ABSA Bank
Reviews and Complaints

As director of Orono Trading I asked a loan for buying cattle. The loan was permitted, registration of the mortgage bond on the farm took place on the 12th of August. The same day I bought cattle assuming release of the money within some days. Until now, 3 October, I didn't receive any money.

Mrs Jansen went ill before registration and I was informed that Denise Strout of Menyn branch was responsible now. From the 16th September Mrs Jansen worked again.After phoning several times I was asked at the end of August for a resolution of the trustees of the farm. The 9th September they needed insurance of the home, signing of trustee papers and life insurance policy. This week they needed proof of registration of the mortgage bond and yesterday another piece of paper of the auditors.

After my and my lawyer's calls being ignored I lodged a complaint on 4th of september.(Re433522) The 29th september calling three times, speaking to different persons at action-on-line who did't come back to me, I wrote an e-mail to action-on-line the same evening ( not being confirmed until now). The area manager phoned 30-9 to confirm that she knows about the problem and they are working on it.

14.9.2009 08h15 spoke to Abigail on [protected] begin_of_the_skype_highlighting [protected] end_of_the_skype_highlighting re Gold Package. She gave me details including monthly service fee. I said I was on free senior banking and if I applied for a credit card & switched to Gold Package would the service fee still apply. She consulted with someone and said the package would be free. She would pass details of our chat to sales who would phone me. 16.9 Royston phoned.Abigail had told him nothing other than a phone no. & my interest in Gold Package. I again queried the service fee. He couldn't answer but would find out and call me. After a further 3 calls from Royston I was no wiser. He would now have someone who could help, phone. No phone call so i phoned [protected] begin_of_the_skype_highlighting [protected] end_of_the_skype_highlighting & spoke to Nozibele. After a discussion of some 12 mins. during which she disappeared for 3or 4 mins.I was unable to have my query understood & she started to explain how I should apply for a credit card! I'd had enough by then so she promised to have somebody more senior phone; no promised call that day or to date. How does a company which provides such disgusting service, survive? The lack of knowledge and understanding is appalling.

I have struggled with debt for some time and have been placed under debt review. There is a balance owing to Absa Credit card and judgement had been obtained last year. My debt administrator has contacted them with an amount of R780, 00 per month in lieu of repayment. That is ALL I can afford ...for now. They (ABSA) has refused this and have issued writ of summons via their attorneys (Norton). Well all I can say is that I have nothing to be attached...so in the end they will get R50, 00 a month!

We tried to open prosperity current account with Absa in East Rand Mall in Boksburg. Reason she is older than 55, working at the Post Office, and the bank fees on her savings account is quite high. We were told this type of account would be opened, and I even have the agent who helped us' business card, where she wrote the account number and 'prosperity account' on the card. 1 month later we receive a bill charging us R123 for fees for the SILVER cheque account. It turns out Absa opened a silver instead of prosperity current account. Went back to the branch, spoke to Ettienne B Tieties, and was told she needs to have a fixed deposit of at least R20 000. We opened a fixed deposit, and I asked that the bank reverse the current account charges since she has not used the account nor have collected the debit card. It was said it would be investigated. Today I look at my internet banking to find that the account was changed to Prosperity, but the charges on the account stands now at R186, and my mom has not used the account even once! I demand that the bank reverse the charges they have charged us unlawfully. Call centre says go to the branch to fix Absa's mistake? Help PLEASE!

At about 14h10 on Friday 4th September I received an UNSOLICITED marketing call from a Kamo Maribane who told me she was calling from Absa Bank Card Division in Pretoria. She was trying to sell me some or other credit card product. She knew my name and surname. I am not, never have been, and now NEVER will be, and ABSA client.

I asked here where she got my details, and she tld me that ABSA got the details from Makro.

1) How dare Makro share my private details with a third party? This is not only completely unethical, but possibly illega too.

2) I was in Zambia at the time of the call. I have international roaming so that my clients can contact me when I'm anywhere in the world. I am quite prepared to pay for the international call if one of my clients calls me, but why should I have to pay for an international call to receive UNSOLICITED marketing drivel that I don't want in the first place?

