Pathetic, devious service

Let me tell you about the most pathetic service you will ever hear about... Please remember these names, RAYMOND, Tumelo & Lina from General Enquiries.

I am purchasing a vehicle from dealership that has a policy that a car cannot be released until funds reflect in their account, which is understandable with all the ***** today. Anyway, because of some stupid rule, FNB does not allow me to increase my Pay & Clear transfer limit above R100 000.

I drive all the way to Springs Mall FNB & request a transfer of funds from my account to the dealership's account & I am told by a man & a very unhelpful Claudine that one can no longer transfer funds in a Branch, only online. I tell them it's my money, I want to transfer in the Branch. They insist the only way is to call General Enquiries. After being chased away to the phone in the bank, I try get hold of General Enquiries.

After the line dropping twice, I eventually get through to Raymond from General Enquiries. I explain the situation & Raymond says he cannot increase the Pay & Clear amount. He says the only way is to do a normal transfer & he will email for a "Smart Block" which will clear it even though it's a Standard Bank recipient account. I ask him almost three times & he assures me in the hour it will be cleared.

An hour goes by & nothing. I call General Enquiries again & get hold of a man whose name I missed & he tells me he will send another request for a "Smart Block" which will go through in 20 mins. And 20 mins goes by & nothing.

I then get hold of Tumelo who tells me the same thing. He says he will escalate & definitely in 20 mins it will be through (I am the fool for believing him at this stage). 20 mins later & still NOTHING.

I call a fourth time & speak to Lina. After keeping me on hold for 9 mins, she assures me it's been escalated & it will be cleared by 5 PM. At this point the dealership has kept his gates open an extra hour waiting for me.

At a few minutes past 5 there is still nothing. I call General Enquiries for the fifth time & speak to Nonklankla. Although apprehensive to help, she levels with me & says that a "Smart Block" will not work. And because it was not a Pay & Clear payment, it will take 2-3 business days. I explain to her that I have no transport & am stuck at the dealership & she simply says the bank can do nothing. She goes on to tell me I can call complaints department which in her words is open till 6 PM to escalate it, but she cannot do nothing. I call complaints department & guess what? A robot lady says they close at 5 PM, good bye!

So well over R100 000 is stuck in the air somewhere & no one wants to help me. 2-3 business days puts me at Friday if I'm lucky & no one at General Enquiries or FNB Springs Mall wants to help.

FNB, please change your slogan "How can we help you?" We are just file numbers where the personal pronoun YOU means nothing to you as a corporate giant!

I want to name & shame Raymond, Tumelo, Lina & Springs Mall FNB for the devious & unhelpful way they dealt with me. And in all fairness, if you look at all my reviews, I give credit where it is due. Last week I wrote a very positive review about the manager at Springs Mall FNB. But unfortunately when she is not there, the rest don't care!

I cannot wait for this money to go through & then close every account with FNB!