STANDARD BANK AND THEIR DEBT COLLECTOR COMPANIES,

never in my life had i ever experience such unprofessional manner with a firm. I made an arrangement at the end of February for one of my accounts that was handed over, which was excepted as according to the firm you only get three months to cover the arrears. (WHICH I PERSONALLY THINK IS BULLYING AS THEY DONT LEAVE YOU MUCH OF A CHOICE, AS THE SMS SAY OR LEGAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN) Before the next payment due date, we struggled to come up with the full arrangement amount and my husband contacted them to find out whether we can at least make payment of the the installment as we cannot cover the arrears this month.

He spoke to a consultant that guided him, and advised him that its not her file, however she still managed to assist him, instruction being that we make payment of our initial monthly installment, however she suggested we make an addition payment in the sum of R500.00 to go toward the arrears amount. (all this took place on the day before the lockdown) payment arrangement is for the 28th of each month no later then the end of the month.

Payment was made on the 27/03/2020 into the arrear account. One the 28/03/2020 i received and sms advising (to be exact "dear, the R***** received was less than the agreed R****** please pay difference without delay to avoid legal action. MacRobert Attorneys Ref: LS*****. My husband then contacted them this morning as it was weekend and we were not sure if they are open.

He managed to speak to consultant that is dealing with our file, where i heard him advising that he spoke to another consultant last week and made an arrangement. (THIS TELLING ME THAT THEIR SYSTEMS WAS NOT UPDATED) im not sure what was said on the other side, however i heard him ask the consultant are you disregarding the arrangement that was made by the other consultant that assisted me, by this time i could hear him becoming fruastrated.

I Took the phone and spoke to the lady dealing with our file, the basically did disregard the conversation we had with the first consultant last week, she became abrupt, which lead me to returning the favor by become abrupt. The only thing she was interested in was can we pay the arrears amount, when i advised her i cannot give her an answer knowing the state our country is in, i am not even sure if i am getting a salary next month. She then advised that if we cannot make payment we should seek CCA assistance, which we need to give them 3 month bank statements, salary slips and an affidavit with an motivational letter. i though she was joking as baring in mind our country is under lockdown. I asked her how am i suppose to get this documents, she advised the banks is open public transport is running. I then asked her if she is serious as lockdown meaning we are not suppose to leave our homes. Me getting to the conclusion that i have to put my life in danger for an affidavit and bank statements. She then continued advising me about the CCA application, where i was still on the line i received an sms regarding the documents i had to email. I once again asked her how am i suppose to get these documents she bluntly just told me SHE DONT KNOW how im going to get there. I then advised her that she is not even listerning to me, where i informed her laying a compliant with Standard bank and the head of their firm and will be posting them on hello peter she just advised OK! and the call was done. This call call i received at 14h14 and went on for 12min and 27sec. Not long after at 14h52 i received a call from the initial consultant who made the arrangement with my husband apologizing and she explain the matter to me in a much proper manner. At this point i was already furious for the attitude of the previous consultant. The second consultant then asked me if we will be able to pay our monthly installment and i advised her yes

THIS IS WHERE MY FRUSTRATION COME IN, my question is why did the person dealing with our file not once ask me about the installment! If she did the matter could have gone in a difference direction and everyone would have been satisfied, but the only thing she was interested in was the arrears. I Then decided to draft my complaint to standard bank and their firm. Not even 5 min later received another call from someone else at the firm. Im not sure if they only read the top of the email, however i was ask if i have spoken to anyone regarding this, which if the full email was read! that should not even have been a question as in my email i do make mention that i spoke to someone. I then received an email from manager whom advise that the matter was brought under her attention and that the tapes will be requested and revert. She also advise that the file was re-assigned to someone else, which i requested as i advised them i will put the phone down if this particular consultant contact me again.

NB: MACROBERT ATTORNEYS AS I ADVISED IN MY EMAIL. TEACH YOUR STAFF HOW TO COMMUNICATE AND LISTEN BEFORE THEY ACT. TEACH THEM MANNERS & ETIQUETTE. I WORK IN THE SAME INDUSTRY AND IF I HAD TO SPEAK TO CLIENTS OR HANDLE THEM THE WAY I WAS HANDLED I WOULD BE WITHOUT A JOB!

My point remains we are not trying to get out of our obligations just to extend the arrangement, and by telling me arrears can only be paid over three months i get, but that is PURE bullying, that is why we were we at now. As no choice was given not even a what can you afford. A DISGUSTED CLIENT!!! BY YOUR STAFF AND HOW THE MATTER WAS HANDLED...