Your money is not safe here

ABSA: When “no service” is worse than bad service

I’m posting this publicly because I have already followed ABSA’s official complaint and dispute processes, and they have failed at every step. This is no longer about resolving the issue privately — it’s about warning others.

Two amounts of R1,200 each were deducted from my account for a Google subscription that I do not have.

I contacted ABSA ***** immediately. I was told that because the merchant is Google, ABSA cannot simply reverse the transactions and that I must submit a dispute. I did exactly that.

I provided clear proof that:

I do not have an active Google account

My Google account has been deactivated since 2024

I have no subscriptions with Google

I did not authorise these debits

What followed was weeks of silence.

Deadlines passed. Promises of “we’ll get back to you” were repeatedly broken. Emails went unanswered. There was absolutely no feedback or progress.

Only once I explicitly mentioned escalating the matter to the Banking Ombudsman did ABSA respond — and the response showed they hadn’t even read my emails properly. I was told to contact ***** again and that ABSA cannot cancel subscriptions on my behalf.

I never asked them to cancel a subscription. I asked them to reverse money that was taken from my account for a service I do not have.

Because the debit attempts continued and ABSA offered no protection or resolution, I was forced to move my salary to another account just to prevent further unauthorised deductions.

At this point, the issue is no longer the R2,400 — it’s the complete absence of service, ownership, or accountability.

I am now cancelling:

My personal ABSA account

My business ABSA account

My wife’s ABSA account

Not because the service was bad — but because there effectively was no service at all.

If this is how unauthorised transactions are handled, and this is how disputes are communicated (or rather, not communicated), then customers deserve to know before they find themselves in the same position.