Assessment of Challenges Facing Customers in Automated Teller Machines in the Banking Industry in Tanzania: A Case of Some Selected Banks in Tanzania

Abstract

this study presents an assessment of the challenges facing banks’ customers when using Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the banking industry in Tanzania, a case of some selected banks in Tanzania. Specifically, the study examined the contribution of Automated Teller Machines towards customer satisfaction, challenges facing customers when using ATM in Tanzania, and strategies which banks in Tanzania can use in improving ATM services in Tanzania. The study employed descriptive research design to explain the extent to which bank customers in Tanzania are satisfied and dissatisfied with ATMs in Tanzania. Data were sourced mainly from bank customers of Barclays bank, National Microfinance Bank (NMB), CRDB bank, National Bank of Commerce, Tanzania Posta Bank, Exim Bank, and Diamond Trust Bank in Iringa region in Tanzania. Data were collected only to customers who had ATM cards. In all banks, 100 ATM card bearers were accessed. Structured questionnaire was administered to each customer. Data analysis was done using software programs such as Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) and Microsoft excel. Descriptive and inferential statistics were the pivot of the analysis. The findings of the study revealed that card locking, insecurity, machine breakdown, machine out of cash, and long time in cash dispensing have a positive relationship with the challenges of that face bank customers in using ATMs in Tanzania. The study concluded that these factors (card locking, insecurity, machine breakdown, machine out of cash, and long time in cash dispensing) hinder the convenience, speed, security, reliability and cost for more customers to use ATM and get customer satisfaction in banks in Tanzania. Thus, the study recommends that those challenges attributed in the study should be given priority by banks in improving ATM services to customers.