If you can - STAY AWAY!

On the morning of 16 October 2024, I see a message from my bank that my debit order for Protea Metering went off on the 15th of October 2024. This immediately alarms me as my debit order mandate is signed to be deducted from my account on the 1st of each month. I immediately sent an e-mail to the account manager requesting to receive an explanation on why the debit order ran on a date other than the authorised date. The amount that was taken drained my bank account and I had a balance of R0.00 left for the month. I received no feedback during the day so I followed up via e-mail at around 20:30, this time including the “info@” email address to see if I can get any response. On the 17th of October 2024 I received an email form the account manager confirming that my debit order date is set for the 1st of the month and that “there has been some delays regarding payments reflecting because FNB had updates done which cause some delays”. I also receive an e-mail form the “info@” e-mail address stating that there will be a mass reversal on the accounts that have been affected and that their finance/ accounts department are aware of the issue and are looking into it. I rep**** to the account manager that I do not understand the answer as I am not making use of FNB and it doesn't matter if Protea Metering is with FNB, the debit order wasn't supposed to be loaded for the 15th. I furthermore mention that I have no funds left for the rest of the month because Protea Metering ran a debit order on an unauthorised date. Radio silence after that. My debit order was thankfully reversed on the 17th of October 2024. On the 18th of October 2024 the account manager replies with: “my apologies regarding this whole situation it has been now rectified and should this happen again please notify me as your debit order is set to go off on the 1st of the month.” Despite there being absolutely NO communication about the error and I needing to sort the issue out myself, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and I was a happy customer. Do not fool yourself – this did not last very long. On the 7th of November 2024 I realise that I did not see the Protea Metering debit order go off from my account. I immediately sent an e-mail to the account manager informing her of the issue as she assured me that my debit order was set to go off on the 1st of the month.

Today’s date is the 12th of November 2024. The account manager sent my invoice stating that I have another invoice outstanding from last month. Furious and frustrated I phoned asking to speak to whomever is in charge. I was informed that I need to speak to my account manager as she will escalate the issue. How do you refer me to the account manager if she does not even answer an email properly (on 17 October 2024) or just doesn’t reply (7 November 2024). Eventually I speak to the account manager, as they do not want to provide anyone else higher up and all that she can say is that there is an issue with the debit orders and that they are hopefully, yes, you read it correctly, HOPEFULLY, sorting it out. All of a sudden, she requests to load my outstanding debit order immediately – again in the middle of the month. I am not even going to discuss the fact that she continuously tells me that I have only the current invoice due after I told her that it did not go off and my invoice states that I have an opening balance. Turns out that she was viewing the incorrect invoice.

My questions are: a) Why did Protea Metering not communicate with their clients and informed them of the debit order error that occurred? Why did I need to ask and struggle to receive a proper answer validating the issue? b) Why were the debit orders loaded to run on the incorrect date and not according to the debit order mandate that was signed? c) After the assurance that my debit order was loaded to run on the 1st of the month, why was it not loaded and ran on the 1st?

If I had a choice I would have made use of another service provider. This level of service and the blatant ignorance to tell me that they will take the funds now after they made the mistake without any communication to the affected clients, is unacceptable. By the way, they charge you R 8.00 per month (VAT excluded) for a debit order – which they cannot properly manage. Great service guys! Suggestion if you are thinking of making use of their debit order facility: DON’T! If I could give them a -5 rating, I would have.