Disappointment

You know, I get very annoyed.

I have had a standing fight about my cell phone account since the middle of JUNE.  11 WEEKS.  They finally seem to have resolved it today and allegedly paid money into my bank account, but only after a little snarky comment on twitter.  I am mentally tapping my foot.

And then I’m going through my bank account.  I mean ‘going through my bank account’ in the loose sense of the word as there hasn’t been much activity in, well, a long time. (I’m much better at denial).  So imagine my surprise when I see duplicate charges on my account.  Every time I draw money, the exact same amount is drawn, but under a different merchant.  So I can only assume it’s the ATM, but hey.

So, I call the bank.

I have a long conversation with a lovely lady and give her all my details.  Twice.

I explain the problem.

I hold on.

And hold on.

And hold on.

The lovely lady comes back and tells me that as it’s a card I need to go through to her colleague that deals with the card queries.

I say that it’s a debit card, not a credit card.

Yes, she says, that’s fine.

The second lovely lady looks at the most recent statement as she cannot go beyond July and asks me to tell her what the problem is.

I tell her.

She says that she can’t see who the merchant is.

This second lovely lady then launches into an extended explanation of how she can lodge a dispute for me and they will investigate, but that if the charges prove true they will charge me R150 per disputed charge.

At which point I got annoyed.

How can you tell me that I will get charged if you cannot even tell me who the Merchant is right now?

She says: Can I fax you a dispute form.

I say: No.  Can you email me one?

She says: No

I say: Just to confirm, you know that we are dealing with a debit card, not a credit card.

She says: Oh.

Silence

She says: In that case I can make a note and get someone to investigate.  Here is your reference number blahblahblah, please call back in 48 hours.

I say: Excuse me?  I need to call YOU back in 48 hours?

And this from a bank that has an “askonce” policy.  And has donated money on my behalf before to a charity of my choice.  Because I should only need to ask once according to their marketing campaign