Shocking customer service

This is my story with Standard Bank, Frere Square, East London. I am now beyond being very nice and civil about shamefully poor service.

On 19 May 2017 or thereabouts, I opened an investment account and money market account.

On 20 May I went to speak to a consultant just days before my departure to travel overseas for 9 months and advised her of the following: (1) that I was going overseas for 9 months (2) I needed to transfer money to a Bidvest account to cover my travel expenses from my credit card account (3) I detailed the amounts in various denominations I needed on my Bidvest card (3) instructed her to settle my credit card account and leave a positive balance (4) I asked her if these plans could be affected on the amount of money in my credit card account (5) she said that it was possible

I left on my trip overseas days later and months later in Pisac, Peru I picked up problems. I could not access my credit card account at ATMs, make payments using my card nor could I do internet banking. When I came out of the Peruvian Amazon for a weekend I had an email from Corne Potgieter telling me to come in to the bank to sort out an overdue account. I could not understand why there would be a problem after the consultant assured me that my money affairs were in order.

I asked a friend in East London to phone the bank and the attorneys to whom I had been handed over. She left her medical practice and went into the bank where she met with Corne Potgieter. She told me that Corne was rude to her and basically that the only solution was for me to come into the bank. Nor would my friend be allowed to settle the account for me.

On my return to SA I called the bank to make an appointment with the branch manager. Corne called me and said I could come in and talk to her instead of the bank manager. I declined as I was in no mood to talk to someone who was rude to someone who tried to resolve this matter and who couldn’t see that I was not able to come in myself. She also said that she could not see that there was anything wrong with my account! I’d been handed over and a senior staff member cannot see a problem????

I had an appointment with the manager on 12 March 2018. I explained the situation. She left her office to get documents printed and brought me printout outs of “my transactional account”, this after telling her that I did not have one. The account belonged to another D Williams who lives in Cape Town .

I was informed that the employee who assisted me a year earlier no longer worked there and she (the bank manager) assisted me in getting a reduction on the outstanding amount and which I paid that day. In the end I paid little over R14K to settle the debt. I followed up with the attorneys who very quickly sent me confirmation that the account had been settled and advised that the bank had to ensure that I was cleared from the credit bureau and restore my credit card facility.

On 7 April 2018 I called the bank to make an appointment with the bank manager to see how far the bank was in sorting this matter. I have not heard from her.

In the meantime I am still blacklisted as the full debt is still reflected on credit bureaus. I cannot start a business because of this and my credit score which has been excellent until this episode, has been tarnished.

What will it take to get even half decent service from Standard Bank?? I do not have the energy to police a “service provider”. I have not heard a thing from the bank since I spent 3 hours in the bank manager’s office on 12 March 2018 and it stinks that a customer has to pay so heavily for staff ineptitude.