ABSA Missing Payment

On the 15 June 2018, we made an Online transfer from our Business Account to our Standard Bank Account. 6 days later, the transferred amount is still not reflecting in our account. My husband had been in contact with ABSA who misguided him and told him to enquire with Standard Bank as the transfer reflected on their system so they were unable to assist. He went into the Standard Bank branch today and was told that there was no transaction reflecting on their system from our ABSA Account and would need to go back to ABSA Bank to query.

I went into the Sandton City Branch and discussed the issue with a Business Banking Consultant who showed me that the amount appears on their system as "debited" and would need to enquire with Standard Bank. I advised her that my husband had since been to Standard Bank to enquire and was he was told. She gave me a number to contact the Online Banking department ( ********** 600), which I contacted immediately after our meeting had ended. My concern is that we had to call the bank, go into the different banks to ascertain what the issue was. Not one day did ABSA call, e-mail or send some type of notification of what had transpired. Surely as customers, we should be kept in the loop or at least receive an automated response if payments do not go through?????

I spoke to a lady who advised the exact same thing as the Business Banking Consultant and I relayed the same message (again). I found it difficult and frustrating at this point that no one took the liberty of checking the reason why the amount reflected as a debit on ABSA's side, however, the payment was not reflecting in our Standard Bank account. At this point, I asked the lady what possible reasons could there be for the amount not reflect in our Standard bank account. She mentioned system issues, possible problems on Standard Bank side that may have caused a delay. She asked that I transfer a R10 into the Standard Bank account to see whether the transfer would be successful. I advised her that there were other amounts transferred from our ABSA account before and after the fact, without any issues. She asked me to hold while she spoke to consult with her Superior/Supervisor and investigate. I held on the line for about 10 minutes after which time she came back to confirm that that the account showed the following message: "Debit not authorised" and "Missing Payment". What does this even mean, was the first question that popped into my head. "Missing Payment" to me insinuated that our money had disappeared and that we may never retrieve it. I was devastated and became irate. So what was I to do and how was I to proceed. I asked about our options, can a reversal be done, was my next question, to which I was advised, no as they were not sure where the money was. SERIOUSLY!!!

I was at this point advised that I needed to send an e-mail to ********** and the issue would be investigated. I sent the e-mail shortly after leaving the branch and received what appeared to be an automated Case number Case (# ********** 4: Missing Payment query: ref:_00D24JOMz._5001p2RHdbY:ref).

I called the call Centre this afternoon to enquire whether the case had been sent to the relevant department and whether it was being investigated as the automated response also referenced "Please ensure that requests and queries are sent to the correct box. We cannot guarantee a response to mails sent to the incorrect box." and I needed confirmation that our case was sent to the correct department and did not get lost or may have ended up in a mailbox that would not be read and investigated.

I was put through to 3 different consultants before being told to speak to a consultant in the ***** department. At no point in my 3 transfers was I asked for our case number, account number or any of my details to look into my account. I was just "thrown from pillar to post". You can imagine my dismay, frustration, irritation and sense of urgency to now get to the bottom of this as "***** Department" to me means there was ********** activity on our account and we may never get our money refunded. A lady in the ***** department tried cutting me off whilst I was trying to explain why I was calling and why I was through to her department, however, I persisted and made my voice heard and advised her that I will not be put through to another person and needed confirmation of what the "actual" problem was, where the money was "floating" and whether I should be concerned. She proceeded to put me on hold for what felt like "years" and when she "eventually" came back on the line, she advised that they had looked into our account and it appeared that the money did not go through as it was transferred into our Standard Bank Savings account, instead of our Standard Bank Cheque account. I must point out that this is ONE linked account with a Savings and Cheque account, so what could the problem possibly be. I asked whether a reversal could be done in order for the money to reflect in our account in order for us to do a transfer into the correct account, to which I was told NO. I asked whether a manual payment could be done in order for the payment to go through correctly, to which I was told NO, again. I was advised that I would need to wait at least 7 - 10 working days for a reversal to be done. NO, NO, NO...at this point, it is already a week and to have to wait up another 2 weeks, would make it 3 weeks of waiting. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. I advised that I will not accept the decision being given to wait another 2 weeks as it was not our fault. She stated that it was not ABSA's fault either. REALLY, then whose fault is it. How does a consultant tell a customer that it is not their fault, insinuating that it is the customers fault? EXTREMELY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. I advised that I will not take accountability for something that that went wrong on our ABSA account system. I am extremely disappointed in the service I received and would appreciate it if ABSA can resolve this matter timeousy.