Faulty debit orders

On 4 January 2025 when I noticed that my monthly premium of R648 was not taken off from my FNB account, I waited until 13 January 2025 and then contacted my broker. I told her that I was concerned about the validity of my Stratum gap Cover as the premium of R648 for January 2025 had not been collected. She immediately contacted Stratum and reported what I had told her. The next day 14 January 2025 I was asked to confirm that no payments were made from my account to Stratum since 4 December 2024, as on my Stratum account it showed that I was in credit by R1238 and that was most likely why a premium was not taken. I confirmed that I had never paid any amount to Stratum since 4 December 2024. This was reported back to Stratum and I was told not to worry as the account was intact so I still had cover. Stratum said they would launch and investigation and report back to my broker. the Ref. number given was Kutloano 14/01 16:36.

By 5 February 2025 we had got not response from Stratum and I was very annoyed as R2244 was taken off my account. This was ridiculous and I immediately got back to my broker to follow up on why this large amount was now taken off. That day my broker tried in vain to contact Stratum and after having waited 45minutes on a call to Stratum she gave up and reported the matter to her manager, who escalated the query. When I heard about this I also wrote and e-mail to Stratum Customer Care on the 6 February. by the afternoon of 6 February My broker got a call back as well as myself and we were told there had been a major problem with the System and many clients had errors on their accounts. Some had no deductions, others too little was taken and some like myself had much larger amounts taken. I told the caller that this was unacceptable and that if there was such a major issue with so many clients then they should have been pro actively letting clients know. I also mentioned that in all the 60 years I have been with FNB I have never had any problems with Debit orders. I was promised I would be refunded and that I would be receiving and call back the next day (Friday 7th Feb) or an e-mail to confirm and explain the situation.

Well again there has not been and response or communication from Stratum by close of Business on 12 February. My broker is as annoyed as myself at the lack of communication and I still wait to hear what I will be credited with and if any interest will be added to what Stratum owe me. In the mean time I may have to consider changing my Gap Cover but I am concerned as to how I could be penalized and waiting periods.