Loss of R22000 as a result of ridiculous processes and system failures at FNB

<p>This has been such a ridiculous issue with FNB. A cheque numbered 55 that was issued in error by us for an amount of R21942 went off our account even though there was only an available balance of R16500 at the time the cheque went through. This meant that the account was now overdrawn which should never have happened. Why did the bank honour a cheque where sufficient funds were not available. In addition special clearance was requested on the cheque and so it went through into the depositors account within 48hrs as oppose to being subject to the normal 10 working day clearance period which would mean that the bank should have been even more stringent to make sure that the appropriate balance was available. We had every reason to believe that a cheque that was issued in error would be sent back not provided for or due to insufficient funds if the funds were in fact not available. Once the cheque went through however things got even worse. We could not get hold of our dedicated relationship manager who sits at the Adderley Street branch on her cellphone and FNB does not put calls through to the branch directly anymore as all calls go through to a national call centre which cannot transfer you to a specific branch. The relationship manager also did not respond to emails. Her name is Fahdlonesa Levy. We tried her multiple times on the day the cheque first went through which was the 23rd June 2016. The cheque was first issued in error on the 21st June 2016. When we then called the business accounts call centre we were told that only the relationship banker at the branch could reverse the cheque and that there is no one else that could help us and again that they could not put us through to the branch but instead could only send the branch an email to have the cheque reversed. This never happened. When we tried the call centre again they gave us the same reasoning for their inability to help and again offered to send an email that amounted to nothing. Eventually on the 28th June 2016 (after the weekend) we went through to the Adderley Street branch and asked to speak to Fahldonesa (who was still not contactable) and were then told that she is retiring and even though was only due to stop officially working on 30th June, she had already left the company. At no stage were we informed of this change or given new contact details for somebody else and this is ridiculous considering that this person is the only one person who can assist us with reversing cheques. Even worse once we met the new relationship manager Basheer Losper, he said that had he been informed earlier he could have reversed the cheque automatically on the system using his employee code, but now that it was a few days too late for that, he would have to refer it to JHB to reverse but he repeatedly stated to us in verbal and written correspondence that he was "100%" certain that the amount would be reversed no matter what and we made commitments based on this promise. Even worse is that if we had just been informed of the change of banker earlier and been given the new details we could have called him directly on the 23rd June 2016 instead of repeatedly trying Fahdlonesa Levy and the cheque would have been reversed no problem. After another week of backwards and forwards Basheer eventually got back to us and said that even after his "100%" promises JHB has refused to reverse the cheque because its too late and the funds have already been withdrawn from the depositors bank. When asked why FNB honoured a cheque where the account had insufficient funds he said it is because of the impeccable account history with the bank and so we are being penalised for our good track record. How can we ever plan properly if FNB will sometimes honour amounts where there are insufficient funds?</p> <p>Even if the funds have already been withdrawn, we request that FNB reimburse out of their own for the full value of this cheque due to the all of the reasons we have mentioned above. We have been operating this business account for over 6 years and the directors of our company have been banking with FNB for over 25 years and this is without a doubt the worst runaround and service we have ever received and further legal action will follow should this not be resolved to our satisfaction along with an extensive and exhaustive campaign against FNB in the press and media showing how FNBs poor systems, processes and infrastructure have severely affected their customers.</p>