Safaricom orders Challa to Refund 424,000 Kenyans after KCPE SMS Code Failure

Safaricom has directed Challa Communications to refund to 424,011 users who were affected when using the 22252 short code used to deliver Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results.

“We have instructed it to refund all affected customers starting this afternoon,” said Safaricom’s Director of Strategy Joe Ogutu in a statement.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to our customers and want to assure them that we are dedicated to ensuring that they continue to enjoy the best possible experience on our network,” the statement further read. 

According to Ogutu, the 22252 Short code is run by a third party named Challa Communications Limited, who are licensed by the Communications Authority and were contracted by the Kenya National Examinations Council to provide the service. 

Ogutu disclosed that on Wednesday, Challa Communications informed them of a technical challenge where customers who queried the system were experiencing delays in receiving results.

“This prompted some customers to repeat their query and in the process, they were billed multiple times for each attempt. As a result, a total of 424,011 requests were affected,” read the statement.

Every year, Safaricom offers a short SMS code that is used by its customers to request for either KCPE or KCSE results by parents and student immediately after the Ministry of education officially releases the results.