Account Opening Disgrace

I approached Standard Bank through the Fourways Mall Branch to open a Bank account on the 28th of February 2020. I am currently a customer with another Bank but had considered that a move to Standard Bank would be beneficial in some respects. I explained to the consultant at the Branch that I needed to open an account urgently since I had recently accepted a job offer and wanted to provide the details of the new account to my new employers and she assured me that it would be possible to get the account opened within the same day. I completed and submitted all the necessary paperwork but the consultant informed me that the account would only be processed after obtaining the necessary approvals which would happen within the course of that same day - as such I left the bank not having signed for the account and with the promise that the paperwork to finalize the account would be sent through to me once approvals were obtained.

After not hearing any feedback from the consultant at the agreed time on the same day I followed up with her and she assured me that all necessary submissions had been made and that someone from the Prestige Banking division would be in touch with me. Soon after completing my call with the branch consultant I did indeed receive a call from a Prestige Banker who took me through a process of finalizing the account opening. At the conclusion of our call she confirmed that the account had been opened and that I would receive confirmation of this within a few hours.

After not having received the confirmation in the indicated time I called the Prestige Banking Call Centre and asked for the specific Banker I had spoken to earlier and I got through to another banker who assured me that the specific Banker would call me back which she never did.

On the Monday (2/03/2020) following the weekend I sent a follow up email to the branch consultant, following up on the confirmation of account opening but this email was never responded to. I then followed up with her telephonically and she indicated that she would return my call within 10 minutes but again this never happened. After not having received any feedback from the branch consultant I then called the Prestige centre once again to look for the Banker I initially spoke to but I was again unable to reach her and instead spoke to another Banker who then explained to me that since I was using a passport for my application further checks still needed to be done before my account could be finalized- this had not been communicated when I dealt with the two other bank representatives. The lady then assured me that she would have the original Prestige Banker I had engaged with to make contact me the following day but again there was no communication received from this banker as per this commitment.

I only received an email from her apologizing for the delays and informing me that they were awaiting feedback from the Department of Home Affairs on the verification results of my permit. What I have subsequently found out is that this can be a process that takes up to 30 days!

All in all my experience with Standard Bank has been shocking and am deeply disappointed at the poor communication , seeming lack of competence from the staff and lthe lack of transparency and honesty related to the application process. They clearly are inconsistent and at the very worst discriminatory in the application of internal policies.

For a Bank that positions itself as being ready to help customers with their "Next" Standard Bank simply falls short when it comes to following through. There is a clear hypocrisy in the stated values and in the banks professional conduct. I wonder if Sim Tshabalala is aware that he presides over such incompetence. That said I will be moving forward without Standard Bank - I feel I have dodged a bullet this level of service can only be a predictor of what would have followed if I joined the bank anyway.