Not Even Crocodile Tears...

A dear friend recently turned 64 (Thursday, 7 Dec). To celebrate my husband and I treated her to supper at Tonys Spaghetti. A great evening was had by all until it came time to pay the bill, that is when both my and my husband’s FNB debit cards were declined by the establishment’s point of sale machine. Embarrassingly our guest ended up paying the bill for all three of us. Come Friday the status quo remained i.e. our FNB debit cards continued to be declined by point of sale machines. Fortunately I had spare cash on hand to see me through the day, otherwise who knows - so much for cashless. A quick check online revealed that I had not exceeded my limits, etc, and no Whatsapp or SMS or other notification had been received from the Bank advising of a problem. So on Saturday (9 Dec) I went in to FNB Cresta to be advised that both debit cards (mine, husband) had been deactivated. No explanation was given to me other than “it happens”. Mind Boggling. Then on Sunday (10 Dec) my husband went in to FNB to have his card reactivated. Again the Bank’s consultant could shed no light for the actual reason why this had happened, though a few loose “options” were bandied about without much conviction, and no reassurance was given that this wouldn’t happen again. Ultimately we weren’t even considered worthy of receiving what must virtually be most institutions version of crocodile tears: “sorry for the inconvenience this might have caused you”. Without knowing why the Bank took this action I can only speculate that a bit of transparency would go a long way in helping matters, for example, if the Bank strongly suspected *****ulent activity from a retail outfit I could form my own conclusions and take appropriate action. Short of that, the Bank’s communication and position they put me in is not appreciated, at all.