Standard bank, **** comes standard

<p>For the past few months I've been going to Standard Bank to reverse a debit order I never authorized. This isn't the first time it's happened. .</p> <p>They told me that I must have given my bank details out. The only people that have my banking details are my employer and Standard Bank. The account was only used to store money, there were no other accounts attached to it. I managed to stop the debit order; according to the bank there was nothing they could do and I had to call the company myself to stop the debit order. I pay the bank to keep my money secure and they were failing with the only job they had. At this point I couldn't understand why this was something I had to sort out. The cherry on top was that I had to pay Standard Bank a fee to stop the debit order. I was charged every time this debit order went through. When I tried to get my money back Standard Bank said they could not reverse the debit order fee, even if I didn't authorize the debit order. I don't see why not since that's between me and Standard Bank. The reason they counldn't stop the debit order was because it didn't involve them, but even when a fee directly involved them their hands were tied.</p> <p>A few months later it happened again, this time the debit order was triple the amount it was the first time. Again, I was given contact details and told to sort it out. Again, I didn't see this as my problem. Nothing had changed since the last time the debit orders happeded. NO ONE recieved my bank details but somehow this was my fault. I thought to myself, lets just stop using the account, no harm in doing that. I pulled my money out of the account. I checked it a month later and I've got a negative balace. It turns out that if you don't have money in your account to pay for a debit order you didn't authorize then the bank will fine you and you will pay the bank instead. I can understand that there is a penalty, but I did not authorize the debit order. Now I have to pay a fine? Standard Bank will attempt to reap every cent they can from you. When I questioned the consultatnt at the bank I got the standard response of 'there's nothing they can do'.</p> <p>At this point I was fed up and decided to close the account. My experiece with Standard Bank has been horrible. All they had to do was to keep my money and they failed spectacularly. The customer service itself was also poor. The numerous people I dealt with were cold and not very helpful. The most often repeated things I heard were 'The bank is not resposible/accountable/liable', or any other adjective to free themselves from any blame. All I wanted was the most basic of things, just keep the money, but it seemed that was too much to ask. After closing the account the women said that we were done and that I can leave, even though there was still some money in the account. I had to ask for that money or I would have never gotten it back. It seemed that Standard Bank will jump at any and every opportunity to take your money but when you justifiably want your hard earned money back then there is nothing they can do.</p> <p>I feel that the ridiculous fees I've payed and the unnecessary fine I've had to pay are not something I've experienced alone. On one occasion I stood next to someone with the exact same problem. On a small scale, lets say a R5 debit order fee is nothing to one person.. only a R5, but if this R5 fee is wrongfully charged to millions of Standard Bank customers then how much money does Standard Bank make? On debit orders that no one authorized.. It's a pity my experience with Standard Bank has been so poor. I doubt I will ever bank with them again</p>