Frustrating Experience with ABSA – Lack of Support and Unfair Charges

I recently opened a personal bank account with ABSA, but after realizing that I needed to manually transfer my debit orders from my previous bank, I decided to close the account due to the inconvenience.

When I first visited the ABSA Sandton branch, I was told that I had two pending charges — a Clicks Benmore Gardens transaction of R65 and a Bolt charge of R25 — despite my account having a positive balance. I immediately settled the Clicks charge directly at Clicks and also emailed Bolt about the R25 charge, but received no response.

When I returned to the Benmore Gardens branch to close the account, I was informed the R25 Bolt charge was still not cleared, and I was again unable to close the account. I visited the Nortmead Square branch on Friday, 1 August, only to be told the Bolt charge was still outstanding and that my account had now gone into a negative balance of R330.

Shockingly, on Saturday, 2 August, I received a message from a legal firm concerning payment. I called them and was told I needed to pay R550 to settle the matter. I then contacted ABSA Lakeside and visited the branch, where I expressed my disappointment and frustration . I paid the R550, and the account was finally closed on Monday, 4 August.

I am deeply disappointed with ABSA’s lack of customer support throughout this entire process. A small unresolved charge of R25 — despite my account originally having a positive balance — ended up costing me R550, and no one at ABSA offered meaningful assistance besides the Lakeside mall team. This has left me feeling unheard, unsupported, and frustrated.