FNB A terrible bank to do business with....

If I could rate no Star I would. I am actually quite disgusted. I have never received such terrible service as well as lack of representation and value for my patronage to FNB in my whole life especially for my company X-treme Fitpit (pty) ltd. that has been banking with FNB going on 10 years now. Its really unacceptable and I will not be leaving this matter. I will be posting my experience of FNB on all my Business Social media platforms as well as my Personal Platforms warning and suggesting people not to bank with FNB and to bank with another Bank. this will be done weekly, until I get proper feed back, a proper response from person to client, a proper report on the investigation that apparently took place and evidence that there is no way possible I will receive my money back. I know for a fact that FNB is insured for these types of slip ups and mistakes.

My account has never had a issue like this before and this is the first time this has happened. I have also approached my lawyers as well as ombudsman and will proceeding with Legal action as I believe my interests have not been represented or looked after properly.

So onto the scenario as why this has all happened. Rewind to the early morning of 20th October 2025. I'm at home not feeling well with Covid flu symptoms and drag my self out of bed because I need to do some work. Going through my paperwork I see I have a email from Wix stating that I need to reregister my domain for my business website. Now October is the due date for such renewal, so I think nothing weird of it and continue to the payment. Payment looks fine and well seems to be more or less the correct amount that a generally pay every year give our take 1$. And yes Wix charges me in Dollars so that doesn't hit a red flag either. Total amount due for reregistration is $13.68. I type in my Card details go into my banking app with my finger print. I get sent a approve it message to approve payment and I approve the payment and nothing happens. I wait and nothing happens, So I assume I will receive a OTP instead to approve the payment as per usual when a payment doesn't go through. I do indeed receive one after a few seconds and I see the amount is for 507.50 Euro and to a company called SIFTFR. Now the red flag goes off. I don't punch in the OTP and I don't approve the payment. I close my FNB APP. I then call my girlfriend to tell her I think I nearly got ****med but luckily I didn't type the OTP in. While I am in the call I receive a number of messages issuing a OTP for the payment but I ignore them. Approximately 30min later the amount of R10,649.98 gets deducted from my account. I Immediately blocked my account and called the bank to cancel my card. As well as report the ***** to the ***** department and make a case. I also Reapp**** for a new business bank card. This whole process probably took 5min or less after the incident. During this whole exercise I was never given a case number and was told that the ***** department would get hold of me. I received some weird message on my app with check boxes as to what stage the ***** case was at.

Feeling a little uneasy about the whole ***** department call and lack of information I call the bank again to clarify in the afternoon. I explained to them that this money is to pay my staff and that the business is just breaking even and we need this money and that's why I am so flustered and upset. They tell me they cant tell me if I will receive my money back and they need to investigate and It can take up to 20 working days. They also tell me that the investigator will call me and hear what happened as well as ask for the evidence I have collected. Ie. photos of all the OTP's that came through, The email I received form wix for the payment, The website I paid through etc.

After the events that happened I made several phone calls to the ***** department requesting an update which I was not given and was told I must still wait the time period. I once again pushed the fact we need this money back and the importance of the matter. I also asked when the investigator was going to call me and get the evidence for the investigation. They assured me not to worry and that they would. I logged on everyday to my app to see if any of the check boxes for the process of the investigation had proceeded any further and it was never updated.

On the afternoon of the of the 12 Nov 2025 at 16:32 I finally received correspondences that I didn't expedite. It was a short emotionless email stating that the investigator and ***** department has found none of its staff or the bank at fault and therefore I will not be paid back my money. No info on what they found, why I wont be paid back, why I was never contacted nothing. The most useless, informationless email I have received. There was something at the bottom stating if I want more info or want to query it I must contact the bank.

I can see that FNB doesn't not value me as a client, did not do their best to protect me or my business, does not value the money my Company transactions through their bank or followed the correct procedure to keep me informed and calm during this terrible experience. Surely the payment could have been blocked or reversed as a international payment does not go through straight away and takes a few days to clear and I informed the bank in no less then 2 min after the payment went through. I receive many payments from overseas as well as pay overseas companies and there is always a few days clearing phase as per my bank APP. so why is this different? Despite multiple people telling me the same thing has happened to them and that the bank will pay the money back as they are insured for this and that its the first time it has happened. FNB has decided without evidence or proper investigation or communication that I will not receive feedback, my money or even a phone call. I now see that I need to take my self and my Business to another bank such as Capitec who will value me and protect me in the correct manner. I warn all my friends, family and clients against doing business with FNB as you are just a number that generates money for them but when **** hits the fan they throw you to the curb as if you are nothing.