ABSA overcharges for ATM deposits

[Chrisjan B]

This is an e-mail I sent to ABSA Actionline this morning as I am unable to make a deposit via the ATM's:

This morning I tried to deposit money into my account via ATM. At ABSA George Branch there is 4 ATM's that can accept deposits.


One has been out of order for a while
One say on screen No Deposit
The other two does not eject an envelope for deposit, the transaction cannot be completed.

ABSA customers pay a premium in bank charges - we expect that the ATM's be in working condition if and when we need it.

[Chrisjan B]

Further to this issue:
I will be visiting the bank this morning, as I tried three times to make a deposit it shows on my bank statement as three deposits. Because all three was unsuccessful the deposits should have been reversed three times, but until this morning it has only be debited two times.
Also the cash deposit fee is deducted for the wrong amount for the deposits made.

[tec0]

Well if you are going to ABSA then that will be the least of your problems. Because getting a manager is short from being impossible. Secondly ABSA don’t make mistakes so getting them to pay you back is almost impossible. "almost"

[Chrisjan B]

I walked in and demanded to spoke to the person they called who on Wednesday helped me. She very helpfully phoned ABSA Card department about the wrong cash deposit fee. The amount I paid in is R 800-00 where the charge are supposed to be R 8-40 but they charged me R 12-15. Cash deposit fee over ATM is R 1-05 per R 100-00 or part thereof which gives R 8-40. Cash deposits over the counter is R 1-05 per R 100-00 or part thereof plus R 3-75 which gives R 12-15. So I paid for an over the counter deposit where I done it via the ATM. Stillnot correlating - the fee deducted was R 12-55. I am now checking all the cash deposit fees and none correlate with the official fee structure.

List of transactions:
R 700-00 R 11-45
R 400-00 R 8-15
R 1000-00 R 14-75

I have now worked out that hey charge me the deposit fee for over the branch counter
R 1-10 per R 100 plus R 3-75.

I do use one of the new ATM's where you input the cash into a slot instead of an envelope, but it is not correct as there is no fee specified for such a machine. For the R 1000-00 deposit it should have been R 10-50 instead of R 14-75.

I am going to ask ABSA to go back on my statement for at least a year and check and rectified every deposit.

I verified the fees via ABSA site.

The other issue about the ATM's not accepting deposits: I tried the deposits on Tuesday - it shows up on my statement three times because I tried different machines, two were immediately rectified, but the third one was not (this morning) - it has in the meantime been rectified.

Dave - maybe you can move it to the Whistleblower Forum? Thanks.

[Dave A]

Dave - maybe you can move it to the Whistleblower Forum? Thanks.

Done.

Was there any explanation on the faulty machines?

[tec0]

Well this morning round about 2:00 AM two ABSA ATM’s was blown up “again” thus it brings me to a very important question. Who is paying for it? In our aria I can safely say that about 14 ATMs was blown to bits in the past few months but the frequency is increasing. See I live close enough to these ATM’s to know when they go BOOM and it is NOT FUN trust me. That said is it safe to assume that we as customers are picking up the bill?

[Chrisjan B]

Make no mistake - we pay for it in some form!

[tec0]

Despite ABSA’s BS, I really enjoyed the new ATMs they were COOL and I loved that friendly way it operated. It is really sad that these criminals don’t give a damn about what they break, but I am looking towards the government to reconsider allowing the money to be rendered useless by staining the bank notes with a special ink. See it is illegal to use this technology and it is actually costing us “the public” more then what it is worth.

If the money is rendered useless before the attackers get to it then they will stop bombing the ATMs.

[Chrisjan B]

tec0 also check your statements to see if the cash deposit fee is in line with the fee structure for ATM's and that you are not paying for over the counter deposit fee like I do.

[tec0]

I had a look nothing alarming popping up accept for my one account that was basically nearly dormant “I pay in a few bucks to keep it alive” Its deductions per month is R21.45 and it is noted that no transaction took place on this account for the last 2 months. So I am thinking administration fee but other than that everything “looks” normal.

[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]

ABSA ATM's not working and incorrect ATM deposit fees charged

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.