1 reviews | Active since May 2017
I gave up on FNB
An Open Letter to FNB
Dear FNB
Here are some reasons why I gave up after over 10 years of banking with you. You used to be the best bank or the one with least issues, until the last five years or so.
1) When you wrote to me 2-3 years ago asking me for lots of documentation to update your file/my profile as part of your KYC practise, you never acknowledged receipt of the documents. This despite some of them having to be notarised, meaning they took time to collect. A reminder also resulted in no reply and I concluded you did not have enough staff to actually offer personal acknowedgements. So I assumed you received them.
2) Two years later (last year) you contacted me for the same documents and you informed me you dont have any of them on file. I could not simply resend them all as the notarised ones had to be within 3 months old. You also asked me for my new residence permit since mine had expired. I informed you that the renewal is being processed at a RSA embassy, but your reply was that you needed a "receipt" if the permit is not issued yet. When I informed you that spouses of SA citizens do not actually pay for relatives visas and hence there are no receipts unless they apply via VFS and not an embassy, you totally ignored my message as if I had spoken chinese. I sent a reminder and the reply eventually was "we need the receipt". Agonising over your disinterest to understand how spousal visas get renewed at embassies, and your disinterest to accept an email acknowledgement from the embassy, I asked you whether you can be patient and if you can wait 8 weeks for the renewal to be provided. You said "We will wait for the renewal". But your level of customer services is so skeleton-like that you did not bother to tell me also that meanwhile my account will be restricted and some features will be frozen.
3) To unresrict some features I told you to switch my account from resident to non resident. I completed all the paperwork from abroad where I was at the time, and you switched it. 2-3 months later my residence permit got renewed, but to switch back to a resident account, you were unable to do it via emails and secure messages. No, for this switch you needed me to visit a branch, knowing I was still abroad visting my family. The logic is strange...how you can switch an account one way remotely, but to go the other way (with lesser monthly fees) you need me to visit a branch. It is as if you are desperate to cause inconvenience to your customers. I felt as if you are doing favours to me all the way.
3) When I returned home in SA, to my surprise my debit card was not working in any of the shops. Your non-res department contacted by email claimed they do not even have a record of it. And rather than follow up and minimise the inconvenience for me, they said their policy disallows them to assist me further and I must visit a branch. At a branch the lovely girl who assisted me also could not find a record of the card that I held and could not understand why it does not work anymore. We both deduced that when my account was switched from resident to non resident, my card became invalid, unbenown to to the staff it seems.
4) So to get a card working I had to order a new one. Will there be a charge? Oh yes... will there be a refund? I was told I can ask for a waiver, but for this I must visit the branch again to reverse the charge. It seems like the policies of the bank are to give an absolute ZERO consideration to the inconvenience caused to the customer in order to rectify problems that are not of his/her causing.
5) At the branch on another visit I showed them my renewed residence permit. So the account can now go back to being resident not non resident (with cheaper monthly fees and less restrictions). When I asked customer service online, 5 days later, why it seems the account is still non-res, they said I have to go to a branch to find out. When I emailed the bank officer who had assisted me in the branch (another lovely girl and I am sure she is also a victim of bank policies) she said ...wait for this...policy and system of the bank is such that she cannot check on the status of my account switch unless I am physically in the branch and identified. Eventually I convinced her to simply folllow up on what she started when I visited her, without waiting for me to drive to the branch to ask for the mere follow up of the job that she had started. Eventually the account did get switched and she did all to inform me as I requested.
6) Meanwhile I gave notice to a 7 day account to withdraw funds and deposit them into my chequing account. After 7 days the funds got withdrawn as expected but did not enter my chequing account. This was the first time this happened. Secure Chat online said they will escalate the matter but then they gave me a reference number so I monitor and follow up. I was told if I see the bank didnt fix the problem then I must be the one to call or message the bank and give the reference number and explain the issue to someone on duty. It seems your bank has the policy where officers are not allowed to follow up on issues and once the customer leaves the branch or ends the chat, the customer must trust that the escalated matter will be resolved but if not, the customer has find the time and energy to re-contact or re-visit in order to nudge the bank. I have noticed this pattern/policy with every bank officer at FNB.
Now I have to admit that since reaching 50 my tolerance to poor customer service has reached almost zero. Furthermore I am from Europe with lots of banking experience and perhaps my minimum standards are not so minimum for the average customer. Perhaps the above issues are "normal" for the average South African customer and I am making a bit of a fuss.
However, the three factors that have driven me to decide to give up on FNB are the following:
1) NO FOLLOW UPS - The culture of the bank is to be reactive nor proactive. And staff have no direction or incentive or motivation to FOLLOW UP on issues. They simply "escalate" or "send an email" to another department and then they wipe their hands from the issue once they do that. The concept of following up and contacting the customer later on another day to update him/her, is a very foreign concept. Instead the onus of follow ups and re-contact is placed on the customer who must nudge the bank - and sometimes go physically tomorrow to the branch - to ensure a matter is indeed resolved. Also the care@ email saying they will send a reply within five business days is more often than not a complete lie.
2) The culture of "the customer is always right" certainly does not exist with FNB. But lets say for a moment that this old adage is outdated. Still, if a customer's debit card suddenly doesnt work and you, the bank, cannot see it anymore on the system because it mistakenly got deleted, why dont you immediately replace the card (banks can issue unprinted cards there and then so the customer at least leaves with a bank card). And why tell the customer to return to the branch once a replacement charge is made on the statement so that a waiver can be sent and considered? How shallow can you go? Can you imagine Amazon sending you by mistake a shoe in a parcel when you ordered a shirt and then telling you to drive to their warehouse to switch the product and oh there will be a switching fee on your card but then you can return to the warehouse when it shows up and request a waiver, and then fingers crossed your request is accepted and you didnt do the drive for nothing.
