ABSA just doesn’t do simpler, better, faster!

Last night I tried to access my account through an ABSA ATM only to find that I apparently had “insufficient funds”.

However, two days before I had x amount in the account with a cheque still pending (and I had not accessed the account in those two days between). Neither had I reached my daily or monthly limit.

I contacted the stop card line (which I found at the bottom of the ATM slip) where I spoke to an operator, who in fact confirmed that there was NO problem with my account and who tried to convince me that the problem was from my behalf and not ABSA’s.

This morning I went into the ABSA branch in Grahamstown to enquire about my account. To cut a long story short and a morning of waiting around for my account to be opened, ABSA had in fact lost the cheque and had frozen my account. However I was given no prior warning that ABSA was going to freeze my account, and I still had to wait for an entire morning to get it opened again.

It is my money! With all the bank fees that we are charged for electronic payment etc, you would think that the system would work a bit more efficiently. After all am I not a client here that is supposed to be looked after? Is it really so difficult to call a customer to let them know that their account has been frozen? If I would have been away from friends or family who lent me some cash last night – what would I have done? I still have no idea as to what has happened to the cheque (apparently I’m going to get a letter in the mail since this is of course the most effective means of communication nowadays)!

I’m the customer here. It’s ridiculous that I have to run after my bank, when they have clearly made a mistake. It is also ludicrous that they can just freeze an account without giving the customer notification or even trying to notify me. I am considering a switch to a simpler, better, and faster bank one that keeps me inspired, motivated and involved!

Submitted a complaint on HelloPeter, follow up to come…