Error on Your Credit card? Don't Expect Help from Standard Bank!

You'd think if you had an incorrect amount debited to your credit card, your bank would investigate? Not Standard Bank Credit Card Division!

Last year, I subscribed to Office 365 which was advertised at R899,00. On 20 November, I was disappointed to find that Microsoft debited an amount of R923,75 to my account. The amount was not the issue, but I would have expected Microsoft to charge their advertised ZAR price.

I therefore contacted the Bank and asked them what to do in this instance. Typical of Standard Bank, they required me to fill in a form, along with supporting evidence of the correct amount. (They rival the State for bureaucracy.)

Nevertheless, I comp**** on 29 November and, as I had no response, subsequently phoned them back a number of times to find out what had happened. On the first occasion I was promised that it had been attended to and was just waiting action; subsequently they promised to "respond within 24-48 hours", or "escalate this to their supervisor".

Bearing in mind that each of these calls took about 20 minutes to get through their security questions and then wait while they checked their records, they have been a complete waste of time. Worse still, despite all their promises, absolutely nothing was ever done.

The Rand amount is not the issue, but the principle is this: if you can't trust your Bank with your money, it's time to move on.