FNB has not delivered on compensation for their admittedly terrible service

Below is my original complaint to FNB as well as my follow up. A month after nearly jeopardizing my holiday I received a call apologizing for the disgusting service I received. FNB admitted they were completely at fault. After some negotiation I accepted the stupidly low offer of 7000 ebucks as compensation so that I could move on. It is over a month since then and the ebucks have not been credited to me despite following up several times. I've cc'd my 'premier team of bankers' who really should be called under-trained, couldn't care less, call centre bankers It's unfathomable that after admitting that they stuffed up they cannot even get the apology right.

Original complaint I cancelled and replaced my credit card last week Tuesday (14 August). My understanding is that as FNB constantly boasts about how efficient and technologically ahead of their competitors they are I would receive my new card in record time. After hearing nothing for a week I started to feel the R200 I pay a month was a little hefty for what should have been the most basic of services. Thinking perhaps that FNB’s app, yes the one that is on all the billboards as being the sector leader, had failed to do the necessary so I contacted the “premier client call centre.” Apparently FNB has a different idea of the service that should be associated with the word ‘premier.’ After being sent to the wrong department and having to authenticate myself twice I finally got through to someone who thought they could help. According to her system the card had been returned from the courier and she wasn’t sure why and didn’t think it would have been necessary for someone to contact me to let me know. She then put me on hold and I was magically transferred to another gentleman. I, being a normal reasonable customer, thought that perhaps this gentleman knew how to help. After engaging in some conversation he tells me the same thing and says that FNB should have the reason. FNB? Is he not FNB. No, he is the courier. Why a premier banker would transfer me to the courier I have no idea but apparently that is the kind of decision making that FNB instils.

I phone FNB back, get authenticated again, and am through to someone else. This banker sounds more promising and helpful. I explain that the urgency is because I have booked accommodation on my card that will be debited soon and without a valid card my booking will be cancelled. Of course I shouldn’t have had to wait over a week for my card in any universe but in this instance FNB may actually be liable for the cancellation of my holiday. The banker assures me it has been escalated and that the card will be delivered in 3 working days. I feel somewhat relieved but it has left me wondering where exactly the R200 in monthly fees is allocated as this is a basic thing I have required as a service and FNB has failed.

Today is Thursday, 2 working days since my last interaction with the useless beast that is FNB. If my card is to be delivered by tomorrow then surely the couriers should have contacted me by now so best I go through the labyrinth that is the premier call centre to make sure all is on track. Three incorrect departments, one or two premier bankers who feel it’s best to cut me off and I think 8 or 9 authentications later and I have someone who is in the right department who hasn’t as yet cut me off.

As an aside please explain how if we get cut off, after I have authenticated myself and the banker clearly has all of my details, the banker cannot return my call. It’s the most basic, logical way to keep customers satisfied. But as I am learning FNB is spending far more time enabling people to switch with a selfie rather than providing basic customer service.

My blood is beginning to boil. These inefficiencies and frustrations should not be associated with the bank that brags about technological and service advancements. Perhaps the people who back these notions up are ones who have never actually needed a service from FNB … but I digress.

This premier banker, not sure if it’s number 5 or 6 at this point, tells me that my card was delivered to a branch on the 17th. A branch I have never heard of but even if I had heard of it FNB’s supreme-of-all-others app asked me where I wanted it to be delivered and that was to my front door. Now I am livid. This so-far-below-premier-standard employee is no help at all despite me explaining that after the card had supposedly been delivered I have subsequently called FNB and been advised differently. Perhaps she has never had to receive a service from FNB and therefore thinks it’s quite funny (from the giggling I hear in the background) and tells me I need to collect from the branch. Great customer relations FNB – you teach your bankers that if FNB completely stuffs everything up it is on the customer to go out of their way to correct. I am told I will be put through to the manager as she can only tell me the information she sees. Sounds more like cold calling centres than premier service. I am put on hold. After listening to the hold hell music the line suddenly reverts back to the start menu. My blood pressure is sky high at this point. I authenticate myself again. Another prestige, premier, higher-than-thou banker answers. Eventually I am put through to Ivan who I am told is a manager. He at least sounds like he would like to assist.

Ivan contradicts previous giggle banker and says the card has not been delivered to a branch. Seems FNB have not yet done the training on interpreting the information on the screen. Ivan confirms the card should have been delivered and that my address and contact details are correct in the system. He has no explanation for the incompetency of the call centre system or his employees but that they will deal with internally, whatever that means. The best solution he can offer is to send an email (no idea why he can’t call) to the courier and see if perhaps they could maybe, possibly, perhaps, deliver the card tomorrow. No guarantee though and if not tomorrow then maybe Monday or maybe never judging by the standards currently set at FNB. You would think that considering it has been almost 10 working days without a credit card due only to the complete inefficiency of FNB and considering I am paying a premium for a premium service that they could make a plan to get the card to me today. Particularly because I have stressed the need for the card in order to make good on accommodation payments. But no that is apparently not how FNB premium services work – I would horror to think of the lack of service being provided to a lower tier. So now I am waiting for 12:15. This would be 2 hours after my call with Ivan who said this would be the time needed to tell me if my card could be delivered tomorrow. Abhorrent!

I requested my recordings on the phone to Ivan and have been told I can only listen to them at the branch. I am entitled to a copy of the recordings and am demanding them here.

Abominable, detestable, loathsome, despicable, heinous, horrid, reprehensible, repugnant, contemptible, revolting, disgusting. These are just some of the adjectives I will use to describe FNB going forward.

I would like an apology, an explanation and tangible changes you plan to implement, particularly in your call centre. I do not feel the monthly banking fees can be justified on this experience and if FNB was serious about customer service you would refund me as an explicit apology for the treatment I have received. It is not right for FNB to hold me at ransom for access to my own credit card

If I do not get an adequate response shortly I will continue to escalate and post and escalate and post.

Good day FNB,

I am following up on my initial complaint on 23 August as below. I do not seem to have had any response from FNB, at least none written as I have been out of the country (without my credit card) and you may have phoned (but I doubt it).

Let me give you an update on what happened after the below. I did not get a call from the couriers and so I phoned them. They had no idea what I was talking about and did not have my card. They last delivered a card the Friday before to a branch. Thanks for nothing Ivan. I was back at square one with little hope of getting my card on time. A colleague of mine who used to work for FNB saw my anguish and tried to help. A well-meaning private banker he knows tried his best to help me but even at his level he was not able to get the card on time because of the useless systems or couriers or both. Thank goodness I am not paying those fees

My card was delivered a few days after I had left for holiday. The inconvenience you have caused me is immeasurable as I had to make last minute arrangements to make sure my holiday wasn’t completely ruined. A month to complete the simple task of delivering a credit card is frankly well below what is expected.