Terrible Service AIMS, and Odette Guruppa,

Good day, It is with great concern that I submit this complaint regarding the service received from ABSA / AIMS / Glacier by AIMS.

In December, we were in consultation with a financial services provider regarding my 67-year-old friend’s retirement portfolio. A decision was made to switch her Living Annuity to a Life Annuity. However, the long-term implications of selecting a level Life Annuity were not fully explained to her, and she did not clearly understand the irreversible consequences of this decision.

On 17 December, we contacted AIMS and spoke to a consultant named Sabu (reference number available on request). During this call, we specifically asked whether the switch to the Life Annuity had already been processed. Sabu confirmed that the funds had NOT YET been transferred and were still with AIMS. Based on this confirmation, we explicitly instructed that the transfer must NOT PROCEED. Sabu acknowledged and agreed.

Despite this, the funds were transferred on 31 December 2025 to the new provider and placed into the Life Annuity. As is well known, once a Life Annuity is implemented, it cannot simply be reversed back to a Living Annuity. This has placed my friend in a severely prejudicial position. How were these funds not been switched on the 17th, and then they were switched on the 31st? How is this possible?

When escalating the matter, we dealt with Ms Odette Guruppa, a Support Manager. She admitted that a mistake had been made and stated that the transfer had already occurred on 17 December. However, this explanation is inconsistent with the fact that the funds only reflected in the receiving institution’s account on 31 December. To date, no clear explanation has been provided for this discrepancy.

Furthermore, Ms Guruppa’s responses have been vague, incomplete, and not aligned with the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles that ABSA claims to uphold. On 17 February, we formally requested clear written confirmation of the following:

1. The impact of this transaction on the client’s capital. 2. The potential loss of growth (interest) within the fund.

3. The impact on income payments, including specific amounts involved.

To date, no meaningful written response has been received — not even an acknowledgment explaining a delay. We also requested details of the internal complaint’s procedure and the relevant Ombudsman process. This request has effectively been ignored. Is Odette Gurppa allowed to ignore my request for further complaint’s procedure?

The dismissive and indifferent manner in which this matter has been handled is deeply concerning and in all honesty I’m dumfounded with her attitude towards clients. No effort has been made to retain the client’s confidence or to address the financial prejudice caused. We are currently in the process of removing the remaining funds from AIMS (total of R1.7m – guess this is not enough for ABSA to do the due diligence necessary) due to this experience.

The service received stands in stark contrast to the mission statements and client-centric promises made by these institutions. We sincerely hope this matter can be resolved urgently and professionally before formal escalation to the relevant Ombudsman.

We await a clear, written and accountable response.