FNB Secure Chat (Premier)

[blunt]

So I've been a fan of Premier over Private due to Private Banker's communication being generally really slow in my experience a few years back.

Premier helpdesk used to be good at getting back to emails within a day. Since they introduced "Secure Chat" it's become a nightmare. Pre Covid I used to get through to someone in a "reasonable" amount of time. Lockdown started it became 10-12 hours but at least someone eventually replied. Past few weeks it seems its actually impossible to get through to someone.

I've tried again for the past 3 days where it's always said to me "You are number 1 in the queue" - followed a few minutes later by "Please note that your chat has been disconnected. Please try again." - this happens again and again.. last night I was 1 in the queue again, fell asleep and this morning @ 8AM I got the "Please note that your chat has been disconnected. Please try again.". Tried again and got disconnected, and now I am trying again - every time I'm apparently 1 in the queue.

Has anyone actually managed to get through to someone on FNB secure chat?

Is this a push to make people pay R400+ per month for Private just to be able to talk to someone?

@rpm maybe MyBB can do a benchmark on their response times for a nice front page article

 

[Matt91]

Secure chat is useless - FNB customer service as a whole is generally quite useless in my experience. COVID exacerbated it to an new level.

 

[nivek]

FNB secure chat is a good idea, implemented ****ing terribly
They should get their money back, or if they developed it in house, buy a working off the shelf product and repurpose their developers to something that doesnt require code

Just wait until they come with an ebucks rule - "85% of your bank interaction must be over secure chat"

 

[blunt]

surprise! my chat has been disconnected.
I think they need to revert to an email ticketing system.

 

[zerocool2009]

surprise! my chat has been disconnected.
I think they need to revert to an email ticketing system.

Just email FNB at [email protected]

 

[Matt91]

Generally I find leaving a stinking review on Hello Peter lights a fire under their ass.

 

[blunt]

...
Just wait until they come with an ebucks rule - "85% of your bank interaction must be over secure chat"

the scary thing is that I can actually believe them doing something like that. the transactions via the app thing every month and browsing the ebucks tabs to get points is already ****ing ridiculous.

 

[blunt]

Generally I find leaving a stinking review on Hello Peter lights a fire under their ass.

yeah I've also messaged RBJacobs in the past to speed things up.

Just getting sick of having to kick and scream and make a fuss just to get a basic level of service. Futile I know, but that doesn't mean it isn't irritating.

 

[lucifir]

I really hate using secure chat, as they never can pick up previous conversations and you can't even copy/paste previous messages to bring the new agent up to speed.
Its a terrible product and I prefer emailing them if possible, but have noticed even emails not being answered recently and if answered, they direct you to secure chat

 

[millennia]

Secure chat is useless. They keep you waiting 20 minutes for a reply but disconnect you if they don't get a reply in 60 seconds...

The fact that they also closed the premier@fnb email account is retarded. It took me almost 3 months of asking for them to close my accounts.

 

[Ecco]

Yeah its been a mission with secure chat.

I would open a chat type in my issue and then the person connects, i would have to start over again typing the issue.

Also due to the long wait times, i would miss the notification that a session with an agent had been initiated, and then i have to start at the back of the queue again, repeat, rinse....

 

[Matt91]

I really hate using secure chat, as they never can pick up previous conversations and you can't even copy/paste previous messages to bring the new agent up to speed.
Its a terrible product and I prefer emailing them if possible, but have noticed even emails not being answered recently and if answered, they direct you to secure chat

Try using secure chat on desktop - it straight up DOES NOT WORK.
They force you to use it on your phone and keep tapping your screen to keep the phone awake and logged in. From being the smartest banks to one of the dumbest. If it weren't such a hassle I'd change over to Nedbank in a minute. Their service has been better in my experience.

 

[TofuMofu]

100% agree. The Secure Chat is rubbish. **** doesn't get resolved! I've been waiting for a resolution on a fault on their side since the 8th! I've contacted them 3 times already and they don't get back to me...How does one escalate an issue now?

FNB has been grinding my gears for a long time now...

 

[Johnatan56]

Spoiler

At 25 past I sent this:

All I wanted to do was confirm the client number for my TFSA account, it is such a waste of time to use this chat.

Also, the order of messages keeps changing, and the phone version of this keeps losing one's own chat messages, you'll only see the bankers replies.
I have used the chat a few times, usually it takes around 3/4 hours of cycling through people till you get someone useful, completely useless.

 

[Waste]

I'm disappointed that these post were made in 2020, it's now 2023 and FNB has not figured this out. People experience different issues, but I'm are later to the fact that the implementation of the app is badly done. Second that they advertise you can chat "online" and on the app, but the "online" method doesn't work and refer you to the app.

My problem comes in on the usability of the app. The chat history scrolls up to older messages when the agent replies, and then when my phone keyboard pops up the interface does not scroll with it, so you have to constantly scroll the text up to see the last message that you are trying to reply to.

The second problem is that the secure chat requires you to login on the level that the banking app needs. So basically every time you switch to another window to find information, you have to open the FNB app again and start the login process and then navigate to the secure chat.

The third problem is that I can write proper emails on a full size QWERTY keyboard. It is REALLY hard to try to type out a problem on a chat app. I'm sure there are younger generations that can type 140 words on their phones, but as a adult working and having limited time, I can't sit and type like a chicken picking corn from the ground, just to explain a elaborate problem I'm having with my banking...

All I'm asking is that I can use either an old school ticket system using email. Or if it has to be secure chat, that I can use it on the website as I can then use my PC and full keyboard to write up responses.

 

[Getit]

Yea this functionalility is ABSOLUELTY useless!!!

 

[Waste]

To top all of this, let me tell the story in images...

While reading notice the timestamps, and try to keep track of how many times the conversation started over and was transferred. Luckily I have an easy condition to explain but see how even something as simple as this cannot be assisted with by anyone. Combined with the Secure app's bad implementation, even if I reach the correct person the chat just simply dies.

 

[Waste]

Sorry, the last part of the conversation could not be attached, so let me try on a second post...

Not the disconnect on this conversation even though I've provided information and was waiting on them.