'Kicking' a widow whilst she's down

I so wish I could compliment Standard Bank on putting their clients FIRST and being a caring, humane and socially responsible bank, but sadly I cannot.

My dad passed away at the age of 82, in Aug last year and he was a loyal Standard Bank client for most of his life. My father entrusted Standard Bank with the duty of executor of his small estate, consisting of a home and an old car. Total value of just over a million. The estate is stock standard with no hiccups as far as lost documentation etc. is concerned and all queries and/or documentation requests from Standard Trust were attended to by us as a matter of urgency.

The lady we've dealt with at Standard Trust was very helpful at all times, but when we received the invoice, it came to just over 80k with the bulk of charges being the attorney conveyance fees and executor fees from Standard Trust which they charged at the MAXIMUM rate they legally could, of 3.5% plus 15% VAT.

I wrote them an e mail explaining the financial situation my mom finds herself in, with a small pension of less than 2k per month which decreases every year, a SASSA old age grant and a small monthly interest amount of less than 1k from an investment she has. I kindly requested them to please find it in their hearts to give my mom a discount on their fees as it was a stock standard estate and the amount of work they had to do was minimal at best. I also requested a discount from the conveyance attorneys for their work done.

We've just heard from Standard Trust that the Regional Manager said that NO discount will be given. End of story.

I'm aware that any succesful business should charge for services rendered as that is the whole point of doing business, BUT the moment you neglect to account for the human factor of your loyal clients, you'll be found seriously wanting by your peers. My mom now has to lose 10k in penalty fees off the small investment she has because she has to cancel it in order to pay Standard Bank their fees. Not only will she also have to sell the home she shared with my dad, but also lose income, her independence and the last memories they've shared in their home for many years. All due to Standard Trust not willing to budge and give a still grieving widow a helping hand with a discount on their fees.