Over Five Years of Frustration — Abysmal Service from Standard Bank on Deceased Estate Matter

Our family has been trying for over five years to resolve a matter with Standard Bank on a deceased estate matter, and the experience has been absolutely appalling. The issue relates to a business once owned by the deceased, where customer payments were processed through a Standard Bank card machine, and the funds have still not been released to the estate.

Despite endless documentation, in-person visits, and correspondence, the bank has still not managed to release or correctly allocate these funds. During this entire period, we have had no access to the money, which has created other challenges for us.

Over the years, we have cumulatively spent several full days at branches, sitting with consultants who themselves had to spend hours phoning multiple departments trying to find someone who knew what to do. We have been passed between the Deceased Estates team, Business Banking, and various “executive” desks, each claiming the matter was someone else’s responsibility. We’ve been given invalid contact numbers, incorrect email addresses, and contradictory instructions. Even when certified documents were submitted exactly as requested, we were later told they had been sent to the wrong department.

This situation shows a serious lack of coordination and accountability in how Standard Bank has handled this matter. Deceased estate cases should be managed with professionalism, efficiency, and a measure of compassion — yet none of these have been evident.

After five years, we continue to be passed from one department to another with no resolution, no clear point of responsibility, and no meaningful progress. It is unacceptable that such a straightforward estate issue has been allowed to drag on for this long.