Absa poor service

This all started in the March 2020 with the start of Covid-19. All of this is regarding our personal loan and credit card.

I was offered a Covid relief starting 1st of April 2020 for 3 months with regards to my payments on my Absa Personal Loan and Credit card.

I was given grace for payment for end April 2020, end May 2020, and end June 2020. Which was confirmed with a sms received on the 23rd of April 2020. End of April the debit order went off my account. On the 4th of May 2020 I queried the debit order that went through and spoke to a Maria at the Absa call centre, she advised me that she will reverse it immediately and blamed it on a "Glitch on the system".

I went into the branch in Springs Mall on the 11th of May 2020 where the consultant named Clement advised that he will send through a new request to get the debit order reversed.

On the 14th of May 2020 I phoned the Absa action line as the debit order still wasn`t reversed. Spoke to Sophie who advised that the credit was done on the 12th of May 2020, but it didn`t reflect. Only reflected around the 21st of May 2020. On the 23rd of June 2020 I received a sms from Absa confirming the payment relief for period April 2020 to June 2020 on our personal loan ending in 1175. On the 5th of August 2020 I received a sms asking to reply if further relief needs to be app**** or not, but the payment for end July 2020 didn`t go off as was scheduled according to previous relief.

From around the middle of May 2020 I started getting calls and sms`s every single working day from MBD Attorneys regarding an outstanding Credit card account ending 1175 on my own as well as my wife`s phone. On the 6th of July 2020 I received an email from ARA Group stating that my payment for account nr 1175 is due.

On the 3rd of July 2020 I then logged a complaint at Absa as our credit card was not in arears. We spoke to Kathlego who put us through to Heather who gave me a reference number and escalated it onward. On 21 July 2020 I spoke to Rosalia, who advised me that Marinda Liebenberg form Absa Brakpan will be on contact with us. Later that day Antoinette from the Brakpan branch phoned me and made a meeting for Monday the 27th of July 2020. But the branch got closed due to Covid, and I couldn`t get hold of Antoinette at either of the branches that she works at. On the 30th of July 2020 I logged another complaint on the action line and spoke to Tomiso who said he will escalate it to the manager.

All previous calls to the action line was regarding the same complaints as above and bellow.

On the 4th of August 2020 I phoned the Absa action line again. Spoke to Songz regarding the credit card (that was not in arrears, and was on a fixed interest rate that was supposed to be a fluctuating rate), and the personal loan that was on a fixed interest rate that was supposed to be a fluctuating rate. On the 7th of August 2020 I phoned the action line again and spoke to Daisy which advised me that the complaint was escalated and she will refer to Songz that I phoned to follow up on the complaint. On the 12th of August 2020 I phone the action line once again and spoke to Jububele who escalated the credit card part of the complaint. He then referred me to Isabelle who is apparently the manager for personal loans and she escalated the personal loan part of the complaint. On the 17th of August I got a call from Stefan, who is from the credit card department, and he resolved the issue I was having with the credit card.

After his call the the sms`s and calls from MBD changed from Absa Credit card account to only Absa account is in arrears.

On the 4th of September 2020 I went to go see Antionette (after 4 attempts) at Brakpan branch regarding the mess with the Personal loan. She advised that she will discuss it with her Branch Manager and will be in contact with me. By the 15th of September I had still not received any news from her. I then phoned Antionette, she gave me the Absa call centre number and said I must select the option for Personal loans and said that the consultant must review the notes put on the account by herself and Lungile. On the call centre number I spoke to Velile, who could not assist me at all. I once again phone the Absa action line and put in a new complaint regarding the whole matter.

On the 16th of September 2020 I received a call from Dorothea Swanepoel who stated that she understands the issue and I will be getting feedback within 7 to 10 working days. Directly after the call I received a sms stating that I will be contacted within 8 business hours, contradicting what Dorothea just advised me. 2 hours after that I received another sms stating that I will be contacted before 23 September @ 09:18AM with further feedback.

Seeing as nothing happened since then I phoned the Brakpan branch again on the 23rd of September 2020 and spoke to the client manager of the branch with no resolve to issue. Phoned the action line once again and spoke to Daisy who gave me another complaint ref number after which I received a sms from Alpheus Matshailwe that states he is investigating the complaint, and then immediately afterwards another one stating that the complaint has been resolved.

I received an email stating that my account is in arrears for the payment of end July 2020. But I do not make the payments as Absa debits the amount from my account as per the contract.

This whole setup and “system glitch” has caused a huge mess and now no one knows how to get this solved. They have handed me over to debt collectors even before any of this happened, and after they offered a Covid relief on the payments of my accounts.