3) When my cell phone bill arrives I will be billing ABSA for the cost of the international call. WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO PAY TO RECEIVE ADVERTISING. It's disgusting!

In July 09 (Saturday evening) I went to ATM to try and draw some money. The ATM rebooted and retained my card. I immediately phoned the number on the ATM to stop my card and told them exactly what has happened. The Monday I went into the bank to get a new card and was told by the teller that I need to pay R45 for a replacement card. I told him that I will not pay as it was not my fault. I then requested to speak to the supervisor or manager and explain the situation to her. She then told me that the charge will be waivered. I received my card and left. Thinking everything was sorted. At the end of the month when I received my bank statements I saw that the funds was deducted from my account.

I went back and was promised that the charges will be reversed. This was a couple of weeks ago. Up until today they have not reverse the charge. I phoned in to find out that nothing was done and the case was close. They can't give me a reason as to why the case is closed.

Now I know it is only R45.00 but if everyone just leave it because it is only R45 imagine how much money ABSA make.

I am highly irritated in the way this is being handled.

On Saturday the 5th Sep 2009 my husband was robbed of R5300 in The Sediba Plaza. He was walking towards our vehicle after withdrawing money from ABSA . Before he could get into the car a man grabbed his hand. My husband thought he was a beggar. When he left my husbands hand finaly, he got into the car & realised that the money was gone.

We went over to the security, Who was standing in the shade, chatting to a woman. My husband informed him of what happened & asked if he had seen anything, he said he did not see anything & he was sorry & continued chatting to the woman.

My husband is the sole breadwinner in our household, we have a 1 year old child to take care of & all he could say was, sorry. I believe if he sprang into action the criminals would have been aprehended & we would not be R5300 out of pocket. How are we supposed to pay our accounts & live for the month.Never mind all of that.WE now have to call all these ppl & explain why we cant pay them.

I am totally horrified & disgusted. Is this why businesses pay security companys, so their guards can stand in the shade, chatting to women.

About six weeks ago i made application for a re-advance of R24500 on a bond of R67600. It took over a week to be assessed, andI was advised that the re-advance would not be granted because I could not afford it. I asked them to re-assess which they did and they phoned me to apologise for their error.

At no time was I advised that the applicable interest rate could be adjusted. When I went to sign the agreement, I found that the interest rate had been increased from prime - 1 to prime + 1, 85. Through the offices of the customer care manager, I got the interest rate reduced. This resulted in the contract being redrafted and after five weeks, I signed it last Friday and requested that payment into my Standard Bank ac be expedited. I was contacted today to say that there was a problem and that they could not pay it into my account without verifying my signature against that on the original bond application and that that was not available. The only options were to pay the money into my flexi reserve account or to have a cheque made out to me, neither of which suited me. All I want is the money to be paid as soon as possible into my SBSA ac so that I can pay my builder.

I would like to report on the poor level of service I received from your staff at the ABSA branch located on cnr. Rose and Gemsbok, Lenasia. I am currently banking with ABSA since 2002, and on the platinum package with them. I have been trying in excess of 2 months now to apply for an extension on my bond.

I have been assigned a personal banker in the form of Daksha Kooverjee. Her incompetence level amazes me. Every query I had raised with her, needed me to follow up either via email or telephonically. She does not provide any valuable service to my portfolio whatsoever, and I cannot see the benefit of having a personal banker if that is what their job entails. I, myself, have worked for the bank before, for over 5 years, and we were very customer orientated. It seems as though the branch in review here is comfortable with it's service, where the staff are going about their day to day responsibilities with minimal effort, as long as the day to day processing continues with no improvement at all.

I have also dealt with your Home Loans department. I have escalated this issue to the branch manager this morning at 10:14, she read the email at 12:08, I am yet to receive a response.

ABSA bank in Polokwane Hans van Rensburg street has 3 ATM's and on this month end only one ATM works. I wonder if you are aware of this. Also, in Polokwane there is only two ATM's where one can make a deposit. I think in a city like this there must be more ATM's where one can deposit.

