Why is Wema Bank’s ALAT Getting a Lot of Negative Reviews From Users?

Wema Bank’s hugely popular banking app, ALAT, earned media attention when it launched in 2017. The digital only bank is based on the revolutionary fintech model powering platforms like Revolut, Atom and JP Morgan’s Marcus.

But for all the gushing about the ALAT platform, it appears not too many users are truly feeling it. Over the last couple of weeks and even months, users have complained about a whole bunch of issues.

For instance, since October, some users have complained about one mundane issue: generating accounts. As simple as this should be, a lot of customers, both on Twitter and Google Play say opening an account on the app is too stressful.

Piggy bank ! Alat too complex abeg

— ILOALHASSAN (@alhassan47) December 26, 2018

“The application is stuck at generating account”, says Adebayo Akinlaja on the Playstore. “I feel there’s more to the app that could earn at the least 4 star rating but I’m not been able to do anything without getting beyond the account creation stage.”

Another user lamented “I’ve been trying sign up with my gmail account and password and they keep on telling me my pin is not up to 8 characters and trust me it is more I’m fed up.”

“I tried to sign up but it said my BVN was linked to another account”, says Hafsah Oladipo. “Then I tried to get my password using my email but it kept saying I haven’t answered the security question! There was no question! So how am I supposed log in when I don’t know my password…”

Unfortunately, the problem with ALAT stretches beyond account opening. Many users still struggle to make transactions and fund their account.

https://twitter.com/NeoIghodaro/status/1077909641621880832

https://twitter.com/NeoIghodaro/status/1077912766047023106

But the worse issue is that the platform has been slow to respond to issues and fix them.

Normally on the App stores, when an issue is discovered and reviewers leave negative remarks, the developers can follow up. They resolve the issue and you can see the fix reflected in the reviewers updated review.

But so far, this has not happened for ALAT. Much of the negative reviews still exist, many of them dating months, and with no response from the company at all.

As a banking app, ALAT relies more on word of marketing than paid marketing. If users can’t give positive reviews about the app, they will lose a lot of potential customers. Furthermore, the existing customers will likely jump ship. And thankfully, there are a ton of options from CowryWise, PiggyBank, PayVest, even QuickTeller, providing different services.