INCOMPETENCE BY FIRST NATIONAL BANK WHO REFUSE TO PAY BACK MY MONEY FOR THEIR INCOMPETENCE (HOW CAN WE HELP YOU)

From I. Stewart 05 April 2019 INCOMPETENCE BY FIRST NATIONAL BANK WHO REFUSE TO PAY BACK MY MONEY FOR THEIR INCOMPETENCE (HOW CAN WE HELP YOU) To whom it may concern I Ian Stewart have a Premier Cheque Account with First National Bank. In July of 2018 I had my TELKOM account at FNB Mall at Reds Branch and had my account number with TELKOM and EFT Ref No linked to my electronic banking so that I could pay my account by means of EFT. I am aware that I acknowledged that my TELKOM account number and ref number were correct. In November 2018 I paid R200.00 and a further R 1620.00 to Telkom. In December 2018 I paid a further R1000.00 to Telkom and in January 2019 I paid another R1000.00 to Telkom. A total of R 3620.00. These payments were all done by means of electronic transfers via my FNB Cell Phone App. At the end of January 2019 my TELKOM account was suspended due to no/late payments. I then lodged a complaint with Telkom saying that I had paid and sent them proof of payment. They contacted me back and said that the funds that were transferred were to standard bank and not to TELKOM/my account with TELKOM. I am in the Defence Force and was currently sitting in Cape Town. This made things even harder to sort out, as when I approached the branch at Cavendish Square, they assisted me to phone online banking. This was fruitless as they say that to reverse the payments I would have to pay R 293.00 per funds transfer. I asked if there was any other way to do this seeing that FNB did not connect the transfer information for EFT payments from the beginning correctly. The lady explained that I could speak to the internet banking department and she will redirect the call to them for assistance. I waited for over an hour for someone to assist, but this did not happen. This was on 25 February 2019. I then approached the FNB Branch at Kennel worth centre on 26 February 2019 only to receive the same type of assistance. Phone and wait an hour or longer but still nobody answers the call. Great assistance. Their motto “How Can We Assist You” which they do not stand up to or abide by.

I think this is very poor service from FNB Bank to not resolve a client’s needs “HOW CAN WE HELP YOU”. The assistant at the FNB Branch at Kennel worth centre then gave me an email address and said that I would defiantly get help should I be willing to put my complaint in righting to the help centre at FNB. This I did and received a complaint reference number. (Ref ********** has been issued for your complaint. For updates contact ********** ********** 371). After this I received numerus calls from different departments at FNB, I suppose as they passed my letter/email around to the different departments, each person phoned me to say that the problem is being attended to. At one stage an assistant contacted me from Premier Banking FNB stating that my complaint had reached her and is now at the correct section of FNB and that it would be dealt with. Once again different members start phoning me and each time this happens I have to explain the whole story over to whoever calls. At this stage I was getting fed up with this whole situation. “ How can we help you waste your time”? A Ms Roe***a Sarile from FNB asked me to go to the branch of FNB where I had the TELKOM account linked at 10 o’clock in the morning, they will contact me and I can then give my phone to one of the assistants so that the problem can be rectified as they see it as a FNB error and the branch that caused the problem will have to rectify it. I sat at the bank for about 30 minutes like an idiot as no body contacted me, bearing in mind I had to excuse myself from work in order to do this. Eventually Roe***a Sarile sent an email stating that the complaint that was opened has now been closed. The reason being that this was due to the information that FNB linked to my EFT banking on my phone is the information that I gave them. It is not FNB’s mistake but mine the client and they can no longer assist me and I must contact TELKOM and sort the problem out with them. During all of the above I did contact TELKOM as I was having a major problem with them as well due to the unpaid account and the account being suspended. TELKOM informed me when I sent them the proof of payments that they bank with Absa and not Standard Bank which was on the proof of payments that I had sent to them. This is when I started to get the whole picture that FNB had linked my internet banking incorrectly.

I then investigated further I first approached Standard Bank at the Life Style Centre Centurion. The assistant Julienne Andrews assisted me there by means of looking up on the banking system if they even have somebody with the same account number as my TELKOM account number. To my surprise they did. Ms Andrews checked to see if the deposits had been deposited into the account on the various dates that they were paid, and they reflected as paid into the account by me. Ms Andrews said that she is not able to give me any details of their client as it is confidential, but she will contact the client. This she did and when she was speaking to the client I heard her call the client “Loongile” sorry for the spelling, I’m not sure how you spell the clients name. Ms Andrews then asked the client if she received the above-mentioned deposits to her account over the various months, she admitted that she had received the deposits. Ms Andrews then asked her why she did not query with the Bank as to what the payments were for? I am not sure what the client answered. MS Andrews then asked if she can pay back the money as when she was checking the clients’ account for the deposits made by me she saw that the money had been withdrawn. The client mentioned that she is unemployed and has been for two years. Ms Andrews then said to the client that she will have to go into her branch and sign a debit order to pay back the money. The client mentioned again that she is unemployed and will only be able to pay back R 200.00 per month. Ms Andrews then hung up and informed me of what the client had said. I said to Ms Andrews that I would rather have all my money back in one payment. When Ms Andrews ytried to contact the client again, she just hung up on her and two times after that the call just went to voice mail as the client had switched her phone off. Ms Andrews said to me that again she was helping me and this request would have to come from FNB bank. I thanked Ms Andrews and left to go to the FNB branch where I linked my TELKOM account. At the Mall at Reds FNB branch I asked for a copy of the document I had signed when I linked my TELKOM account for internet banking. They gave me a copy, I had a copy of one of my TELKOM accounts with me and explained to the assistant that the account number they had linked was correct and the reference number was correct, it also says TELKOM on top. This was the form I had signed when linking the account. I explained to the assistant what the problem was and he could not believe it. He took the TELKOM account and the Acknowledgement page to the branch manager, on returning he said that they had done their part correctly and that it is not FNB fault as the information is linked correctly. I explained to him that my deposits end up in a person’s personnel account. He informed me that they are not able to do investigations into another banks clients account without a court order. I was not impressed and asked then how do my payments end up in a Standard Bank customer’s personnel account. This he could not explain this to me. “How Can We Help You” I am at my wits end with this whole situation and advise any client of FNB be careful when you are making payments through the FNB’s banking Ap. I hope the people reading this complaint take note of it as the amount of time, frustrations and fruitless exercise has still not paid off. Ian Stewart Account Holder FNB Bank