Fnb Online banking electricity purchase - friend or foe?

<p>On the 1st of September, at roughly 06:30 my wife attempted to purchase prepaid electricity via the FNB's online banking, as we have done every month for the past two years, however an error kept popping up stating that there is a "system error" and to try again later. I attempted to purchase via the mobile app, but recieved the same response. Within a half hour, I recieved a msg stating R1000, has been deducted from my cheque account for the electricity. </p> <p> </p> <p>That at night I wanted to put the token onto the meter, however when I went onto the prepaid electricity tab, it showed no purchase being made, however the money was deducted out of my account, I then had to purchase another R1000's electricity, for which I was penalized. And so the frustration began.....</p> <p> </p> <p>I immediately tried to phone my private banker via the app, but to no avail, I continued trying to contact a variety of FNB decisions at about 18:45 but was only able to get a hold someone at around 19:00, however I'm not sure this gentleman was awake or fully aware of what was happening around him. From that night I've spoken to various employees of FNB, the one more clueless than the next. </p> <p> </p> <p>My so called "private banker" (Lebohang Dlamini) responded poorly to my e-mails, and also had no idea what the rules around prepaid electricity are. When speaking over the phone her level of sarcasm and lack of knowledge was shocking.</p> <p> </p> <p>So let me try to explain this (hopefully for the last time), the second purchase I made on the 1st of September, I recieved 177,9 units for my R1000, (I'm being penalized, due to the fact that I am purchasing more than R1000 of electricity in a month, this is a government rule ) as the system found that I had made a purchase already, which I didn't receive. Normally I receive 635 unit for my R1000. Although I have now been refunded for the "system error" the system still sees my initial purchase, and keeps penalizing me for this, I still have not received my 635 or my free 100 units. </p> <p> </p> <p>I have also also laid a complaint with the customer care dept. and the response I'm getting is appalling. FNB's response has been " we are only a platform for the prepaid electricity, and there's nothing that we can do, you have to go to the municipality to sort it out", I don't accept this, as the error given was due to the FNB banking not working, and if this is merely a "platform", I seriously suggest you get rid of this function on your app and online banking, especially if FNB does not want to take responsibility for any failures or if none of the FNB employees knows how this works. I might as well purchase my electricity directly from the municipality, seeing that I have address my issues with them.</p> <p> </p> <p>Ive been with FNB for a long time now, but I'm now considering leaving this "efficient" bank, purely due to the incompetence of all the FNB employees I spoke too. The only employee that I spoke to that actually knew what I was talking about was a lady called Yolanda, that works in customer care. She's clearly in the wrong dept. she should be in your technical dept. </p> <p> </p> <p>Thus, I require FNB to do one of the following, either FNB gives me the 635 units plus the 100 free unit as per the the governments rules, or FNB needs to reimburse me for all the subsequent purchases that I have to make (ive spent R2000 for 344 units already, and will most likely spend another R2000, just to get through the month)</p> <p> </p>