Nedbank Somerset Mall - 2 hours in the queue for 10 minute resolve

Spent 2 hours at Somerset Mall Nedbank today. Some 50 minutes in the queue outside the bank whilst other clients who arrived after me were being let in. Apparently my request to change a Stop Order could only be done by enquiries staff whilst the clients being let in before me could have their requests attended to by the tellers or other consultants. This should already have been an alert to the manager on the staffing balance and the type of assistance required by the clients. Then I waited inside for 45 minutes until I complained about enquiries staff going on lunch break, whilst the client queue for enquiries was not moving, and other staff walking around or sitting around not attending to clients. At this time the electronic information board had been showing the following stats for some time: New accounts and Advice: clients waiting 0 Personal loans: clients waiting 0 Card collections: clients waiting 1 Enquiries: clients waiting 6 Teller: clients waiting 0 These stats are continuously updated. Surely the manager can monitor this, intervene and get other staff to assist? After I pointed this out the manager asked one of the sales consultants to assist. As I was next in the queue I was assisted and in less than 10 minutes I left the bank. When I walked out there were some 12 clients in the queue outside. If they had not been let in I assume they were all there for the enquiries counter. Again, this should be a major red flag for the manger that she needs to monitor the situation and utilise all her staff. These are 3 different indicators that there is a problem with the staff distribution for handling the different client queries. And please don’t bring covid in as an excuse. Covid does not prevent the manager from managing the client flow. I am hesitant to use the word ***********, but your manager, Ms September has clearly failed in managing the branch effectively. It is not my responsibility as a client to point out the flaws in your process, nor to ask for other staff to be utilised to assist clients. Also, whilst some clients require assistance which takes a long time, there are others like me whose query can be concluded in a very short time. Why must those clients wait for almost 2 hours when their query can be resolved in less than 10 minutes? If your manger analysed her stats she would be aware of this. A staff member or 2 handling these type of enquires will ensure clients move through the bank a lot quicker. All she needs to do is set up an express counter. Overall a very disappointing experience with Nedbank.