Urgent Complaint: Unacceptable Customer Service & Difficulty Making Payment Arrangement

Dear ABSA Collections Team,

I am writing to formally raise a complaint regarding the extremely poor service my wife and I have experienced while trying to engage with your team about our credit card account.

We fully acknowledge that the account is in arrears and that financial difficulties have brought us to this point. As a married couple, we are both currently under debt review and are actively trying to do the responsible thing—communicate and make arrangements where possible.

Over the past few days, we have received numerous SMSs and emails from ABSA warning about legal action and potential handover or summons. In an attempt to address this urgently, I made multiple calls today:

First, I called the number provided in one of the SMS messages. I was transferred eight times, repeating the same information to each agent. Not only was this time-consuming, it highlighted a lack of internal coordination and customer service preparedness.

Second, I called the ABSA 0861 number and was placed in a queue for 15 minutes, only for the call to drop—without assistance or a callback. This is an unacceptable customer experience under any circumstances.

Third, I called the collections department, genuinely trying to make a payment arrangement. However, because the credit card is in my wife's name, I was told that due to POPIA, nothing could be done—even though I was not requesting any account information, only trying to assist in settling the account.

To add to the frustration:

My wife has recently returned to work and is unavailable during normal working hours (when ABSA calls).

Despite this, ABSA continues to send threatening messages without offering any real opportunity for resolution.

We are not avoiding our obligations—we are doing everything we can to engage, but ABSA's systems and processes are actively preventing any constructive progress.

If you cannot or will not assist customers who are facing financial strain and trying to take responsibility, please be transparent about that. We would like it formally noted that we made multiple good-faith efforts to engage and find a solution.

We respectfully request the following:

That this complaint is escalated and logged officially

That an ABSA representative contacts my wife (the account holder) at a scheduled time outside of work hours

That we are offered a realistic and fair payment arrangement option

We hope to hear from someone competent and empowered to assist us in resolving this matter without further delay.

Sincerely, [Lloyd Moodley] [Sunisha Moodley – Account Holder] [*** ***]