Horrible Experience after upgrading to Private Clients account

I'm very disappointed with the service (or lack there of) from FNB in the past month. About a month ago I upgraded my account from Premier to Private clients and subsequently app**** for a matching credit card through the `Nav Money` option however my credit card application got declined with no specific reason. A few days later I initiated contact with customer service via `secure chat` to enquire about this but unfortunately my enquiry still remained unanswered. It seems my concerns were falling on deaf ears. I then requested to speak to my banker(since I should now have a personal banker since the "upgrade") but I was rudely told that I "currently do not have a personal banker assigned" and that "this is usually due to accounts in arears or not in good standing." and that I "may also call the credit team on *** for more information".

That left me puzzled, confused and even made me regret making the so-called "upgrade" in the first place. It started to seem like it was a bad idea because now I was going to have to pay more in banking fees but receive an even lower tier of customer service (even entry-level student accounts are probably getting much better service than this). And to add on to thr confusion was the fact that I DO NOT have any credit cards, nor loans with FNB, nor do I have any credit accounts in arrears for that matter and my account was and still remains in good standing.

Days went by and still continued to receive empty promises that I would get called back by a banker however that call never came. I called customer service a few more days later, and they routed and rerouted me more times than a network connection, needless to say, nobody had a clue as to how or why I wasn't assigned a personal banker and yet still none of them made any worthwhile attempt nor took it upon themselves to try investigate and resolve this problem.

This is by far the poorest customer service I've ever experienced with FNB and it is a clear reflection on the banking provider and its true values or lack thereof.

21 days into July and I've yet to receive a call from this mystery banker. I guess all personal bankers have enough on their plate. During this period I initiated conversations with two other banks (one being Discovery and the other being Capitec) and needless to say, so far I've been receiving really brilliant customer service from both and even got a call from a banker to discuss my requirements and which products they have that can help me reach my goals. With regards to Discovery, the lady presented me the best options for my current and future requirements as well as day to day banking needs, and to top it off, was subsequently qualified for a credit card with a R300,000 credit spend limit. Capitec also informed me that I qualify for a credit card with a R250,000 credit spend limit.

The idea was/is that I want to use the credit card for all my day to day spending and then every month I would transfer my salary into my credit card account, that way I also get to build on and improve my credit profile, because as you may know, interest rates are nowhere near being in our favour as black South Africans. I hope this does not get confused as being an accusation of racial profiling, because it isn't... I'm just making a careful and well informed observation.

I'm starting to consider the offer from Discovery bank as my medical aid and vitality is already with them, so by end of this week I'll have to finalize my decision and that will mean that I'll have to transfer funds from all 15 accounts (savings, cheque and investments, business,etc.) I have with Fnb to Discovery. I'll have to also shop around for equity share providers both on and off-s**** as well as new business banking providers (Discovery doesn't offer business accounts yet).

Once I've reached my final decision this week I would need assistance in closing all my business accounts, cheque account, and savings accounts including all the portfolio share investment accounts that I currently have with FNB and then open equivalent or similar accounts with either Discovery or Capitec, or both.

Unfortunately it has become evident that my previous impressions of FNB being a value-based customer-centric bank were quite false to say the least, and has therefore taught me a good lesson that, one should always remain critical of every service provider no matter their size, because at the end of the day, the only thing that matters to them in that relationship is your money... All the "value-based, happy chappy, how can we help you?" nonsense are just there to portray a false image to make it seem as if you are getting something far better and more sophisticated(or should I say "more bang for your buck"), whereas in reality, as they say: "both chickens come from the same farm, yet one is sold to you at 10x the price of the other just because they call it by a different name."