Misinformation on drawing internet statements

I hereby wish to lodge a complaint against Ms Shanel Louw, ABSA Kolonnade branch.

My wife and I visited Absa’s Kolonnade branch on 20 March 2021. I needed to draw statements on my father’s money market account to determine the returns on his investment over the past 24 months. My father was unable to visit the branch himself as he is almost 90 years old and finds it very hard to walk.

We were assisted by Ms Louw at the Customer Care counter. She informed us that, should she draw the statements for us, an amount of R75.00 would be charged per statement. She advised us to rather draw the statements making use of Internet Banking. She took us to the Internet Banking kiosk in the bank and showed us how we should go about. MS LOUW SAID THAT THERE ARE NO COSTS INVOLVED WHEN STATEMENTS ARE DRAWN ON INTERNET BANKING. Due to the fact that she failed to give us the correct information, both my wife and I were under the impression that downloading internet statements are free of charge. This is also the reason why we missed reading the ‘fine print’ at the bottom of the website page.

On 31 March 2021, ABSA charged my father a ridiculous amount of R541.25 for Internet Bank Fees. How ABSA calculated this outrageous amount remains a mystery. I need to emphasise that my father earns a very small pension. If we had known beforehand that there are costs involved in downloading internet statements, we would surely not have done so as we only bear my father’s best interests at heart. We are of the opinion that we had been mislead by Ms. Louw who brought us under a false impression by providing us with misinformation. At the end of the day, my father who is turning 90 in a few months’ time had to pay the penalty and I find it unacceptable.