Shoddy Bank Service (St George Bank) - Accept or Not?

regretfulshopper on 08/03/2017 - 11:39
Last edited 08/03/2017 - 15:08 by 1 other user

Hello,

This is a quick post that I'm hoping won't devolve into a whinge. On the 17.2.17, my bank froze my debit card due to attempted fraud. I was not notified of this until I rang up to inquire as to why payments were failing on the 23.2.17. The customer service team tried to convince me that a text message had been sent ( If I had received one, why would I wait a week to get back to them? SMH) and then after cancelling my card, offered to mail me one asap.

I complained to the bank because, IMO,using only one form of communication for notifications as serious as fraud is ridiculous. I got a call back from their experience team, who detailed that there had been issues contacting a portion of their customers and that this was now resolved.

I called them up after 7 business days to inquire as to where my card was (7.3.17, only to find that my card was lost in transit. ( they had apparently, texted me about this as well)

I'm extremely annoyed. While, I haven't been put out as hard as some other victims of fraud, I find the reporting and handling of this unacceptable.

My question is what's the best plan of action (to punish my bank, because they obviously care about small fries like me)

Poll Options expired

• 25
  change banks
• 1
  social media complaint
• 1
  financial ombudsman
• 19
  withdraw some money and use that to wipe your tears

• 

  Skramit on 08/03/2017 - 11:49

  +2

  I've had attempted fraud on my credit card before. I'm with one of the major banks and they phoned me ASAP and advised me of the situation and resolved it on the spot by cancelling my card and mailing me a new one.

  A simple SMS message is not good enough IMO.

  Switch banks.

  • 

    dylanando on 08/03/2017 - 12:07

    +1

    commonwealth is really good at this

    • 

      havebeerbelywillsumo on 08/03/2017 - 14:12

      +1

      "this"……………communicating or NOT communicating??

    • 

      AdosHouse on 08/03/2017 - 16:41

      +1

      Commonwealth were amazing for me. Got a call at 11pm (on my birthday no less), "Sir did you just purchase a ~$2k laptop from Officeworks online in the last few minutes", "No", "Okay sir we will cancel that card and issue you a new card in 5 (I think) working days". Pin is created in App. Absolutely amazing.

      Another time I was at flight centre booking my Euro holiday, was paying about $4k in one hit, unlocked the limits in the app, went to pay, declined, and I shit you not about 30 seconds later CBA called me and asked me if that was me, I said yes, and they said no problems will allow it to go through. Bloody amazing.

      Citibank on the other hand, had fraud once, some bullshit $40-$50 transactions, a few of them on the same day, all overseas (why is this not caught?), I saw them about 2 weeks later when I was going through the transactions. I had to call Citibank, inform them it wasn't me, they told me I had to fill out a form, scan it to them, and it would take up to a month to investigate and reverse. I did eventually get my money back, but it was a long process.

• 

  Baysew on 08/03/2017 - 11:55

  +2

  Which bank is it?

• 

  c64 on 08/03/2017 - 12:08

  you would probably be more angry if a bit chunk of money out of your account was gone …

• 

  regretfulshopper on 08/03/2017 - 13:55

  I'm with St George, and while I appreciate them freezing my card- I think that's really standard for any bank. My issue is how it was handled and the bizarre lack of back up/ more modes of communication for something that can be relatively serious.

• 

  havebeerbelywillsumo on 08/03/2017 - 14:10

  My feeling is vote with your feet and tell them why (perhaps before you do so to see if they smarten up with a compensation offer and courier delivery of that new card??). I've had calls, even on the weekend, from Suncorp cross checking large transactions to a new entity let alone possible fraud and ANZ, when a card was hacked.

  Their service in SMS texting only is definitely poor IMO.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 08/03/2017 - 14:43

  made you made sure they have your correct mobile number to text?

  you cant really punish your bank, they wont care

• 

  psyren89 on 08/03/2017 - 17:46

  St George also screwed over my friends who had a business account with them. Vote with your wallet and leave.

• 

  kylebb on 08/03/2017 - 19:34

  Better than the absolutely no notification I received from ANZ when they blocked a card…

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  Placebo on 08/03/2017 - 23:21

  In my brief experience with St George, they were bloody useless. I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole. If I were you, I would move to another bank.