Disillusioned customer service; switching admin;FNB

<p>Due to a rampant (and very convincing) advertising drive by FNB, to lure clients into switching to their Premier Cheque Account, I decided after 25 years+ of mediocre to average service from my previous bank to switch. I went so far to as to even rationalize paying R50 on top of my banking fees payed with my previous bank.</p> <p>Switching banks is an administrative pain in the back, however, FNB convinced me that they could streamline the whole process by sending out a consultant who will take care of switching all my debit orders etc. I also informed FNB that I would like to get in touch with one of their home loan consultants, since I signed an otp just theprevious week.</p> <p> </p> <p>Given this background, to follow is my very frustrating, "typical" banking service experience:</p> <p> </p> <p>1. I had to supply hard copies of recent payslips, account statements, beneficiaries and debit order details so that the consultant could fill in the relevant switching forms from FNB's side (expected and fair). These where circulated back to me after a week where I still had to verify all the details of both beneficiaries and debit orders, again scan in, and send back. So little time was saved her, but the minimal effort from FNB helped a little bit (this is the one star awarded). </p> <p>2. I informed the consultant I would like to get in touch with a home loans specialist, where I was informed someone will get in touch with me. Afterwards, I received spurious emails from FNB informing me they are trying to get hold of me from the home loans department, however, I have received no missed calls whatsoever. I notified FNB of a suitable time (via email to the respective first point of contact) when they can phone me the next morning (8:30 which was confirmed from FNB' side). No one phoned me (the whole day). Just got another email response the next day that FNB couldn’t reach me.</p> <p>3. A contact from the home loans department emailed me with his contact details and told me to phone him. First, I reckoned, he might have my wrong number since I never receive calls, so I rep**** with my contact details and said I am available the whole day. He never called me.</p> <p>4. I decided to phone him back the next morning, where he was then busy with a client. I was informed that he will give me a call in 10 minutes. Never received that call.</p> <p>5. I was worried w.r.t my debit order switching, that these might be activated prematurely on my FNB account, and I asked the point of contact just to verify that FNB will indeed only activate my debit order from the beginning of August. After hence and forth emailing different parties and cc'd in different conversations, I was informed I should phone the FNB debit order department and confirm with them directly. What is the purpose having a premier personal banker, if they cannot even help me with such a simple query?? This is one of my main issues with these Platinum and Premier accounts with apparent personal bankers. The latter can seldom help you, where they often just put you through to a queuing system in some other department where you are a number and need to explain your whole request over and over again...</p> <p>6. In the meanwhile I received emails back from FNB suddenly informing me that none of my debit order switching instructions can go through. In essence, I had to do each switch myself. After all that administrative effort?</p> <p> </p> <p>In summary, the whole exercise was one huge failed administrative task, where I as client still had to verify all particular details, and execute all switching. I would have saved more time in fruitless correspondence, by just doing everything myself from the start. In essence, this very typical sluggish banking service just opened my eyes once again and I realized that grass is not necessarily greener on FNB's side. So I stopped the switching immediately, and closed my account.</p>