Is it that time of the FNB month again…

I hope that FNB will consider the merits of my criticisms (below) that concern “help” and “service”. And that FNB is able to do better in the future. Yesterday I had a problem paying a vendor. In short, load shedding damaged the vendor’s point of sale terminal as my payment was being made. This resulted in no one being exactly sure if my payment had been successful or not. To try and resolve the matter I phoned FNB’s customer care centre, number as on the back of my card. I was then asked a security question “do I do cell phone banking or have the FNB app?”, to which I rep**** “No, I only do online banking”. Incredibly FNB’s consultant then informed me that she could not assist me because she could not verify who I was. Absolutely fantastic – some exercise in help that was. This beggars belief because I don’t believe that either of these security options as posed to me, are obligatory, they come across more as an advertorial for these services than anything related to security. In other words for someone to just “help me” I have to have FNB’s app or do cell phone banking. And very odd too because when I do many online banking transactions of various significant amounts FNB has never had a security issue sending me an OTP number, without confirmation, to my cell phone. Imagine needing help for a pressing after hours emergency! Perhaps FNB will up the security stakes and oblige us all to become chipped! If this is the best FNB can do then Lord help us, clearly the ****** are streets ahead of FNB. Then, topping it all I went in to FNB Cresta earlier this morning to check the status of the transaction noted above. I had received an earlier SMS noting that the transaction had been reversed but I wanted a real person to confirm this to me because FNB had refused to help me earlier on. Indeed the payment was apparently reversed and so I made an EFT to the vendor from the Branch. I then opted to print a ‘proof of payment’ that I could quickly drop off at the vendor to allay their concerns. But off course the FNB printer would not work, not one but at two different printers, even with the manager’s assistance. Long story short - I had to rush home and make a print out at home. All in all, so much for FNB’s “help” and “service”.