Transaction Reversal Nightmare

On the 11th of April 2022 I was given incorrect bank details so made the fatal mistake of paying R11280 in the wrong account. Immediately looked in the FNB app to reverse it... Drum roll... Nothing... Bring on the pain!!!

NO IN-APP PAYMENT REVERSAL REQUEST OPTION LIKE OTHER BANKS ------------------------------------------------------------------- Guess what, no payment reversal request option. All the other banks apps have it, but not FNB.

FINDING HELP ON PAYMENT REVERSALS ON FNB SITE IS LIKE SEARCHING FOR THE PROVERBIAL NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So I start looking for help on FNB's payment reversal process. Nothing on the app. Nothing evident on the site. Eventually after half an hour I resort to Google and it finds me an obscure link to download a hardcopy form.

WELCOME BACK TO THE 80'S! ------------------------ Now get this for stuck in the 80's. In 2022, yes 2022 FNB still makes us download a form (when all other banks have online forms), print it out (I have to go dust my printer off, kill some trees and print a hard copy), fill it in by hand (with pen, aargh), scan it in (how many people actually have scanners at home anymore?), and email back (30 minute round trip, what shleppp!). So I do all of that, email the form back.

AUTOMATED RESPONSE HAS NOT EVEN BEEN PROPERLY FORMATTED ------------------------------------------------------- I get some sort of semi-automated response from an email address ***. No date in the reply, just "Date: [&Created]". So obviously they use some word template but the date macro is not working but they don't care and just leave the macro in there. The lack of attention to detail there starts worrying me. Apparently very little diligence or attention being given to this department or process, that I am placing my trust in to act as quickly as possible to correct my painful mistake as quickly before the money get's discovered and spent. Maybe I am just reading too much into things. So let's read on.

WE ARE ONLY GOING TO ACTION YOUR REQUEST AT SOME POINT IN THE NEXT 10 WORKING DAYS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Further down the reply is says, "Important Information: We will action your request within 10 (ten) working days" What!? Excuse me, but this is my money I earned with blood sweat and tears, now just lying in somebody else's account for DAYS AND DAYS for them to access and spend! Every minute, hour, Heaven forbid, day, (in that case weekSSSS) that it sits there the higher the chances they are going to find it and be tempted to spend it. And the greater the likelihood that my money is lost. This process should be SAME DAY FNB! HELLO! IS ANYONE ACTUALLY STILL THERE? Or does your payment reversal guy only come in once approximately every 10 days? Payment reversals should be actioned immediately, as a matter of highest priority. There should be a helpdesk I can call that helps me straight way. After all if I lose this money do to FNB sleeping then what is the difference between it being ****** or de*****ed from me? ***** department is open 24/7 to protect me of from losing my money, but not payment reversals department.

WE WILL ONLY LET YOU KNOW AFTER 10 DAYS --------------------------------------- Then further down the paragraph it reads "and we will provide feedback on the reversal attempt after 10 (ten) working days." AHEM... Come again FNB? So you will not let me know within a few minute or hours? Can't you at least let me know the outcome before 10 days if the process has failed, so I am not walking on egg shells for 10 WHOLE WORKING DAYS!?

DIGITAL RECALLS DEPARTMENT CANNOT BE PHONED DIRECTLY ------------------------------------------------------- Yes that is correct. I call the main helpdesk number a few times most times they just sound blank. Then after a few attempts somebody tells me to try ***. So I call that number and the person (who was very polite and professional by the way) apologetically tells me that I cannot be put through to the digital recalls because they cannot be phoned directly. So I ask her to contact them internally and she says "No that is also not possible". So why can't people call this mythical *** department? Is that because there is actually nobody there to answer the call? Because there was nobody there that day? Lol/weep, this reminds me of the time I tried to get a refund from SAA for a flight they cancelled at the last minute. I just got through to an answer machine. Then no refund, ever... Oh dear I just want to cry. But if I have just discovered I am down R11k the ***** hotline can be called directly right?

WE COULD NOT EVEN BE BOTHERED TO CALL YOU IN PERSON --------------------------------------------------- Then further down the paragraph it reads "Once a final response is received, we will notify you of the outcome via email." But if I had just discovered R11k had been paid to the wrong account **********ly the ***** hotline would phone me back wouldn't they?

