***** at ABSA Bank

Good morning

Case numbers: ********** and **********

My full name/s: Alewyn Jacobus Janse van Rensburg

My ID number: ********** 083088

Amount ****** from me: R32 000.00

I will start by giving a detailed description of what transpired:

On the 8th of August 2018 I received a call from man claiming to be from ABSA bank. He gave me the entire speech of being an accredited ABSA consultant, that ABSA bank was an accredited financial institution etc.

He proceeded to inform me that I had “unclaimed” ABSA rewards, amounting to R7 000.00 that he would like to credit to my account.

He proceeded to confirm the following information TO ME:

My full name/s and surname

My physical address

My ID number

My cell phone number

My landline number at home

Even my parents landline number where I have not lived for the past 10 years

Both my credit card and cheque account CARD numbers

He then asked me if I would like the “unclaimed” rewards to be credited to me. I answered yes and that was when the phone went dead.

I obviously could not call back as the call came from a number that cannot be called.

Something did not feel right and I immediately decided to go into my internet banking to see if the money was there (the R7 000.00) as he said the credit would happen immediately.

To my absolute shock, ALL my money, in both my credit card and cheque account was gone. Every last cent had been removed.

I immediately got into my vehicle from work and drove to ABSA bank at N1 City in Goodwood.

I was then put in a room with a phone and made to call the ***** division of ABSA bank to report my incident and give them my story.

I was told it is a process that takes 14 days to investigate and I would then receive a response.

This alone is a completely unacceptable manner of handling such cases as I was left with NOT A CENT, no money. A car to drive, a home to run a child to feed…what is a person supposed to do for 14 days with zero funds? The worst part being that it was ****** from me.

I proceeded to wait out the 14 days, it was a very tough 2 weeks. Having to lend money from people and the obvious amount of stress around the whole incident is indescribable.

I did not receive a single courtesy call, not a single e-mail, absolutely no communication from ABSA bank during this time. The 14 days came and went and still nothing.

After 3 WEEKS of no contact at all I decided to call the bank to find out what was going on only to be told, sorry sir, but your case has never reached the ***** division. Someone at ABSA bank had not done their job. They could see that I had reported the ***** to them, but no further action had been taken.

And this is where this terrible experience has become A COMPLETE NIGHTMARE.

On Friday the 31st of August, I was given a “cardholder’s declarations” to complete (my understanding is this is what was supposed to have happened on the 8th of August already) and I was told that the entire process of investigation would now start and that it may take some time!!!!

Again, completely unacceptable. Here I am, now in week 4 of this chaos and I’m told to be patient and that it will take some time??? Who has time when you HAVE NO MONEY???

I trust ABSA bank to take care of my finances, look after my money, and give me peace of mind about my financial dealings. MY MONEY GETS ****** this easily and the organisation tells ME to be patient and this will take some time?

What makes it even worse is NO-ONE to date has called me back. I’ve made 3 phone calls to the ***** call centre. Never in my LIFE have I had such pathetic treatment and service. EVERY SINGLE consultant tells me someone will call me before “the close of business today” That happened on Monday the 3rd of September, Tuesday the 4th of September and again on Wednesday the 5th of September. NO-ONE HAS EVER CALLED ME BACK. I have asked to be put through to a manager, to the ***** person handling my case to anyone to can give me feedback and EVERY time I am told THIS CANNOT HAPPEN. All they can do is send an e-mail to the person handling the case and they will get back to me. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SUCH NONSENSE IN YOUR LIFE???

Every consultant I have dealt with has been heartless and made it very clear I’m just another phone call, by their attitude and way of speaking to me. I assume that all these calls are recorded, so you would be able to sit and listen to them all. You will be shocked.

I have NEVER in my life been treated this badly and I hope and pray this NEVER happens to any one of the people I have dealt with. I’m sure their response would be VERY DIFFERENT if they were in my shoes.

Month end has come and gone. Bills had to be paid. I have a son and a family to support, a home to run…but I must be patient.

Today is the 6th of September almost a FULL month since this happened.

I never ever in my life want be associated with ABSA bank again. When this is all over I will be moving all my banking to a company I can TRUST and definitely with far better client servicing and client care.

They should be completely ashamed of themselves and take a very serious look at how they handle these types of cases.

I plan to take this matter to ever single social media platform available to me. I will make sure that everyone I come into contact with knows about this.

If THIS is how ABSA bank treats clients after their money gets ******, money that I have entrusted this company to keep safe for me, then I want NOTHING to do with them.

ABSA bank need to give me back my R32 000.00 immediately. I don’t believe that I should be made to wait any longer!!!

I believe I should be compensated for all this shocking service and treatment.

My cell phone bill was over R2 400.00 last month due to all the numerous phone calls I’ve had to make to try and get some answers. You get moved from one consultant to another, have to “hold” for 20 minutes at a time and then after all that you still get nowhere!!

I think it would only be fare for ABSA bank to settle my credit card as a form of goodwill and compensation. That would at least slightly restore my faith in this bank.

Regards

Alewyn Janse van Rensburg