FNB Merchant Services are Poor!

If you want to open up a e-commerce merchant account with FNB make sure you have time on your hands because they seem to think they have plenty of time.

I have unfortunately been waiting 9 weeks for my merchant account to be opened and I am still waiting. My application has been approved by their risk team but two weeks later after the approval I am still waiting for my merchant number, terminal ID and password.

FNB Merchant Services have failed to keep me informed and updated through this whole process from the beginning. I have made countless phone calls to the call centre after waiting on the phone for at least 20 minutes at a time to only get told that they don’t know the progress and that they would “escalate the application.” This was the common answer from the call centre after ever phone call.

I eventually asked to speak to management and was told over the phone that they can’t put me through to management or I was told that they would get someone to contact me from management but no one ever did… What kind of business won’t allow their customers to speak to management?

I have put a lot of work into developing this business idea. Having a mobile app that functions and revolves around it’s banking backend system means that without the merchant account we are sitting ducks. I hope FNB Merchant team know that they are costing us and many of the people that are supposed to be working for us a lot because of their poor performance.

I am at the point where I feel helpless and It’s sad that I am even having to write this. It’s also something I would prefer not to do. It’s very easy to keep someone informed even if then application is not ready but FNB can’t do that. However, I hope this will catch FNBs attention because working with them directly clearly doesn’t.

In closing, if you have a e-commerce business idea and you need a Motor and 3D Secure merchant account don’t use FNB. They are unhelpful, unresponsive and your journey with them won’t be a easy one. However, if anyone knows someone that I can chat to in order to get their attention and solve this situation, please feel free to email me at ***.