Besides using the EcoCash FCA wallet to sell your US Dollars, some folks like me use it to send US Dollars. For one to send US Dollars to someone, they have to switch the currency of the wallet from RTGS to USD-FCA.
As it happens, I switched my wallet from RTGS to USD-FCA currency to so that I could send some US Dollars to my friend in Budiriro. The transaction was successful.
But later on I tried to make a Zim Dollar payment in Pick n Pay, and EcoCash failed to send a prompt (to enter my pin). I tried 3 times whilst I was still at the checkout but I couldn’t make the payment. Instead of sending a prompt to enter the EcoCash pin, EcoCash sent me this message (3 times):
Naturally I thought maybe EcoCash was experiencing downtime that’s why I was failing to make the payment. But,no, other customers where using their EcoCash to make payments whilst I was parked at the checkout.
“Am I blocked by EcoCash?”, I thought to myself. But, no, I wasn’t blocked because I then dialed *151# to see if EcoCash could send me a prompt to enter my pin and guess what, the prompt popped up. So, I was now sure that EcoCash wasn’t down and I wasn’t blocked either, yet I couldn’t make a payment.
Eureka!
Only after I had left Pick n Pay without buying anything did I realise that all along the EcoCash wallet that was active was the one for US Dollars (EcoCash USD-FCA wallet), yet I was trying to make a Zim Dollar payment- which is why I failed to buy in Pick n Pay. In other words, I had forgot to switch my EcoCash wallet from USD-FCA to RTGS currency so that’s why I couldn’t make a payment in Zimbabwe Dollars. Silly me.
Akuruma nzeve ndewako (he who gives you an advice cares for you). Please don’t forget to change the currency of your EcoCash wallets otherwise you will make a fool of yourself like I did.
How to switch back to the normal EcoCash wallet?
- Dial *151# and enter pin
- Enter option3
- Enter option4
- Enter option2
- Enter option1
- Enter option 1. Now you’ve successfully switched back to tge normal EcoCash wallet.
Can you receive Zim Dollars sent into your normal EcoCash wallet whilst you are using EcoCash FCA wallet?
Even though you can’t send Zim Dollars or make a payment whilst the wallet is set in USD-FCA currency, you will be glad to know that if someone sends you Zim Dollars you can receive your Zim Dollars and get a notification that new funds have been received even though the currency of your wallet will be currently in USD-FCA.
Can EcoCash do something to make people avoid the silly mistake I made?
Hell yeah, I think so. Instead of sending a prompt message which tells me that no service is available, I think they should send a prompt message which tells me that I’m using the wrong EcoCash currency/wallet to make a certain payment- the prompt message could just say something like this: “You are using the wrong currency to make this payment, change the currency of your wallet”.
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