FNB CEO apologizes, promises refunds

[davemc]

Ke? Most FNB products have a monthly fee that includes internet banking. This does not make internet banking free, much in the same way that your car seat, which is included in the price that you paid for the car is not free neither.

Let me show you the CEO's offer in action:

Mike pays around R150 a month for his FNB account.

Friday, mike went to a bike dealer to buy a bike, did the negotiations and came to a fantastic deal provided that he pay on Monday the latest, and they agree that the dealer will accept the EFT from Mike's FNB account once the dealer has verified the EFT as the dealer is also using FNB.

Mike transfers the money from another account into his FNB account to pay for it, which he did on Saturday.

On Sunday, Mike could not confirm that the money has gone through because FNB was not playing with. Mike stresses a bit, and his Sunday night is a little bit ruined.

Monday arrives, and Mike still cannot access FNB's online banking. He phones the dealer, and the dealer says that there is another buyer lined up.

Mike goes to the bank branch, travelling 15km's and 30 minutes in traffic to get to one, stands in the queue for 30 minutes, and draws the cash, gets charged for drawing the cash, and then drives to the dealer, another 30 minutes, pays cash for the bike and arranges delivery and checks and double checks that the receipt for the cash is valid.

Mike then drives back to work, another 30 minutes gone.

Now, the CEO says: Hey Mike, sorry for the mess up, email me and we'll refund the money you paid at the counter.

And Mike is all like ... erm ... WHAT? You cost me 2 hours and a lot of stress and you're offering me a couple of bucks.

Woohoooo!

 

[merlindamico]

If people complained more, the service levels would improve. If you are prepared to accept 2nd rate, you get 2nd rate. Do you think the service levels are generally better, in say the US, just "sommer"? Or because the consumer expects/demands more?

Correct. But one does not complain merely for the sake of it. The business (FNB) apologised, is willing to give refunds and the system is back up.

Life moves on, so i suggest that people do to.

 

[merlindamico]

Ke? Most FNB products have a monthly fee that includes internet banking. This does not make internet banking free, much in the same way that your car seat, which is included in the price that you paid for the car is not free neither.

Let me show you the CEO's offer in action:

Mike pays around R150 a month for his FNB account.

Friday, mike went to a bike dealer to buy a bike, did the negotiations and came to a fantastic deal provided that he pay on Monday the latest, and they agree that the dealer will accept the EFT from Mike's FNB account once the dealer has verified the EFT as the dealer is also using FNB.

Mike transfers the money from another account into his FNB account to pay for it, which he did on Saturday.

On Sunday, Mike could not confirm that the money has gone through because FNB was not playing with. Mike stresses a bit, and his Sunday night is a little bit ruined.

Monday arrives, and Mike still cannot access FNB's online banking. He phones the dealer, and the dealer says that there is another buyer lined up.

Mike goes to the bank branch, travelling 15km's and 30 minutes in traffic to get to one, stands in the queue for 30 minutes, and draws the cash, gets charged for drawing the cash, and then drives to the dealer, another 30 minutes, pays cash for the bike and arranges delivery and checks and double checks that the receipt for the cash is valid.

Mike then drives back to work, another 30 minutes gone.

Now, the CEO says: Hey Mike, sorry for the mess up, email me and we'll refund the money you paid at the counter.

And Mike is all like ... erm ... WHAT? You cost me 2 hours and a lot of stress and you're offering me a couple of bucks.

Woohoooo!

1. If "Mike" is paying a R150 monthly account fee per month with FNB, he cannot be too bright. Much cheaper options available.
2. NO Business in the world will give a refund based on your time spent on their error. Unreasobale to even expect this.
3. Of course they would ask proof of the transactions, etc. Not just going to give a blanket refund to anyone who claims money. What business are you running?

 

[Johand]

If people complained more, the service levels would improve. If you are prepared to accept 2nd rate, you get 2nd rate. Do you think the service levels are generally better, in say the US, just "sommer"? Or because the consumer expects/demands more?

I agree that people should complain. I think the point here is that FNB were quick to acknowledge the mistake and did communicate clearly and did offer refunds on bank charges.

In South Africa companies tend to cover up their mistakes, they don't communicate to their customers like adults etc. So yes - FNB -10 points for disrupting your clients but +5 for communicating early, clearly and often and offering refunds.

The point is -- compare this to the MTN billing fiasco where they lied, didn't communicate, did not provide refunds of any kind (except corrections), replied on HelloPeter with proxy messages and never came back to people, started to ignore HelloPeter messages and did not resolve the issue after several months.

So - should we aim for perfect service? Yes, but we live in an imperfect world. Is the manner in how the company responds to problems important? Hell Yes. Should we encourage big corporates to engage early, engage often and engage from the highest level with their customers in case of problems? Definitely.

 

[davemc]

1. If "Mike" is paying a R150 monthly account fee per month with FNB, he cannot be too bright. Much cheaper options available.
2. NO Business in the world will give a refund based on your time spent on their error. Unreasobale to even expect this.
3. Of course they would ask proof of the transactions, etc. Not just going to give a blanket refund to anyone who claims money. What business are you running?

1. Ok.
2. Unreasonable? Ask a lawyer or a charted accountant how their time is billed out, and then come back to me. Hell, even Telkom refund you for cases of no service delivery.
3. They already know the exact period that Internet Banking was not available. All transactions done during that period for people who have internet banking can be refunded automatically, without any requests from the public required.

Why on earth would somebody argue for bad service policy?

 

[Crusader]

At FNB I pay a R40 monthly fee for my cheque account incl free internet banking.

At ABSA I pay R80 as a monthly acc fee. If I want internet banking as well that's another R90 or so a month.

So that makes FNB's internet banking free in my eyes.

 

[Creag]

Only in this country will you find people complaining when they're offered a refund.

It's quite sad really.

Too true ... except the FNB customer is obliged to prove their own financial loss and that it was directly attributable to internet banking being unavailable, and then submit same to FNB for consideration.

• 90% of those out of pocket are quite likely to work on gathering the required proof, discover the schlep involved and give it up.
• The remaining 10% will go through with it and run into a barrage of 'RED' tape and a small portion of this group will actually stay the course and succeed in a refund.

So FNB's PR IMO has been less than acceptable. 4 days before someone of substances faces the media and apologises. Rather poor. And the offer of refund is 'admirable' except that the onus of proof rests on the consumer?!

Is it time the Consumer Protection Act is invoked?

 

[Abe]

A little harsh attacking the "Lady in Charge" (I think her name is Lee-Anne Van Zyl) of FNB Internet Banking. She was only communicating the information she probably had available at the time.

Can clearly see that you have not run a business before. You depend on the people that work for you to give you the correct information. Also, even the people who work for you may not know the full scope of the problem. As a business you always communicate "opptimistically" to your clients.

lol - you have no clue what you are talking about. I run a business and this fiasco effected us. Our biggest client could not make a payment to us because of it. I decided it was best not to push the client on the off chance that they think we are hard up for the money which would probably hurt us so we just had to tough it out and make excuses to suppliers.

As a business you want to communicate "honestly" with your clients, not "optimistically". The last thing you want to do is create an unrealistic expectation. In fact, one of the new tactics that large companies are employing is to be open and apologise to clients. Taking it squarely on the chin. They may be doing it now but that was not the case when she spoke on 702. Rather, she was talking bull on the radio. Not good IMHO.