

It is an open secret that Robert  Alai is a controversial fellow and many people would attest to that but  Barclays owe him an explanation in this case. Well, I am not a lawyer but some have suggested that he should sue Barclays for this. Which basically I feel that they are right…

 

Barclays later came to their senses and replaced that tweet with the following

@RobertAlai Hi Robert. We will have a Barclays representative call you to explain the charges.

Maybe Barclays Kenya at this point in time need some social media “actual experts’ to show them the way..

 

Thanks to James Wamathai for contributing to this article.

Article Categories:
TECHNOLOGY

Comments

  • poetic justice?

    David T Svarrer July 7, 2012 12:47

  • True. He deserved it. Isn’t Robert Alai the same guy operating the @KenyaPolice account?

    MMK July 9, 2012 13:24

  • No doubt Robert Alai is no favourite of many but the bank has to remain above that. If they can do that to Alai regardless of what people think about him, then they can do it to anybody. The main reason people like Swiss banks, is because the way they operate, they strictly keep their part of bargain. Total … Secret.. regardless who the client is or what other people think about him..

    kachwanya July 9, 2012 13:31

  • Being busy is such a bore at times. I never saw this. Thanks for keeping up to tabs with the drama back in Twitville. I look forward to the day our banks will be mini-Jersey shore havens or the Swiss as you’ve put it. It’s the carelessness of an employee who just doesn’t know how to handle things ethically. Hope he/she is already fired. On the other hand, at times, karma as they say is a … 

    Emmanuel Chenze July 10, 2012 01:09

  • Whatever beef KOT have with Alai, what Barclays did was uncalled for and totally unprofessional. But it would be better for us to recall that BBK joined twitter when they were having the Barclays Open Golf Tournament…..meaning that they have no clue whatsoever on how to manage a socialmedia account. A bank like KCB gets it right because the CEO Martin Oduor is on twitter and as such, has a clue on what to do…meaning he can seek professionals to manage @KCBGroup:twitter  account. Which other Kenyan Bank CEO is on twitter?

    Trust me, we will see more of these mistakes as more Kenyan companies join socialmedia without a well thought out plan!

    Either way, BBK owes Alai an explanation for if he takes them to court, they’ll pay dearly for that indiscretion!

    mmnjug ™ July 10, 2012 07:04
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