Refuse to refund or replace card after *****.

Good day,<br> <br> I recently was victim of a **** where R3490 was deducted from my Absa credit card without me giving permission for it to be done. I was contacted by a company called Hotel Express International who promoted discounts on air flights etc. At no point was it mentioned that you need to pay anything for this service. They asked me to give my credit card number to activate this membership and send me a \platinum card". <br> <br> I NEVER authorised that any money be deducted. We have tried to contact them and there is no way to to cancel.<br> <br> ABSA REFUSES to replace my card with a new number or refund me as it was not authorised. I am very upset about this and I am very tempted to move to another bank. Surely there must be a way to avoid this company deducting more money without my consent? what happens if they max out my card and all Absa says is they can't do anything? The people are MIA and there is no way to cancel it. They now have my ****** card number (& possibly a POS machine) where you can just swipe a cloned card with no need to provide a pin and can authorise transactions as they please.<br> <br> I will take this to the highest authority at ABSA."""