3) Last of all, but probably most important, is the bank's culture is such that even with the most courteous of officers - many of which do try and are nice - not for one moment did i receive an apology or show of compassion or empathy for the inconvenience caused. When your bank card that had yet to expire next year was no longer existing on your system, and it was so clear that this was a technical issue, from the 3 different employees I spoke to via online and at the branch, not one of them said "Sorry" or "Excuse us for the inconvenience" or anything remotely compassionate. The same applies with every time there is a problem that was not caused by me but by the bank.
I appreciate your reply, but rest assured I am fully aware that your speedy response was only due to the fact that I published my complaints. Nevertheless, I welcome your effort.
This will most likely going to be my very last message to you, publicly and privately, depending on your choice of how to manage my pending complaints. I will explain what is pending here.
1) When you switched my account recently from non res to res, you automatically put me on the Aspire plan and although i already paid the 175R month fee one week prior, you chose to charge me a pro-rate fee of 35R for a week, for some reason which only your system designers or policy makers can explain. In any case, these little mishaps do not worry me much. My pending issue is that took the trouble of contacting your customer service via secure online chat, after beign verified on the device I was required, and the officer promised to change the plan/escalate the matter and sort of gave me confidence that he/she would follow up. The reference for this chat is CAS-***1-M2F8LO. In a normal situation with a normal bank, the account will change to Easy as we discussed and with an above average bank somebody would inform me by email or phonecall as a follow up. Now, I know the culture of your bank and customer only too well, so I am not going to fool myself. I expect no follow up call or email, and the chance of my account being switched to Easy and the fee adjusted is unlikely, although maybe I should be more positive I guess beause I am publishing my complaint. What will normally happen with your bank is you will not follow up, there will be a 90+ chance you will not change the plan and not modify the monthly fee that was debited without checking what plan I desire, and when I complain by spending valuable time contacting yout secure chat again, I will be told to visit a branch in person. This will be a total waste of my time because a secure chat should not be called secure chat if it requires a branch visit. Furthermore, changing a plan is not like changing a card limit or paying a third party. There is no risk of ***** when changing a plan for the account.
2) When I visited the branch some weeks ago in Rondebosh, I spoke to a lovely officer called Tina and showed her my debit card that was one year away from expiring and she confirmed it is nowhere to be seen on the system. In my opinion and internal investigation should be made to find out why this happened but anyway we think it is because of the res to non res switch. She kindly ordered a new card for me and said there will be a card fee of 160R. When I asked why should I pay for a card replacement when I did not lose mine and did not damage it, she said its highly likely that I can get a refund if i visit the branch. Now I do not want to go through the trouble of going to a branch to fix again your mistake of charging me for a card that should never be charged.
In view of the above, and in view of all the other issues mentionned in my first message, please proceed to close my account with immediate effect. Your unfriendly policies and very weak customer service is too endemic without your bank for me to have any more hope.
Thank you
Malcolm
I appreciate your reply, but rest assured I am fully aware that your speedy response was only due to the fact that I published my complaints. Nevertheless, I welcome your effort.
This will most likely going to be my very last message to you, publicly and privately, depending on your choice of how to manage my pending complaints. I will explain what is pending here.
1) When you switched my account recently from non res to res, you automatically put me on the Aspire plan and although i already paid the 175R month fee one week prior, you chose to charge me a pro-rate fee of 35R for a week, for some reason which only your system designers or policy makers can explain. In any case, these little mishaps do not worry me much. My pending issue is that took the trouble of contacting your customer service via secure online chat, after beign verified on the device I was required, and the officer promised to change the plan/escalate the matter and sort of gave me confidence that he/she would follow up. The reference for this chat is CAS-***1-M2F8LO. In a normal situation with a normal bank, the account will change to Easy as we discussed and with an above average bank somebody would inform me by email or phonecall as a follow up. Now, I know the culture of your bank and customer only too well, so I am not going to fool myself. I expect no follow up call or email, and the chance of my account being switched to Easy and the fee adjusted is unlikely, although maybe I should be more positive I guess beause I am publishing my complaint. What will normally happen with your bank is you will not follow up, there will be a 90+ chance you will not change the plan and not modify the monthly fee that was debited without checking what plan I desire, and when I complain by spending valuable time contacting yout secure chat again, I will be told to visit a branch in person. This will be a total waste of my time because a secure chat should not be called secure chat if it requires a branch visit. Furthermore, changing a plan is not like changing a card limit or paying a third party. There is no risk of ***** when changing a plan for the account.
2) When I visited the branch some weeks ago in Rondebosh, I spoke to a lovely officer called Tina and showed her my debit card that was one year away from expiring and she confirmed it is nowhere to be seen on the system. In my opinion and internal investigation should be made to find out why this happened but anyway we think it is because of the res to non res switch. She kindly ordered a new card for me and said there will be a card fee of 160R. When I asked why should I pay for a card replacement when I did not lose mine and did not damage it, she said its highly likely that I can get a refund if i visit the branch. Now I do not want to go through the trouble of going to a branch to fix again your mistake of charging me for a card that should never be charged.
In view of the above, and in view of all the other issues mentionned in my first message, please proceed to close my account with immediate effect. Your unfriendly policies and very weak customer service is too endemic without your bank for me to have any more hope.
Thank you
Malcolm