Why do I even persist with trying to bank with Standard?

As a Standard Bank shareholder (inherited, not bought 😁) even I wish that I didn’t bank with Standard. For over a month, we have been trying to get an account loaded on Business Online, so that we can see its balance and download statements for our Auditors. The ONLY place we can see it is in the inter-account Transfer records, otherwise it simply isn’t there. It is mostly IMPOSSIBLE to get thru to BoL by phone, as I have invariably been told that I am around Thirtieth in the queue. Even the phoneback system doesn’t work as promised. On Friday, the last phone call for the day with BoL lasted FORTY-ONE MINUTES, still with the matter unresolved. I was told that the Supervisor’s name was Gift and that she would be calling me back “straight away”. STILL WAITING!!!! There is, literally, only ONE redeeming feature to our experience of banking with Standard, and he is Jeremy Jones, who handles our Corporate Accounts…..at least, he TRIES to help.

We hold about 25 accounts with Standard, over a period of about fifty years…..does that make us “valued customers”? Not on your Nelly. They simply don’t CARE…..

I won’t even go into the months and months of appalling service and attitude given during the Covid era, when even elderly people were expected to stand in thirty/forty minutes queues outside the branch. They were not even organized enough to have a Collections counter, which could have moved a lot of people thru much quicker.

AND ANOTHER saga….Two of my staff have complained about a broken network cable clip on our Shop’s Std Card machine…..but no-one had come to fix it (when I last spoke to them). They were LUCKY….they got thru to merchant services. I tried countless times and nobody answered the phone! It’s a nuisance to us AND to our customers as the cable can disconnect in the middle of a transaction.

We both already have personal account dealings with Investec and they seem to be, generally, very jacked. It will be a hassle to change, but it’s getting to the stage that it’s even MORE of a hassle to stay with Standard. How BAD is it when a SHAREHOLDER has to give such a review?