Active since Sep 2020
On Monday morning the 22 June 2023, my father (a member of GEPF) telephonically contacted the GEPF Client Service Western Cape requesting assistance with a confirmation letter. To provide you some background information, The family is presently applying for legal administratorship following a diagnosis of vascular dementia. This is an advised legal process for patients with neurocognitive conditions to protect both the financial interest of the patient and the family and to manage the day-to-day obligations and requirements for dementia patients. Coming back to the present, the client service agent that my father came through to telephonically was an agent by the name of Phumelele Nakane. It appears that there was some data missing from his profile and she advised him that the best route to follow without coming into the office would be via email. This then prompted my decision to immediately try registering on the self service registration page on the website but unfortunately without success. The next route I followed was the email request as advised by Phumelele. The email was sent out on Monday the 22nd of June 2023 at 13:20 whereby I provided her with all of the necessary membership information accompanied with supportive, validatory documents and explicitly informed her that the confirmation was urgent as I was scheduled to leave the country within 2 weeks. There were numerous emails sent back and forth requesting the request to be in a letter format with my dad's signature and I eventually proceed with an official letter accompanied with supportive documents on the 26th of June 2023. Stating once again that the letter was quite urgent. My dad and I do not live together, he has taken up residence in assisted living following his diagnosis. I must state that quite a few of the emails, had required me to reach out to Phumelele. Strange, for someone who was hired with the job description and responsibility of a client service agent. On the 28th of June at 11:15am I sent my last email asking her whether we would receive a confirmation letter and up to date there has been no response. It appears that my father and myself was ghosted. What a sad turn of events, as this is the only document outstanding for us to proceed with the application for administratorship. It not only appears that I threw money down the drain on consultations with both the attorney, social worker and psychiatrist, to initiate the administratorship process for a dementia patient but that quite frankly it appears GEPF does not care about the wellbeing of their members. I have been leading an expat lifestyle for that last 10 years and I leave the country in precisely one week's time to work in another continent with the hope of returning for a visit next year. I may need to redo this process next year again. Kudos to GEPF Western Cape Client Service for excellent customer service. My dad feels valued and prioritised. And as for me, I am strongly considering proceeding with legal recourse for the financial losses I have experienced in this journey.
On 15 September Mr Sydwell Mfamekiso of Cape High Construction furnished me with quotes to do small renovations to my late mother's property. I am not happy with the service delivered by him. I have been left feeling angry and very disappointed by the quality of the workmanship. The work to the property has not been completed timeously as per our agreement and the time allocated on the quotation. On more than one ocassion he failed to work on the days which he undertook to work with no notification. I have also witnessed him disappear at times to attend to another project leaving one person to work in the apartment. His worker informed me that most of his workforce was allocated for this project in Kenilworth and that many a time was left to do most of the work himself. I have also witnessed Mr Mfamekiso leave my project in the morning with the excuse of disposing waste either not to return or returning in the late afternoon. When I contacted him on the second ocassion asking when he would return to resume the work it was met by a very defiant, aggressive attitude. It became very apparent in this interaction that the roles had become reversed and that he was the client doing me a favour and that I was the service provider. On Monday the 21st he requested extra payment from me, as I am new to this and did not question it I made the mistake of settling my payment with him under the impression he would complete the job the following day as discussed in our WhatsApp chat. To my horror he did not come in as promised, felt no need to communicate this with me and was unreachable for most of the day. He returned the following day following many messages with no apology nor remorse for his actions. He assured me the flat would be completed the Thursday, once again he disappeared for most of the day and did not pitch the Thursday as promised. On Saturday he pulled out all the stops in the attempt to finish the flat, once again he seemed to have great challenges commiting to his word and was unable to complete. He informed me the flat was done until I received pictures from an overseer of the shoddy, incomplete work he did. Too be quite honest my interaction with Mr Mfamekiso from the midway of this business transaction has been a complete nightmare. Integrity and honesty cannot be matched with this business nor diplomacy from the client to try and get the work completed As he was paid in full, he has left me with no other option but to lodge a complaint with Bark. Due to his nonchalant attitude regarding completing the job, I have had to incur additional costs by getting someone else to rectify his bad workmanship in order for the job to be completed in order to secure a rental the property. It's unfortunate that Mr Mfamekiso doesn't realise that with the work industry he's in, he cannot afford to deliver bad workmanship and be unreliable
On the 30th August 2020, my mother, Selena Groenewald (Identity No. 5508100217089) passed away. I contacted ABSA Trust and told the consultant, San-Marie Lourens, the reason for my call and requested a copy of my late mother’s Will. The consultant advised that the process would take 48 hours. On the 15th August 2020, I sent an email with the relevant documentation to ABSA Deceased Estate Intake Centre. On 18th September, I again contacted the Mrs Lourens and she confirmed that she had forwarded my email to ABSA’s Deceased Estate Intake Centre. On the 25th September, I once again contacted ABSA Trust and the consultant advised me to email willsjhb@absa.africa, which I did and received an automated response confirming that my documents had been received. I called the consultant again and she advised that she had liaised with a Lerato, at the Wills Department, who would contact me for assistance the same day. However, to date no one has contacted me. The delay in acquiring my late mother’s Will is causing an enormous amount of stress and anxiety to my family and I. Please note that I am currently employed abroad and I am required to return to work as soon as conveniently possible. However, I am unable to return to work at this stage until the matter of the Will is finalised. My mother’s estate consists of an apartment in Durbanville, a motor car and movable properties that has to be distributed to the necessary beneficiaries. The delay has created a snowball effect that is threatening to spiral out of control. I hereby wish to convey my disappointment at ABSA, which is supposed to be a prominent bank. I am absolutely appalled at the lack of service and professionalism shown by ABSA Trust, as we as a grieving family have had no feedback from yourselves and feel that the unprofessionalism of the staff members I have liaised with, is shocking. My mother had paid for the service, trusting that the process would be dealt with smoothly and in a dignified manner. However, the poor service I have received thus far, does not align with her wishes. I would therefore appreciate it if someone from ABSA Trust could contact me as soon possible, in order for this matter to be resolved with immediate effect. As mentioned previously, I am required to report back to work immediately and would therefore like this matter to be expedited. Yours sincerely Deidre Groenewald
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