Treated like nothing because we are a broke NGO.

I went to Standard Bank Mowbray Branch in Cape Town on Thursday (5 October 2017) to collect the NGO business card that we had lost through a *******. On my arrival I had to wait 25 minutes or more before I could get assistance. The lady who was assisting me did not even look interested to be at work on that day. In fact most of their staff were just cold towards customers not only myself. The lady assisting me did not know the system well as she kept asking her colleague to help her and this colleague would leave her station and leaving the customer to go help her colleague/friend and they will converse about how boring it is to do certain things saying so in IsiXhosa.

My turn comes and the ladies are still doing the back the forth and my card activation fails numerous times despite calling the call centre agent and the lady tells me there is nothing she can do. I then inquire about my Business Banker and I am told he has been moved to another Branch (without notifying me as a business banking person). The lady then tells me I have been allocated a new business banker as I request to have a sit down with him, she tells me the new business banker is on leave. Now filled with frustration as I need the new card so I can access statements for tax and auditing. I request to see any available business banker and I am sent to a guy by the name of Tariq who from the moment I step into his cubicle tells me how busy he is and does not have time and I demand he assists me as I had spent almost 45 min in that bank and still don't have my replacement card activated and the previous lady had given me a card that doesnt work and tells me to come back when my banker is available. I explain that I will not be in town as I am scheduled to travel abroad by then and I tell them about this but they (Tariq and the lady who helped me) still dont think I am important enough as our NGO currently has no funds available in the account.

Tariq looking and sounding irritated to assist me goes on the system and tries to activate the card and spends almost 30 min on the phone with agents who sounded playing upon pick up of the call. Tariq explains the problem to the agent (Lindiwe) and they start laughing talking about the account does not have money and if I want to close the account I should settle the bank charges and close it because, there was no point. I sit there in humiliation and 2 hours and 30 min later my card is still not activated and Tariq keeps telling me one of his million rands client was waiting for him and I should come back another time.

I explain to Tariq i will not be in town then and that I needed the card then as I was waiting for deposits from sponsors but had told them to wait as I had blocked the card after it was ******. Tariq then tells me there is nothing he can do and sends me away with a card that is not activated boasting that his other clients with money are waiting for him. Eventually, I leave without the card and no help and major humiliation as the topic was about how broke we were in my NGO.

Based on the high rates of charges that Standard Bank charges and poor VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE I have come to the conclusion that I do not want anything to do with Standard Bank and using my social capital I vow to blast this good for nothing bank on my social media to ensure my friends, family, colleagues and social media connects do not even think about banking with standard bank as they do not care about broke clients yet when the money was coming in last year none of this nonsense was happening.

I demand to close this account immediately but our NGO accountant needs the bank statements to audit for tax returns and with my trip abroad to raise funds I do not want anything to do with standard bank and I demand a written apology and a delivery of an activated card to me or one of my colleagues who will be in S.A to take care of things while we go source new sponsors in USA.

I am very disappointed at the service given to me by your bank staff and if we did not need our statements I would have let this go, but our new funding is dependent on those statements so please give us our statements and we will pay what we owe and you can keep your bank and your million rands customers and let the poor NGO us go look for alternative bank somewhere else where they will treat us with respect whether we have money or not!!!