I lodged a claim after my cellphone was stolen on the 18th June 2010 and Mr Redwaan Jacobs called to say that he needed the following documents to process the claim: a police report and proof of blacklisting from the service provider, which I duly submitted on monday, 21/06/2010 via fax. A week passed by without any response and I made a phone call enquiry only to be told that the guy has been on sick leave ever since and I need to refax those documents to be assisted.I was livid and angry as I couldnt accept it that his abscence has lead to an inconvinience on my part.I spoke to a lady called Gift who didnt even want to listen to my side of the story.I thjen requested to speak to her supervisor, a lady calling herself Bianca who also insisted that I refax the documents for this claim to be processed.She also didnt want to listen to my frustrations at the delay and I requested the details of her supervisor, and an email address of Kirk Van Wyk was issued.I sent an email to this adress and have not received a response ever since, that is 2 weeks ago.The drama continues, Ridwaan called me on the 25th /06/2010 to notify me that the claim was processed and finalised. I told the guy that this is unacceptable and he told me we will deal with the claim later. There seems to be a lack of disregard for customers and the customer relations are clearly not adhered to or understood by all and sundry at ABSA idirect. There is also no accountability.I found these people to be unprofessional and incompetent to say the least.

I am a new small Business owner - Duty to Inform cc. On 4 March R23 800 was removed from my Business Account via Internet Banking. - X3 R1 000.00 and X4 R5 200.00 amounts. My complaint was first lodged incorrect on 93, then re-did on 113 when I went to the Bank to follow up. Forensics said I had ti divulge my Account number, Pin number and password on Spam. R3 000 was removed via ATM, they said, and I lost it - however my ATM limit is R1 000.00.
The other monies were transferred to FNB Accounts:
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]. They will see what they can recover. to date no answer that sounds sensible has been given to me. I have been a ABSA client all my life - and thet make me sound as if I am stupid. They did not even tell me to change my card and pin, an outsider told me - and I went back to the bank and requested it be done - I am very disappointed ans will not rest until ALL my money is back in my account.

This is the lady at Forensics that is handling the case now
Mev Talita du Preez
Ondersoek Beampte
E-Ondersoeke Bestuur
T: [protected]
F. [protected]
E-pos: [Hidden Web Address]

I purchased a Cherry QQ3 vehicle for my daughter (student) in August 2008 and made use of ABSA Vehicle finance. My account number therefore is [protected] and the vehicle floorprice were in the reagion of R86 000.00. When I received my statement I noticed that the outstanding balance was over R10 000000.00. I quiried this telephonically just to be informed that this would be set right soonest. I regret not taking the date and person's detail that I had this discussion, but to date the outstanding balance is R7 077 197.68 on a vehicle originally costing R86 000.

Please advice what I am to do to get this issue sorted.

Best regards.

Dries van Coller
[protected]

On the 14th of January 2010 I've registered a vechicle accident claim wiht ABSA i-direct. I'm still waiting! The car has been to the panelbeaters to be assesed by the assessor. Everything has been processed, just waiting for the authorisation code to be issued? Every time when I phone they say tomorrow or before the end of the week. It's been draging for more that 4 weeks, I've never experinced such bad service.

We had a storm in november 2009, absa send out there contractors, they fixed the roof, until it rain, the roof was leaking, we phoned them again and they fixed it, but the roof is still leaking, we can only see if the roof is leaking when it rain, because it is a thatced roof.

They were surpose to come back in the new year, because it was desember and it was near christmas, so the contractor said that they will come back in the new year to finished, there was still the seilings and the wooden floors to do, but no one have come back to us.

I phoned the assesor mr. Erasmus several times and he did not respond to me, i did send him a sms as well. Sooner or later they will say that the claim is to old. I would like to know when will they finished the damages. Wiil you please let me know at the following numbers [protected] / [protected] thank you

To Whom It May Concern

We have been threatened again today that ABSA are getting a court order. Ms Govender is now looking for the agreement - we don't have it you do.She is also looking for the "proof" of the 15k and I again refer you to the reams and reams of email that transpired in 2008.

I spoke with Mr de Klerk yesterday at 13.06 as cell phone records wil verify but nobody seems to talk to anybody else. I also spoke to Solomon at 14.23, 16.04 and 16.35.

