7 MONTHS later... ABSA not fulfilling their ***** policy. Simply ignored.

I am writing to express my deep frustration with ABSA’s ***** department.

On Sunday 22 October 2023, I reported *****ulent activity on my account while traveling in Paris. The total amount was around R26,000 on my debit card.

I reported this in less than 24h after the charges were made, and at this point all charges were marked as “pending” on my ABSA banking app and had not been debited.

I received NO SMS notifications for these charges (I had a phone with my South African SIM on me, so I should have been able to receive them). I was also not asked to provide an OTP pin or login to my ABSA app to approve these charges, as I always would with any other online transaction.

After checking in every 1-2 weeks speaking with countless ***** line representatives, private bankers, and talking with other individuals that had previous ***** cases solved by ABSA, everyone agrees that it is UNHEARD of for a ***** refund to be taking this long.

It took about 2 months for my ***** investigator, Fikile Seluma, to update me on my case. In January 2024 she informed me that they were able to stop some of the money (R) from “going out” however, the remainder would have to be recovered or paid back to me by ABSA. I was told that she would ring me again by the end of that week. Never got a call.

What’s even stranger is that I had multiple charges from a single vendor of which some charges were able to be stopped, however others not?

In February 2024, I submitted a breakdown of my finances to my personal accountant and could see on my statements that I was still short of R15,126.15 that had never been refunded by ABSA. I was told by an ABSA employee that this money should actually never have been debited from the account.

After escalating the matter through a private banker, they were able to determine that my case was in fact closed and would need to be reopened. Even though upper management was CC’ed into emails, I never got a phone call or email from anyone to update me on the matter.

Months later my case was handed over to another investigator, Amos Mahlangu, who personally called me on 24 April to let me know that he was now on the case. I updated him on the matter telephonically and sent an email highlighting the *****ulent charges that had been debited and that I was still waiting to be refunded.

On 30 April 2024, I checked in with Amos for an ETA. He informed me that the case had been handed back to Fikile. On 2 May 2024, after another failed attempt to get hold of Fikile via the ***** line, I asked Amos for her email and reached out to directly. No response.

Ever since I have been phoning the ***** line almost every week. On one occasion in Fikile FINALLY picked up her phone and I was told that she would need to look into the matter and asked that I forward the email I sent Amos, even though he told me that he’d already forwarded it to her. I sent the email to Fikile highlighting all the information she needs and she said she’s call me back. She also gave me her work number to contact her directly but when I did there is either no answer or the line gets cut. I believe ABSA attempted to call me back the next day, however when I answered there was no voice coming from their line, I could only hear the background noise from the office. I immediately called the line back, called the ***** department but nope– another disappearing act from my investigator.

Again, for weeks I phoned the ABSA ***** line. One of the agents actually recognised me from calling in over and over and could not believe that I had not been contacted or updated on the case. She said that she’s going to contact the investigator and also send an email cc’ing her manager to escalate the case. She promised to phone me back a few days later to check if I’d been helped. So far, this had been the only person actually interested in helping me. She phoned back as promised and I informed her that I still had not been contacted, nor by Fikile or her manager. Again, the next week she checked in, and I let her know that I still haven’t received any communication.

It is now 4 June 2024. I have called the ***** line again, and ‘big surprise’– my investigator Fikile can’t be reached. The agent has again requested her manager, Tshidisegang Motaung, to contact me. I am waiting for the call…

My question, ABSA, is what on EARTH is going on?

7 months and I’m still in the dark. I’ve never had any issues with ABSA before. I love their app’s interface and service has previously been good. This is leaving such a bad taste and I am very close to just giving up and switching banks if I am not helped soon.