Alexander Forbes - Claim Payment Bungled

I experienced the most ********** service recently from one of your consultants, Simingenkosi Ngwenya, during a phone call on 2 March.

On 2 February, pension funds that were due to be transferred into my account were not paid as expected and communicated/confirmed. After noticing this discrepancy on my AF Online profile, I contacted Alexforbes on 2 March to enquire about the missing payment.

During the call, I explained to Ms Ngwenya how the delay was causing me significant financial stress and that the funds were urgently required. I specifically requested that the matter be escalated and asked to be transferred to her manager so that it could receive immediate attention and or escalation.

Unfortunately, I experienced what I perceived as a lack of urgency and empathy in handling my situation. Ms Ngwenya advised me to resend my marriage certificate, stating that this was the reason for the delay in payment. She further explained that the company was dealing with a high volume of requests and that my query would be forwarded to an administrator. However, she also indicated that the funds would not be processed that day. Despite my repeated requests for escalation and to speak to her manager, she refused.

Additionally, Ms Ngwenya informed me that the provident fund claim had not been captured by the responsible party and undertook to capture it herself. However, upon checking my profile on 22 March, there was still no claim reflecting as pending or in process.

I subsequently made a second call and spoke with another consultant, Defney. I requested that no further time be spent rechecking the status of my claims or requesting documents I had already long ago submitted and had proof thereto, I asked to be transferred directly to a manager. I was immediately transferred to and assisted by Brian, who ensured that my matter received the appropriate attention and was handled with the expediency it long ago deserved.

Given the above, I am deeply concerned about the level of service I received, particularly the lack of escalation, communication, and follow-through on my query. Had I not contacted the call centre, I’d still be waiting for my payment, because no one at Alex Forbes bothered to check why I was not paid on the payment date, it took me money and time to get the assistance I needed.

Why are your managers not tracking transactions with a past due date, even worse why are they not preventing this from happening in the first place. They may seek to be excused because they were on leave blah blah blah, what kind of banana republic of an organisation is Alexander Forbes if managers are sleeping on the wheel, this is extremely embarrassing beyond just inconvenient.