BOTTOM LINE IS, YOU MADE A MISTAKE NOW WE ARE GOING TO MAKE YOU JUMP THROUGH ALL SORTS OF HOOPS, THEN AFTER THAT MINIMISE THE CHANCES OF YOU GETTING YOUR MONEY BACK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that is what is process effectively is.

2 WEEKS LATER, NO RESPONSE BY EMAIL ------------------------------------ OH WAIT, LET'S READ THAT AGAIN CAREFULLY "and we will provide feedback on the reversal attempt after 10 (ten) working days." SO IN EFFECT IT COULD BE ANY TIME AFTER 10 DAYS. OH SO MAYBE 20 DAYS, MAYBE 100 DAYS, JUST WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT. WE ARE NOT COMMITTING TO ANY TIMESCALES HERE. By this stage, I am worried about my R11k because clearly FNB digital recalls looks like another Helkom style service. So I realise I have to drive this process for them and spend my day on the phone begging them to do their job. So I call theIR helpdesk again, yes the customer has to chase digital recalls because they are not going to get back to us after 10 days.

THEY HAVE LOST MY FORM ---------------------- Helpdesk says, "no you sent us a blank form the last time, so now you have to resend the form".

WAIT ANOTHER 10 WORKING DAYS ---------------------------- So I resend the form back to digital recalls, and what do they do? They don't continue with the first case number: ***5104. They create a new case number ***4757 and tell me that I have to wait another 10 working days." REALLY FNB? REALLY?

COMEDY OF ERRORS ---------------- So I have waited another days and nothing still. The mispayment happened on the 11th of April and it is now the 19th of May.

I have emailed *** since then, and nothing. I have called the helpdesk again many times since then and they just tell me they will escalate it and somebody will call me back. Nobody ever does.

HERE ENDS MY FIRST INSTALLMENT OF MY TRANSACTION REVERSAL NIGHTMARE WITH FNB ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am tired tonight and I have got a mountain of work to get through because I have to try earn that money back so I can pay the correct creditor, who by now is thinks I am trying to dodge him and is threatening me with small claims court if I don't pay him. Which gets me thinking.... Do I have to take fnb to court over this? Is there a way to claim from FNB for my hospital bill when my creditor's debt collector comes and breaks my kneecaps? Is there someone in the digital recalls department that is deliberately holding on to my money in hopes that I give up? Do I have to open a ******** ***** case against FNB before they investigate the digital recalls guy that only comes in to the office once every 10 days? Should I go to the ombudsman? Should I go to Carte Blanche and see if they would like to run a story on this? Why do I have to fight so hard just to get back from FNB what is mine. The bottom line is the FNB payment reversal process is clearly dysfunctional. So something is wrong and needs to be investigated. I guess I am going to have to go on the warpath and do all of the above.

FNB I HAVE INFORMED YOU BY EMAIL ON THE 19TH OF MAY 2022 THAT I WAS GOING TO START THIS PROCESS IF YOU DID NOT TAKE ME SERIOUSLY. AND TOLD YOU THAT ONCE I HAVE STARTED I AM NOT GOING TO STOP. REMEMBER? BUT YOU ARE CLEARING LAUGHING AT ME. THEY SAY THAT NOBODY IS TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. SO LET'S SEE WHAT A DIFFERENCE THIS ONE BODY CAN MAKE...

DO THE RIGHT THING FNB:

1. GIVE MY MONEY BACK. 2. DON'T IGNORE SMALL MATTERS. IT IS THE LITTLE GUYS LIKE ME WHO CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE THIS MONEY AND ARE GOING TO FIGHT YOU THE HARDEST. AND A LITTLE CUSTOMER LIKE ME COULD MAKE A BIG NOISE AND COST YOU A LOT MORE REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE AND LOSS OF BUSINESS THAN THE R11K OF MINE YOU ARE SITTING ON. 3. FIX YOUR DYSFUNCTIONAL ARCHAIC PROCESSES. 4. VALUE ALL YOUR CUSTOMERS, EVEN THE LITTLE ONES LIKE ME. COLLECTIVELY WE ALL MAKE UP YOUR VALUE. AND LOSING US WILL COST YOU YOUR VALUE. AND YOU BECOME ANOTHER ESKOM, SAA, ETC.