BobPay & Change of banking details

[Vintage_Collectables 10]

Dear BoB

 

I’m posting this letter here for BoB’s attention, as well as for users of BobPay.

 

I have been using BobPay EFT to receive payments for a couple of months and I am happy with the quick confirmation of payment that it provides.

 

Last week I changed financial institutions. Therefore I changed my banking details when I submitted a Payout Request for the funds I had on my BobPay. I submitted the request on Tuesday evening, 9 March, with my new banking details and the request appeared to have gone through as normal.

 

However, by Thursday 11 March the funds were not in my bank account and when I checked my BobPay balance I noticed that the amount I had requested was still showing in my balance. Also, my old banking details were still there, although I had expected my new banking details to show.

 

I tried submitting a new Payout Request, filling in my new banking details again. When I submitted, I got a message about a pending request. This was a little bit frustrating, because now I was not sure what was happening with the money I requested.

 

I emailed billing thinking that that option would be the most relevant to my query (it may or may not have been?) and got an automated response saying my email would be answered within 24 working hours.

 

By Monday morning, 15 March, the funds I requested were still not in my bank account and my BobPay balance still reflected the amount I requested. There was also no reply to my email. I went back to the automated email response I received from BoB looking for a phone number. Tried calling the number at the bottom of the email – 011 706 1629 – the number no longer exists!

 

First, I went to the ‘contact us’ page with the wizard options: Contact Us Wizard

None of the options there were useful. In the end I used google to get to this page: Help - Contact Details which was very useful.

 

Admittedly, if I had seen the tiny ‘click here’ by the “For more contact details” above the steps for the contact wizard, I would have gotten to the same page sooner.

 

So I phoned 0861 88 0861. After quite a few rings, someone answered “hello”. From this response, I was not sure that I had reached Bidorbuy’s call centre, nor did I have any idea whom I was speaking to. However, I went on to explain to the consultant about my query. I confirmed my new banking details and also my old banking details. The consultant told me I must submit a new payout request. From my experience on Thursday, I knew that this would not work. When I explained that I had tried this already, there was silence. I had to ask “what is happening now?” because I thought I had lost the call. There was more silence and the consultant eventually told me that I would get the money I requested in my bank account tomorrow.

 

I asked if I could have a reference to the phone call – I was told they don’t assign references to calls. So I asked the consultant to please give me his name because he didn’t introduce himself and I may need some reference to this conversation: his name was Ati.

 

I realise that the change of banking details is the reason for the delay in my Payout Request. However, I would like to put forward some points of suggestion from this experience.

 

With regard to making a Payout Request on BobPay:

From now on I will be taking a screen-shot of my Payout Request or printing the page for my reference. However, I think it would be useful if BoB would email a confirmation that a Payout Request has been submitted and received.

 

With regard to contacting BoB about queries:

BoB’s full contact details are difficult to find on the site. At best they are hidden and one gets the impression that the very small text used where it says “For more contact details... click here” is designed to keep these contact details a secret (LOL). Please consider making your contact details more visible and thus more accessible.

 

Please update the contact details on your automated email footers. If the number no longer exists it should not appear there.

 

I image that the consultants at your call centre are very busy dealing with queries. However, when someone phones a call centre they expect to be greeted by something like “Bidorbuy good day... XXX speaking, how may I help you?”. This opens up the possibility of the caller also introducing him or herself. The consultant can then reply “Hi, XXX, how are you?”’ The caller can say “I am fine but I have a problem with...”.

 

Because of the “hello” greeting, I had to ask to speak to someone dealing with accounts and BobPay. I had no idea who I was speaking to, or of their capacity to assist me.

 

Also, if a consultant is busy checking or doing something, it is customary to say “please hold on while I check”. It is awkward when one speaks to a consultant and thereafter there is dead silence at the other end for prolonged periods.

 

I am holding thumbs that my BobPay money will be in my bank account tomorrow.

 

Kind regards

Vintage_Collectables

[Asha Craft Jewellery 10]

I too had to wait until this morning for my finds to clear, and found it strange since bobpay payouts never take this long. I submitted the request on thursday...

 

However, I think it would be useful if BoB would email a confirmation that a Payout Request has been submitted and received.

 

The system used too allow re-requests, but I understand from an admin point of view why they would cancel that feature. Could Bidorbuy please look into email notification that a bobpay request was submitted?

 

 

Tnx!

Amanda

[qball 10]

Hi there

 

Please accept our sincerest apologies for this. I will be addressing these issues with our team and the manner in which this was handled. They are supposed to answer the phone as per your post.

 

Due to our internal security procedures the delay was caused by the change of bank details and miscommunication between our accounts department and security team. I do apologise for this. Your payout will be processed and the funds should reflect in the next day or two. We don't usually notiy sellers of this due to security reasons.

 

I have also taken your recommendations into consideration and have forwarded them through to our technical team to look at implementing in the near future.

 

We do not hide our contact details. The link to contact us is located at the bottom of every page and the text size used is standard for most websites. As we display banking details on the Contact details page we purposely do not display this so that users do not pay us directly for purchases as the account number listed is for seller fee account payments only. Trust me, buyers still find these details and makes payment to us instead of the seller.

 

Please forward me a copy of the email where the phone number is incorrect, we did change all the numbers when our contact number changed last year, but we may have missed one. You can send the copy to hello@bidorbuy.co.za, with a brief explanation of the phone number issue. Many thanks.

 

Once again, please accept our apologies for the delay and for any inconvenience caused.

 

Kind regards

Cuan

[qball 10]

I too had to wait until this morning for my finds to clear, and found it strange since bobpay payouts never take this long. I submitted the request on thursday...

 

 

 

The system used too allow re-requests, but I understand from an admin point of view why they would cancel that feature. Could Bidorbuy please look into email notification that a bobpay request was submitted?

 

 

Tnx!

Amanda

 

 

Apologies, there were some technical issues last week, which caused a delay by a day or 2.

 

Kind regards

Cuan