Standard Bank: A Disgrace to Banking - Why You Should Think Twice Before Trusting Them with Your Money

standard bank, the worst bank in the world. they a disgrace to south africa and don't deserve to use the word "Standard" because they are pathetic and USELESS and thats not the standard we're looking for in a bank. I think that unregistered money lenders who knows nothing about business processes are more reliable and trustworthy than standard bank. I made a payment in January, which they flagged as *****. and therefore froze that payment. I then did more investigation about the supplier, and instructed standard bank to reverse the funds since i did not receive the goods as the supplier would only release goods once payment reflects. Standard bank has responded only when i call and it takes them at least 7 days for the call Centre to get any updates from the ***** team. Amanda Fexenge is the person in ***** department. who i can never get a hold of telephonically. They does not deserve to have a job dealing with customers because she is utterly useless, and so is the rest of the team who also cant tell me whats going on when i call in. They have made me jump though hoops from calling daily for feedback, and going up and down to the police station to 1stly get an affidavit and submitting it, then 7 days later i must open up a ***** case, then i need the case number, then i need an IP address then i needs this and that. every time it takes 7 days for anyone to know what's going on. Since submitting the last piece of documents requested on 25 February, i have had no feedback, and not even the call center can tell me whats the status. numerous messages left for Amanda to call, but she does not call me back nor does she replies to my emails. I even logged this with the ombudsman, and it does not affect standard bank. they are above all legal customer protection acts and governmental policies. they do not fear, because they are on the same level as the national post office and other departments. and this is not the 1st time. In December last year, they blocked my account for over a month after submitting all the evidences that the funds i received was legitimate. they cancelled my bank card and left me without access to funds for daily necessities for weeks. I had to pay for the replacement card which still didn't work because the account was frozen. in the bank, in front of the banker i told them that card does not work and they assured me its active and get irritated when I insist its not. just for me to use the card again and still it doesn't work. I have had to send myself cash send every time i needed money after the account was unfrozen while the incoming funds was still on hold. and guess what, i had to carry the charges for the cash sends due to them blocking and cancelling my bank card and not able to get the new card working. so back to the current issue, its 2 months that they are investigating and they are refusing to release the funds back to my account without charging me a cent for it since they placed the payment on hold due to a ***** suspicion. so they are now sitting with my money, that i cannot access, and they are now making returns on my money. dealing with standard bank is a **** people. better to place money under your mattress and if it gone you know its gone. when you want to access it, you know were it is. these people are absolutely useless. and have no respect or regard for its customers. as long as they can take our money and make profit on it, then the customer is just not a priority. these people don't even know their own products. for international payments, they say that the charge depends on the dollar exchange rate at the time. even when i asked the percentage value. they say it depends on the amount. i asked for the percentage value for the different brackets and they say there is not structure for the international payment fees. so i said in that case I'm taking this to the ombudsman for banking services and to the consumer protection act and reporting them. The out of the blue they were able to get me the fee structure. Shows again how they don't care about the customers. its all about reaching their targets, and not about us having our money in a safe place with fair policies' and assistance when we need it.