I am not a Gupta

Item: SARS
Rating: 1
Author: Lydia G

Dear Hello Peter I am at my wits end and need to vent!! My latest tax refund was paid out to me on 08 October 2016, happy days or so I thought.... I managed to make one EFT but on my second I received a failure report stating insufficient funds. So I assumed the funds did not clear due to it being a Saturday. I then went down to my local FNB to enquire the reason for the glitch as my balance clearly shows there is funds. At the bank I was told that there's a "hold" on my account and that I need to call SARS in order for them to grant FNB permission to "release" the funds, neither the lady at the service counter not her manager could explain the exact reason as they have not come accross this type of issue before, I asked them if FNB can assist in calling to get the matter resolved but they were adamant that I should deal with SARS directly. The flag on the system just stated that the client must call SARS on ********** 175. I stepped outside and called, my call was answered promptly at 12:48 (10 October) and I spoke to a lady (did not get her name) who told me that it is a normal procedure for the bank to flag any "new" payments made to an account and SARS will now verify the payment in order for FNB to release the funds. (This made sense as this was the first time I used my FNB account for such a transation) The verification process would take a maximum of 2 working days. I thanked her and left it at that. Wednesday (12 October) came but the balance was not reflecting as available, I called 20 times but no answer at ********** 175, I checked again the following morning and still nothing. I called (13 October) ********** 175 at 08:54 no answer and again at 09:29, a lady picked up and confirmed that my verification request was logged (Tuesday 11 October) but due to staff being off, sickness and a huge backlog in their department, all verifictions are delayed and I must call back next week Monday. Monday 17 October: 16 calls made NO ANSWER Tuesday 18 October 26 calls made NO ANSWER Wednesday 19 October 14 calls made NO ANSWER I have checked with FNB and they advised that their hands are tied and they can not do anything unless the verifiction notice is received. I can not believe that it has taken this long to get a simple payment verification done.

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