Home Affairs wrongly takes money.

As expected, E-Home Affairs has been an absolute nightmare. The biggest problem however, is that they can cancel your appointment, take your money with no refund and offer NO way to dispute it. The call centre can't do anything and the emails are left unanswered.

My ID card application done online through the E- home affairs portal has been riddled with issues ranging from log in problems, OTP not sent, payment not being accepted to zero appointments available. I managed all of this and eventually paid and secured an appointment at my bank branch. Two weeks later I recieve an email stating that my appointment has been canceled due to "no response from applicant" and that the money will not be refunded. This is impossible because my appointment was set for the 27th March(only available slot), and payment made. I would assume this classifies as movement on the application...

I have tried to call the call centre and get "the number is currently unavailable" 99% of the time. When I finally got through, the lady told me there is nothing she can do and proceeded to hang up on me when I asked for a reference to the call. I have emailed three times to date, and have been ignored.

I want my appointment and my money back, Home Affairs. This is unacceptable.