FNB cost me my money and my friendship and I honestly feel like no one cares

On the 16th of April, I made a payment of R1,000 from my FNB account to a Capitec account. It is now the 24th of April and the person I sent the money to still has not received it. I have contacted FNB more than 30 times about this issue. I’ve spent my own airtime and time waiting on calls, repeating myself to different agents, and begging someone to please help me.

At first, I was told to wait because of the public holidays and the weekend. That made sense to me and I was willing to be patient. But after a few days passed and still nothing had gone through, I started following up. FNB eventually told me they had done a missing payment investigation and that the money was successfully received by Capitec. I trusted them, but my recipient, someone very close to me, kept saying she hadn’t received anything. She started thinking I was lying to her. She was hurt, confused, and didn’t believe me anymore.

Out of desperation, I contacted Capitec myself. They confirmed that the recipient did NOT receive the money at all. I went back to FNB with this confirmation, hoping someone would finally help me. That’s when they told me that this has actually happened to a few people already — where payments from FNB to Capitec didn’t go through — and now they need to investigate further. But why wasn’t I told this from the beginning? Why did I have to go through this stress, this emotional damage, just to be told there was already a known issue?

Now I’m being told I have to wait another 7 to 14 days. I’ve already been raising this issue since the start of the week. I’ve gone to the branch in person, I’ve called countless times, I’ve explained everything over and over again. I feel like no one is actually listening. R1,000 might not seem like a lot to some people, but in this economy, it’s a huge amount. And even worse than losing that money, I’ve lost someone who meant a lot to me. She now wants nothing to do with me because she believes I made this whole thing up. That pain is much harder than the money itself.

If the staff at FNB were in my shoes, would they be this calm? Would they just sit back and wait if it was their money or their relationship on the line? I just want someone to take this seriously. I want my friend to receive the money I sent her on the 16th of April and I want someone to take accountability. I honestly feel helpless and heartbroken, and I never thought a banking issue would cause this much personal damage.

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