Absolutely Appalling Treatment by Brooks & Luyt Attorneys

If this is the standard of service that Nedbank considers acceptable from the attorneys it appoints to deal with its clients, then both companies have a serious problem.

My Nedbank credit-card account was handed over to Brooks & Luyt Attorneys after Nedbank agreed to accept a debt-review arrangement. I am currently under debt review, and my other creditors have accepted the arrangement and are receiving the agreed monthly payments.

Brooks & Luyt, however, appear to have little interest in the facts, the circumstances, or even basic professional courtesy.

For approximately six months, I have been subjected to repeated telephone calls from this firm. I have made one very simple and entirely reasonable request: please communicate with me by email so that there is a written record of what is being requested and what has been communicated. This request has repeatedly been ignored.

The telephone harassment is another matter altogether. I can receive four or five calls in a single day, and on some occasions the person calling does not even speak when I answer. Of those multiple calls, perhaps two result in an actual conversation.

When I do manage to speak to someone, the experience is frequently appalling. Calls are cut off while I am trying to explain the situation. Operators argue with me without apparently having established the facts. I am not given a reasonable opportunity to explain the circumstances, and when someone does, on the rare occasion, actually listen, the specific requests I make are simply ignored.

Which, of course, results in another call.

And another.

And another.

This is not what I would expect from a professional legal practice. It is certainly not what I would expect from a firm acting on behalf of one of South Africa’s major banks.

Brooks & Luyt need to understand that the person on the other end of the telephone is a client of their client. I am entitled to be treated with basic professionalism, courtesy and respect.

Debt review is a regulated process. It is not an invitation for a collection agency or legal practice to disregard reasonable communication requests, repeatedly bombard someone with calls and then refuse to properly engage with the circumstances.

And to Nedbank: you appointed Brooks & Luyt to represent your interests. Their conduct reflects directly on you. If this is the firm you have chosen to deal with customers who are attempting to resolve their indebtedness through an agreed debt-review process, then you need to take a very hard look at the people representing your brand.

If you cannot ensure that an agreed arrangement is properly respected and that your appointed attorneys communicate professionally with your customers, then you are no better than the organisation you have appointed to do the job.

Frankly, my experience with Brooks & Luyt has been unprofessional, disrespectful, frustrating and completely unacceptable.

If this is how Brooks & Luyt conduct themselves when dealing with someone who is actively trying to resolve their financial obligations, I can only say to Nedbank:

Good luck. You are going to need it.