I have referred Ms Govender to all of the people I have contacted at ABSA and it really troubles me that the agreement - referred to continuously is now in contention. I requested that Ms Govender identify herself, something which she has not done as yet.

Solomon told me yesterday that it would be investigated but now we are threatened again. It really, really troubles me that the bank are now asking me for a copy of the agreement which was made by the bank - all of this while arrogantly shrugging off all of the queries that I have made.

I just want a little bit of peace of mind without some man at the gate making threats. What is the point of speaking to the Head of Vehicle Finance if it makes no difference? The first time that the agreement was not on file and I had to provide a copy should have warned me but this is just surreal.

I need an appointment to see Ms Ramos tomorrow please because I don't know what else to do. If Ms Govender intends to persist I want to point out that her court order will be based on false information which I believe is a crime in this country.

I attach what I have to hand - including the acknowledgement by Koos that in terms of the agreement we were supposed to pay R3200. We paid R3700 for over a year which including four interest rate cuts should cover at least two installments - I also want to point out that Russell has never provided me with the information he requested from the the same department which is now demanding that we jump through hoops. I no longer work for APCO so I have no access to their server however there must be hard copies somewhere.

I still have no idea who Mrs McGee is and as mentioned previously she declined to provide me with her contact details.

I shall phone at exactly 8.30 tomorrow morning

ABSA VF Consultant Jackie has been contacting me in an average of 4 times a day demanding payment, which i have already made and faxed and e-mailed the confirmation to ABSA. She is rude, she shouts, threatens to take my car and is generally unpleasant and requires training if she is to deal with clients. She hangs up while you try to explain yourself, she harasses you. There is nothing further that I can do. The money was transferred and I have all relevant documentation in this regard. Is this how ABSA staff treat paying customers? I am extremely disappointed.

Personal issues meant that I had to max my credit card. Budget installments pushed me over the limit and I make the max payment I can afford every month. Excluding budget installments, I am effectively only paying around R300 towards the amount over limit, which is about 20% of what I am over.

I get a call from ABSA every month demanding full payment of the outstanding amount. I explain the same situation to them every time. That is; I have a provident fund with ABSA that I have been trying to have paid out as I have started working for another company and I will use this to update my card.

Every time I phoned ABSA for a progress report, I was told that they dont have a fund manager to release the money. I need to call back in a month to follow up. I submitted my claim on the 4th of Feb 2009.

After I made payment to my card end of May, I got the usual call again. Two weeks later, a sms demanding payment. I reponded to the sms and arranged for payment at the end of June. Today Sat 13 June, 5 days later, I get a call waking me at 7:00AM demanding a payment.

Does R1500 over limit justify this treatment? I've waited 4 months for my fund money! But that's okay, right ABSA?

I have a overdraft facility on the business cheque account. It is reviewed once a year. Last Year an amount of R500.00 was deducted automatically (jouranl)from the account as facility/admin fee.
This year an amount of R1000.00 was deducted. The facility had not changed in anyway, no new information was requested from me.
On contacting the bank, I was told that it was an admin fee that gets deducted when the review is due. All the banks do it and it is the same amount as last year. Which it obviously was not. What justifies the increase?
What can the man in the street do to combat such blatant price increases and stop the banks from exploiting their customers?

Absa shocking service

This is my second complaint against absa and everytime I receive no service or replies to e-mails.

My first complaint went to the ombudsman and took two months to solve.

If I send an e-mail to absa I expect it to be answered within 24 hours. Your standard response to an e-mail is we will get back to you asap between your working hours 08h00 to 16h00. If you cannot do that I suggest you increase your staff or your staff's working hours.

I am living in china and you must respond by e-mail, if you can't do this I suggest you take e-mail off as a method of communication and inform your customers you only correspond by telephone. (shows us the exent of bad service in a third world country)

My money builder account should be earning 5.3% interest and currently is earning below 2%. I am living in china and use e-mail to correspond, last time I spent a fortune on telephone calls to south africa to sort out the money that absa lost that was sent to south africa and got nothing more than incompetance.

I pay no bank charges for all my accounts in china and get excellent service.

I am still waiting for answer on my money builder account.

Ref number ec 592d808e