Useless service from *********** staff

I have a "prestige" account with Standard Bank. I have used my Standard Bank credit card to make purchases at Takealot a number of times in the past, and previous experiences have always been great. The last few times, Takealot has not been able to accept/process my order using my Standard Bank credit card. In the past, I just opted for the "maestro/debit card" payment method as an alternative, and payment went through. I placed a Takealot order (end of Jan), and my debit card also doesn't want to work. Both cards work without issue at regular retailers (with card machines). Initially, I thought it was a problem with Takealot, and contacted my bank, as instructed when presented with the error message on Takealot's website. Standard Bank assured me that everything on their side was correct and working. Obviously it is not! On 5 Feb, we tried to make a booking at The Kruger National Park (using the SANParks website), and I also received an error. The problem is not due to insufficient funds.

I emailed the Standard Bank support desk, explaining that I can't use my credit card to make online payments/purchases. They responded with "we are unable to pick any transactions from your Credit card done from take a lot. These could be the connection failure Between the merchant and the bank." Well, obviously there are no transactions on my account from takealot. If there were any, then I wouldn't be contacting them, because the payments would be successful!

This is not the kind of service one would expect from a "prestige" account! And I told them this. The response I got was typical of a staff member who couldn't give a damn about resolving problems, and is only interested in getting his wages at the end of the week. The response I got was: "Kindly accept our sincerest apology for the inconvenience caused with the card declining. It is truly not the type of service we would like to offer Tony as a valued and important customer. Please contact our call centre on the number ********** 311 in order for you to assist with the online shopping error. You are welcome to contact us should you require further assistance. " If they REALLY valued me as a customer, they would have gone to the effort of calling me to perhaps find out more information, not send me a general response and brush me off!

I'm annoyed at Standard Bank, and am considering going through all the effort of moving all my accounts to another bank.