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(please note that a copy has been sent to ABSA fraud and ABSA credit card)
The service at ABSA Fraud Division is something!
I lodged a fraudulent credit card transaction which generated three emails with different case numbers. When querying this, it generated another three. Eventually, a single case number was generated.
But then nothing happened for months, apart from regularly receiving every other day an sms “we were unable to contact you telephonically to provide progress update …” but no call ever registered on the telephone , followed by “… (your) case is still under investigation ... (and) outcome will be communicated.
Withholding payment equivalent to the fraudulent transaction pending the outcome of the investigation did result in several demands from the call centre to pay; the only response to my explanations being that “a note would be made’’ and “escalated”, which merely ended up with calls from the debt collectors.
Emails sent to three different addresses listed on the net for handling complaints remained unanswered.
Numerous written and verbal requests for the contact details of the division dealing with outstanding payments and debt collections in order to resolve matters were ignored.
Finally, there was a forensic finding that the disputed transaction had been declined, “reason being that the credit card had not been cancelled after the incident and continued to be used until reporting the incident”.
I did not report it because I only picked it up on the due date for settling the monthly payment. My affidavit supports this. There is also the fact that ABSA ceased sending an sms after each transaction and did not reinstate it when I queried it. The further fact that the transaction was made without the required pin - likely the job of an insider with the necessary know-how - was not seen as having compromised ABSA’s standards. But it was acknowledged that I was a victim of fraud, and to crown it all, free to again “lodge a dispute” with them. I have done so, entering the loop and waiting to start with three case numbers again. Where will it get me? After all, there are already 22 000 fraud cases with the banking ombudsman. And it is small fry, too small for the court but not small enough not to go for debt collector bullying and threaten negative credit ratings.
Eckhard Rodenwoldt
