Bad service, incomplete activation processes

I've recently taken a corporate card (AMEX) from Nedbank as I was travelling to Europe for 4 months from July. I picked up, registered my card and activated it at The Glen Nedbank branch, Johannesburg. I was assured it has been activated for overseas use. At the airport, I checked and it hadn't been activated and their systems were down so they wouldn't be able to help me. I spent an hour refusing to listen to the excuse as I was not about to fly to Europe with a card I could not use to pay for accommodation, transport etc. After an hour long argument and calls, it was activated, that was 04 July. 22 July while in France I get an SMS \Please call Nedbank *** to verify account details in terms of FICA to avoid restrictions from 04 August ***."Using own airtime"