Appalling experience - Nedbank Irene Village Mall

We visited the Irene Mall branch today to get my husband’s new card. At the same time we wanted to find out why my son’s card doesn’t work on point of sale machines. The lady immediately took the card and cut it up saying the chip is faulty. She gave us a generic gold VISA card and sent us to the ATM to see if it worked. It didn’t and said “limit exceeded”. She then checked his profile and said the limit is set to 0 we have to fix it on the app. Which we couldn’t do since the card wasn’t linked. She had to link it on her side.

I asked if was it the limit the whole time or was there actually a problem with the card. She said the limit was the problem, but if I wanted a new card she can order one but I will pay for it. I said I don’t want to buy a new card, I just wanted to be sure my other son’s card works since if it is an “old chip” like she said it will mean his won’t work either.

She said his does work since we were able to deposit money at the ATM. I went back to the ATM to make sure he can draw money. He couldn’t, it said “restricted card”. I went back to her and asked NOT to cut it up since she just said it was the limit, not the card. She started getting aggressive calling me rude. Up to this point I was just asking questions trying to understand what is wrong. I asked her if she is fighting since she was very short and wouldn’t answer any questions. I also said I am not questioning HER, I am trying to understand what the issue is here. Is the card inactive, was the chip faulty like she said or was it just that it wasn’t linked to the app or what. But she doesn’t answer and keeps repeating like a vinyl record that if i want a new card she will order it but i must pay.

I kept asking her why she is being so rude and she kept telling me I am not calm. I was very calm, I just kept asking the same question as I genuinely couldn’t understand why she would cut up the cards if there is just a problem with the limit which we fixed? And all she kept answering was “the card I gave you is free, if you want another personalized one you can pay for it”.

I got emotional which I know didn’t help the situation, I was just so shocked that someone in a customer service job could be so blatantly rude and unhelpful.

Since there was no manager on duty I asked her if I should phone Julias to get answers or if I should maybe ask on HelloPeter rather and she said “Yes, you must”.

You can have a look at the cameras to see how the situation escalated. We left there not knowing why she had to cut up their beautiful personalized cards for generic gold VISA cards.

I did tell her that I don’t think she should work with customers because even if she does know all the answers she definitely doesn’t know how to talk to people or how to explain anything to customers. And whenever I spoke she would speak at the same time as me. It was a ridiculous encounter. The more I asked the more upset she got. I tried to speak softly and more loud, slowly etc. so she can see I am not fighting, I just don’t know what is happening.

We have never experienced such bad service with Nedbank. The people are always friendly and helpful and if they’re unsure they’ll always find out. This was a terrible experience. And we still have zero answers.