ABSA overcharges for ATM deposits

[Chrisjan B]

I went to the bank this morning again, the lady helping me with this issue has got a fight on with ABSA card department as she agrees that I am paying the wrong tariff for my ATM deposits. I am beginning to understand why this is happening - it seems ABSA is trying to finance the increase in Maria Ramos's cash bonus!

Please people - check you ABSA credit card statements as it seems more people than me is affected by this daylight robbery!

Up until now I have not got any useful feedback from ABSA Actionline.

I am thinking of naming the people involved in this all.

While is was in the bank I thought I can just as well speak to a personal banker to check if there may be a better option for service fees. After waiting 30 minutes I walked out to go serve my clients. Interesting thing is that there seems to be no sense of urgency.

[Chrisjan B]

Just an update: Up until now I have not received any meaningful answer from ABSA - somebody did phone me on Tuesday.

[Chrisjan B]

I have just posted the update when a message arrived from ABSA Card Department:


I post it:

Dear Mr xxxx

We refer to your complaint received on 4 April 2011, with regards to the charges on your credit card account.

First and foremost we wish to assure you that it is not Absa Card's intention to compromise the best interests of our customers. We would like to make use of this opportunity to offer you our sincere apology.

After investigation, we established that the deposit’s made, were incorrectly processed by the branch and therefore the incorrect fees were charged. Statements were drawn from January 2010 and the incorrect charges started in April 2010.

Please find below the breakdown with regards to the charges:

Total amount of incorrect charges: R487,80
Total that should have been charged: R282,00
Overcharge: R205,80

Please note we credited your credit card account, with the difference of R205,80.

We trust that you find the above in order.

Kind regards



xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Relationship Manager
Management Centre
Absa Card

There is still unanswered questions:
1. Why is the blame placed on the branch - it is an automated system!?
2. What steps are taken to prevent it happening in future?
3. What about other clients in the same situation which doesn't even know it? Will ABSA also credit their accounts?

[Chrisjan B]

An update:

I sent this e-mail to ABSA today:

Thank you for your reply.

ABSA is playing games again, I deposited R 700-00 on 13 April for which the fee charged was R 7-35 – correct.

Deposited R 300-00 on 20 April and the charge was R 7-05.

Please rectify this system problem once and for all. I don’t have the time or the patience to check up on ABSA like a child.

I asked the branch to have a look at my package and service fees and to save R 13-00 per month the lady changed my options and suddenly my VISA Silver Card morphed into a Golden Master Card. She did not tell me that it will change. What is the reason for this?

If you need my new credit card number you can get it from xxxxxxxxxx at ABSA George branch.

[Chrisjan B]

ABSA rectified the overcharge and credit my card with R 3-90 but no reply or explanation received on my e-mail. I am thinking of depositing R 100-00 every day into my and my wife's credit cards and make them work for every cent! That way I can ascertain if it is a system problem. Also using an ATM at a different location.

[Dave A]

I am thinking of depositing R 100-00 every day into my and my wife's credit cards and make them work for every cent! That way I can ascertain if it is a system problem.

As frustrating as it is, I'd suggest try to keep perspective. No sense in beating yourself up like that if a normal deposit pattern can do the job without putting you much out of your way.

[Chrisjan B]

Thanks for that Dave! I did do it today to see if it is a system wide problem and on different accounts, also to see if it happens on the older type of ATM that still uses envelopes or only for the newer ATM (that I prefer using) where you put the money into a slot where it is counted and immediately credited.

[Chrisjan B]

A copy of an e-mail received today:

Dear Mr xxxxxx


Please take note that I did reverse the extra charges on your account. Also note that the change is scheduled for the 14 May 2011 with the new Software release and testing is still in progress.

Kind regards

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Relationship Manager
Management Centre
Absa Card

[Dave A]

Reading that, it looks like progress. But it also implies the overcharge problem is system wide

[tec0]

It has been my experience that ABSA is trying to do a lot lately and it is costing us more and more. I did a proper check on my funds going back 6 years. It took long but in total I am looking at a R2500 loss??? That is a lot of money, but the irregularities are literally scattered! They literally are pinching money on transfers, payments and debit orders. But the most interesting of all are the inconsistencies when it comes to speed point charges.

I would recommend a full check on ALL transactions from start to date. It is worth checking...

This is actually starting to become a nightmare...