FNB - DECEASED ESTATE

I am an attorney dealing with the administration of a deceased estate. I am the Executor of the relevant estate. The saga begins on 13 October 2023, when I went into my local branch of FNB, as directed, in order to close the estate late bank account. I provided them with all the necessary documentation. They advised me that they would need to send the documentation to the FNB Deceased Estate department and that the first step would be for their records to be updated to reflect me as the Executor, since the father of the deceased was the previous Representative of the estate, but is now deceased. They were provided with the death certificate of the father of the deceased. Since 13th October, I have made too many phone calls to annotate here. I have also been back to the branch on 5th December. I have also made a complaint to FNB - reference number *** on 20th November, but all I received was an automatic response apologising for the delay in responding to me. I sent an email to Customer Care on 13th December, quoting the complaint reference number received by way of the automatic response. I received an automatic reply on the same day acknowledging my email and that was the end of that. The family of the deceased, who are desperate for the matter to move forward so that they can go ahead with their customary rituals also started phoning the Deceased Estate Department on a regular basis. On one occasion they were told that there was a form outstanding. Having heard nothing about this myself, I then phoned the Deceased Estate Department yet again and spoke to somebody who confirmed the form had been annotated on the system as outstanding the previous day and sent the form to me so that I could comply. The form was sent back to FNB on 18th December. Since then, I have made numerous phone calls, the last of which was this morning. On each occasion, I am told that the matter is being escalated. This morning, the consultant advised it would be forwarded to his manager and would be prioritized. All we are waiting for is FNB to verify that I have been appointed as the Executor, so that I can deal with the account.

I am beyond frustrated and astonished by FNB's inability to verify that I am the Executor of the estate, despite having been in possession of all the relevant documentation since 13th October 2023.