Standard Bank Service Disruption

Standard Bank Card Service has been down for almost the entire day, Not only did I have embarrassing encounters not being able to pay at the tills, I could not drawn money at any banks either.

To make matters worse I called and held for assistance on 2 separate calls for over 30 Mins on the prestige line asking to speak to a manager and was on one occasion told "can they call you back, it's Saturday and we don't have a lot of staff so they are very busy", this after being told that their systems were down and IT was working on it, i queried what alternative or redundancy/contingency they can offer and was told none.

As a long standing customer of over 25 years and a prestige banking client I would expect better service and also at least a sms or communication from Standard bank giving regular updates on the situation. I am leaving for international business tomorrow and have no idea if I will even be able to draw some of my own money.

This is not acceptable in anyway and I see the only alternative as moving to another bank who can provide a higher level of service. I am also very disappointed in the prestige support, doesn't seem to make any difference in service.