Don't go thorugh Standard for a bond

I app**** for a substitution bond on the death of my husband. The local Standard branch told me to fax through some documents which I did on 30 September. They said it takes 7-10 working days. 10 days later I called and discovered they had gone into a black hole. Nobody gave me a reference number or said I needed one. They then said I could do it online so submitted all the documents again. About once a week someone would call me and ask for more documents, mainly ones I had already submitted. I would submit the same day only to be asked for something else a week later. After a month I phoned the call centre and was told to submit all the documents again (time 3). Some of these documents, which cover my entire financial situation, have been submitted 4 times. It would be apparent from the documents that I am not a payment risk. My last two calls last week revealed that the bond was approved and it was at assessments and takes 2 days. 5 days later I'm still waiting. I really need this to be sorted out so that I can wind up the estate. I thought staying with Standard would be simplest. Now I really wish I'd gone through my own bank FNB. My advice is don't go to Standard for a bond.