Tag Archives: ABSA

MyCiti Bus starts roll-out onto the Atlantic Seaboard this weekend!

My CiTi Bus imagesThe MyCiTi Bus route in Sea Point (connecting commuters to Fresnaye, the Civic Centre and the V&A Waterfront) will begin operating this weekend (via Beach Road and High Level Road), on 2 November.  The long-awaited roll-out of the service to Camps Bay is on 30 November, about 18 months after its promised start date!  By this weekend 83 MyCiTi Buses will be operating in Cape Town, increasing to 107 buses by the end of November.

News24 reports that the MyCiTi bus service will begin operating in Vredehoek, Oranjezicht,  Sea Point, Melkbosstrand, and Duynefontein this coming Saturday.  On 30 November the route from the new V&A Waterfront Silo (the previous Clocktower area) to the Civic Centre and Camps Bay via Kloofnek Road will commence.  The planned introduction of the N2 Express from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, which was scheduled to be launched in December, appears to be Continue reading →

Grande Provence Sweet Service and ABSA Bank Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to Grande Provence, for the excellent service from Events Co-ordinator Nicole Bischhoff, Chef Darren Roberts, and the rest of the team in organising and cooking for a party of 25 friends and family of my parents, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a lunch in the Jonkerhuis on Monday. Chef Darren threw in canapés (including oysters, a favorite of the ‘groom’), an amuse bouche, a palate cleanser sorbet, a pre-dessert, and an anniversary cake, without extra charge.  To make it even more difficult, Chef Darren offered our party an a la carte menu.

The Sour Service Award goes to ABSA Bank, which is ‘redeploying’ its staff, and also has embarked on ‘mass retrenchments’, according to the Cape Argus, so much so that the trade union Solidarity is drumming up support for their campaign on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, amending the ABSA advertising slogan to ‘Today, Tomorrow, Goodbye’! We too can identify with the changes, our Relationship Manager, whom we followed from Nedbank to ABSA two years ago, and whom we had dealt with at Nedbank for years, unceremoniously passing us on to a colleague by e-mail, due to her ‘redeployment‘!  There has been no communication from the new ‘Relationship Manager’, and when we called, we were told he too has left ABSA!

POSTSCRIPT 4/4: We are delighted that ABSA has had a re-think, and has allowed us to continue working with our Relationship Manager!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

Hilton Weiner Sweet and ABSA Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award  goes to Hilton Weiner, and is nominated by Jane Wright: “My son was desperately looking for a suit for his matric dance which was held last Saturday. He is very tall, but very skinny so it seemed an impossible task to find a suit that fitted him in the length but didn’t drown him at the same time. We finally went to Hilton Weiner on the Lower Ground floor of Cavendish Square. Kudos go to Leigh, their sales lady, who dealt with us in such a professional manner, making sure that he found the right suit in their store and when the jacket wasn’t available, she sourced it in Johannesburg and had it transferred to the Cavendish Square shop in time. We even went back and bought his shirt there because we knew she would get the right fit and we would get the right advice. She is confident without being brash, dynamic without being forward, helpful without being fawning. She is truly an asset to her company”.

The Sour Service Award  goes to ABSA Bank’s credit card department, and its employee Etienne. Earlier this week I popped in at Detail Interior Design on Dorp Street in Stellenbosch.  My credit card would not allow the transaction, and so the manageress allowed me to transfer funds into my card on her computer, something I have done before, and has never been a problem.  However, the machine asked the manageress to call for authorisation.  I had to provide my ID number, full (German) names, cell number and postal address.  Halfway through I asked Etienne whether he did not have enough information already to verify who I am, and he said that he was doing this to protect my money, something I did not ask for, and that he would decline the transaction if I did not co-operate!  The manageress then was given an authorisation code to finalise the transaction, but was asked many more questions and procedures than appeared necessary, to such an extent that I told her to stop the transaction and that I would pay in cash, given that the ABSA communication had taken half an hour already.  She was asked by Etienne to cancel the authorisation by fax, and she asked if she could e-mail it to him, which he refused.   To add insult to injury, the payment is reflecting on the credit card statement, even though no slip came out of the credit card machine during the transaction!

POSTSCRIPT 4/4: I was most impressed to receive the following e-mail of apology today from ABSA’s card division:  “With reference to your complaint received on 1 April 2011 from Absa Business Bank Cape Town, regarding the service you received from our Authorisations Department on the credit card account. We wish to sincerely apologise for the fact that you did not receive the service you are entitled to.  Absa’s attempt at delivering exceptional service has indeed been damaged, as we know that the success of an organisation depends largely on its relationship with its customers.  Be assured that the matter has been addressed with Ettiene and we are in coaching conversations with him and his manager, to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in future.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for bringing the abovementioned to our attention and trust that future dealings with us will be of a more professional nature. Kind regards 
Ilse Venter
Relationship Manager
Complaints Management Centre
Absa Card” 

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

Vrede & Lust Sweet and Builders Trade Depot Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award  goes to Vrede & Lust, and is nominated by Clive Friedberg of Executive Touring.  He writes:  “I was fortunate enough to have won a “Tour Guide” prize at the beautiful Wine Estate, Vrede en Lust, near Franschhoek. A weekend at the ‘Manor House’. Exquisite.  When they heard it was my birthday, they offered a Braai Party for all my guests as well, which included all the food and wine of course.  Unbelievable. What a fantastic Estate and a wonderful team of people. I strongly recommend a visit by ALL Tour Guides and their clients for the best Wine Tasting experience in the Cape”.

The Sour Service Award  goes to Builders Trade Depot, a building supplies company in Hermanus.  The company struggled to provide a Tax Invoice meeting the SARS prescriptions, taking a whole day and three revisions to provide the correct documentation.  Then it would not release the goods, because proof of payment had not been sent – the payment was visible to the store in its bank statement, as both parties bank with ABSA.  It is clear that the store was not in need of business to the value of R 11000!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website