Beyond exhausting! Help!

Today I tried to send a small payment but I made a mistake in rushing. Being distracted, I mistakenly found myself reporting ***** on my phone banking app when a message popped up. I basically put my finger on the wrong box. This blocked me from all digital banking. So far, I appreciate the security feature that FNB has. Better be safe than sorry. However, the ensuing experience that lasted some 4 hours has been very painful and the matter is still far from unresolved. I am overseas and I tried several times to call FNB customer service to inform them that the phone banking app is not allowing me to unblock myself when I present my bank card details and PIN, and this is probably (I tell them I am guessing) because my card expired last month, after I left South Africa. Over some four hours of talking to about 10 or 12 agents, I was ready to jump off a cliff. Although some agents (20-30% maybe) sounded very informative and tried to help with the limitations of the system they had, the others did not have enough information on how to fix this matter or gave very stupid advice. For example, after explaining that I am not in SA a couple would keep saying I must visit a branch. Another agent said I can take an oath at a SA embassy abroad but when telling her that my home country where I am now has no SA embassy, she told me I have to go to any embassy as long as it is of my country (!). I explained to this agent that every country has embassies “outside” their country not inside. One agent suggested I send an email to the ***** department (which I did) and another agent told me this email is useless because even if the ***** department unblocks me, I will need a valid bank card and because of the type of account I have (called Easy account) the bank card can only be collected from the branch. I reminded this agent I am not in South Africa but my spouse is, and she said I can give a power of attorney to my spouse to collect the card. I asked how can I do that, and apparently I have to visit a branch. Anyway, half of them got dazzled in how to fix this problem because clearly there is nothing in the system of FNB that can deal with a customer who accidentally has his/her account blocked while abroad and whose bank card happens to have expired. I am still baffled with what the exact solution. The worst of all this is the numerous times I was put on hold and made to wait, where at least 3 agents never came back. One wait was over 15minutes and then I hung up and called again, having to explain my matter for the 10th time to a different agent. I am exhausted! I even gave a couple agents my overseas number in case we get disconnected. We got cut off once and of course nobody called.

Now I am in a situation where I am about to default on two payments that need to be made this week. Also I have a dependent waiting for me to transfer her grocery money.

Something similar happened to me twice with another bank during my lifetime when I entered a wrong password and the account was blocked after 3 tries. The bank (not FNB) had simply required to ask me a number of security questions to verify that this is me, before unblocking my account. But with FNB it seems everything has to be more complicated, unnecessarily.

Now I am about to commute for two hours to get to a notary / commissioner of oaths who can sign my passport copy and my letter declaring I am not in South Africa. I will send this to the ***** department by email and my fear is that instead of calling me to ask security questions and verify me and put an end to this, they will tell me something like this: “Sorry but the system as it is set up needs you to insert your bank card and PIN in your phone app. And no we cannot send you a new card at home but you have to collect it from the branch because your type of account is an Easy Account and the computer does not offer the option of couriering the card to your home in Cape Town”.

This is more or less the most intelligent and probably true explanation that I deciphered from the few helpful agents. But why then does FNB not deliver the bank card just because a customer has an Easy Account? Why did some agents say I do not have a gold chequeing account when the card that expired last month is gold and has Cheque written on it?

More importantly, why can FNB not be like HSBC, Barclays and all other leading banks by unblocking an account after a trained agent calls the customer and asks security questions (100 if needed but usually its around 5) in order to unblock the account.

Someone, PLEASE HELP!