Covid-19 relief offer but no follow through

Dear Absa

I received a call on Tuesday 30 June from a a lady Appearing to ask about my loan and how my family was coping with the COVID-19 situation. I believed this to be someone who would be finally be able to help me but again I was wrong.

I told her about my difficulty with applying for relief and that i had been trying to request this since May 2020. She instructed me to send an email to this address *** outlining what i did and who I contacted since May with proof and emails and they would be able to help me further with assessing revering the debit order on 5 June and finally processing my application for covid19 relief.

Please see the timeline below of my contact made with ABSA.

So i app**** online the absa website requesting relief for the COVID19 situation in the beginning of May after the last payment went off on the 5th of may at which point i was still able to honour the payment.

On the 15th of May (a screenshot of the message received from ABSA can be provided) stating that they can offer me payment relief and i must reply 'yes' by the 20th may.

I attempted to reply yes as outlined by the screenshot but it failed to send through.

I received another message from ABSA dates the 18th May at 10.25am stating the same thing offering relief and press yes. yet again i could not send through my response.

I proceeded to send through an email at 11:25 to the email given on the prompt system ***) on the 18th May stating i had received the message and could not answer the request. (Again Email proof was provided).Could someone please give me assistance. I also sent an email from my business address to a lady who works at the absa branch in Karaglen who assisted us with our home loan. I received no reply to my email. Again this email was provided as proof.

I then got an automatic reply on the 18th May at 11:53am with the reference Re: C-***9 Payment relief response to message ref:_00D1r1GluM._5005J4BJOE:ref

On 19th May i got another sms from absa stating the payment relief terms and asking for the reply for '1' to accept the offer. Which again I can provide a screenshot which shows the message prompts did not allow selection of 1 or2

I then sent another email to *** on the 19 May at 3:17pm explaining the sms function was not working. Email proof provided.

I received a response from the email with the reference: Re: C-***1 Regards sms function not working ref:_00D1r1GluM._5005J4BawC:ref (email pdf labeled 4)

At this point i was having no luck with this way of contacting absa so i phoned your number given ***.

I was directed to a consultant to whom i explained the problem with the sms function and that i could not respond to the sms this is why i was phoning for in person assistance. The lady then proceeded to tell me she would do it manually and she assured me by the end of the conversation that it was done and i would have payment relief which would be for 3 months and the next payment to go off would be the 5th September. No reference number was given to me for this call. Should you dispute this call i will inquire with telkom for a detailed call log which will show the call).

Come the 5th of june when the payment should come off i saw that an attempted debit order was made from my account but of course bounced because there was no funds.

I then phoned again after the payment went off on the 5th and again I was speaking to a consultant who i explained the story to and proceeded to log in the request for payment relief. She reassured me that the payment for the 5th would be reversed and relief would be granted till the 5th september when the next payment would go off. Again no reference given and upto now no proof of my logging this application.

I then proceeded to get smses and phone call prompts saying i had missed a payment.

Then on the 18th June 15.58 i again phoned again. I explained the same thing again and this time i asked for a reference number at which point i was told they dont give reference numbers. But she gave me her name Velile and she said she would send through my application. This is ******* because how many Veliles work for Absa and now you must trace this call.

I continued to receive smses stating i had missed a payment. I then emailed from my business account as previously i got no response from my Personal account. Again I have proof of my email. Only received reference number again and no help.

Now after getting this call from this woman on 30june she told me she would again lodge the application and I must send to the everydaybankingenquries email. So I received an automatic prompt stating they are not accepting emails at this time and I must call ***. the same number I have been contacting since May with no help. And again this woman phoned me and assured me the application would be processed.

I am now in arrears for two months and Absa have not honored their offers. This is terrible service. No follow up and I am getting a bad credit history after you specifically offered me the relief. How is it my fault. Then every avenue I contact say it’s taken care of then next time I call there is no record.

I need assistance to reverse these debit orders and the relief that Absa offered me in the first place. I work for myself and so business has been slow and so to offer this and not follow through puts immense stress on my family.

I need a genuine reference number and someone to engage with my emails and send me the letter approving the relief.

How is all of the above fair. Poor service bad follow up and no records of the interactions except giving names. Poor service Absa