Absa's incompetence and unacceptable service - The Final Straw

Absa has proven for the final time that it is the absolute worst bank in South Africa

This review will illustrate how I reached the final straw to want to close my accounts.

I've been a customer for over 25 years and years ago I moved to FNB for several reasons: - Absa has the WORST service of any bank I have ever dealt with. - I was on a student account until I was in my late 30s! Not ONCE did Absa contact me to move me to a more relevant product. I had to do that myself. To do that I had to visit THREE different branches and eventually had to ask for the branch manager to get assisted. - I currently have a savings and credit card with Absa. Only for emergency reasons. But the credit card is costing me more in service fees than any value that it actually offers. I get called 4 TIMES A DAY if I am a day late to make a payment of R28 on my credit card!!!!!!!!!! Other than that, you NEVER hear from Absa to add any value in your life. - To re-issue a card with Absa is an absolute nightmare. I literally had to go to the branch to activate my card. The agent literally sent me to the ATM to get my PIN on the CHIP. In comparison, everything with FNB is online for their clients' convenience. Even issuing a physical card, activating it and getting the PIN on the CHIP.

"service fees" - the irony isn't lost on me.

But the final straw came this weekend when I made the mistake of calling Absa to close my accounts.

I have NEVER in my life had a worse experience trying to just REACH the right division. Never mind getting the person to actually assist me.

In total I spent 30 min in IVR selecting option after option after option just to get routed to the wrong place over and over again. Once I finally had a human on the line (Busi) she transferred me to the Credit Card division. And of course, the call was cut immediately, and I had to start the process all over again.

(never mind the fact that I first had to listen to multiple irritating marketing messages on their ''rewards'' system, which adds absolutely zero value to anyone's life)

I finally phoned Premium. (Oh, did I forget to mention I am a Platinum client)

I checked my phone afterwards - I had to make FIFTEEN selections in IVR before I was finally able to an agent. FIFTEEN

She finally gave me the supposed Credit Card division number. Guess what. I landed right back with Busi at general enquiries.

I asked her not to transfer me because I got cut off. "Oh ma'am the Credit card division isn't open on a Saturday. Can you please phone back Monday?"

So first of all, she transferred me KNOWING that CC wasn't available. Secondly, what Absa is telling me is Mrs. Customer, you need to call US when it's convenient for US. Without offering me any other alternative that is convenient to me.

All she could do was to log a call back for me. So that an agent can call me during a weekday which is the MOST INCONVENIENT time for me to take calls as I have back-to-back meetings every single day. Which is why weekends are the most convenient for me. (So do the convenience and individual circumstances of your customers matter to you whatsoever?!)

Never mind that fact that all that agent is going to do on Monday is ring me, I won't be able to take the call - they'll log a note to say: "client unavailable" and then their 'job' is done.

It has been 3 weeks of me trying to close my accounts. The Centurion branch closes at 15:30 during the week - I have NEVER encountered a business that doesn't keep actual business hours. Centurion branch closes at 12pm on a Saturday. Sundays they are closed.

That means Absa Centurion is available to their customers 38 hours a week. Compare that to most corporates!

If they happened to be open the branch is always packed because of their INCREDIBLY inefficient processes and outdated systems.

SO WHAT ON EARTH DO I DO TO JUST GET SERVICE FROM ABSA??!

I now have to resort to taking time OFF at work JUST to be able to get someone to help me close my accounts during the times that are convenient to Absa.

Their app and online banking are something to be ashamed of. To navigate to anywhere is virtually impossible without spending frustrating minutes just to get to common areas. There is absolutely NO way for anyone to get assistance virtually.

And this is post COVID!

When Absa sent me their 5-daily threatening SMSs to settle the said R28 there was an option to select to say "call me back" - because I wanted to speak to someone to close these ridiculous accounts. Do you think anyone called me? Of course not

Every single thing requires human intervention and inconvenience from their customers that WE have to endure because of their archaic and unusable platforms and processes.

I don't want Absa to even bother contacting me after this review, because I no longer want to take out years of frustration on their staff. They are not responsible for Absa's outdated tech and cumbersome processes. They are just doing their jobs.

But Absa needs to understand that the world of Banking has changed rapidly. People no longer will tolerate poor service in an era where the expectation of instant gratification is a given.

Absa is making itself redundant. Anyone who plans to partner, invest or bank with Absa should seriously reconsider, as innovation and customer service is obviously not one of their values.

(If I could give a negative star review on this platform it still would not adequately rate their "service")

And they seem absolutely uninterested to improve.