ABSA’s Service Is Beyond Appalling – A 30-Year Relationship on the Brink

I see ABSA is sitting at a dismal 1.47 rating with over 42,000 reviews. Frankly, that’s generous. I’m an ABSA Private Bank client, and the experience I’ve just endured is nothing short of disgraceful.

I attempted to use my credit card to pay a fine on PayMyFines and purchase electricity online via Ontec - the latter with transactions I’ve done countless times before. Suddenly, my card fails. I reach out to my Private Banker (who, to her credit, is efficient and responsive), and she relays a message from the card division: “Go to your local branch for pin and chip maintenance.”

Excuse me? Maintenance? On a card that’s worked perfectly before and is still working on other sites, shops and elsewhere? If there were any issues, shouldn’t ABSA proactively notify me instead of waiting for me to hit a wall and complain?

Still, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and followed the instructions. I queued for nearly an hour at my local branch, only to be told - after a full check - that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my card. At least the lady at the branch was friendly... So much for “expert” advice from the card division. Did anyone even bother to investigate the actual issue before sending me to waste time and money?

Suspecting the ***** department might be blocking the transactions, I called them after unsuccessfully trying to transact again. What followed was a complete nightmare.

The call-back came quickly, but the background noise was horrific. The agent admitted it was a call centre and they “couldn’t help the noise.” I could barely hear her, let alone think clearly enough to respond to her questions. After going through the usual motions (which I understand and appreciate for security reasons), she told me, again, that I needed to go to the branch. I again explained I’d already done that. Her next suggestion? Something vague about “3D” security… but the noise was so unbearable I couldn’t make out the details. I asked for the instructions to be emailed to me. Her response? “We don’t send emails unless it’s *****-related.”

At that point, I couldn’t take any more of the chaos and incompetence - I hung up.

So now I ask: What the !@#$% am I supposed to do?

Apparently, ABSA clients are expected to diagnose and solve their own banking problems while being passed around like an idiot. No wonder the bank is bleeding customers.

After more than 30 years with ABSA and its predecessors, I’m seriously considering leaving. Capitec is starting to look very attractive, and at least they seem to understand what service means.