The usual bad service from MONOchoice

I have been a subscriber to the Multichoice service provider since the late 1980s. In all the time I have been subscribed to them, I have NEVER authorised a debit order in their favour as they have always be known to be problematic when money is involved.

This means I have always paid my account by cheque in the old days or EFT when that became an available option.

I paid my monthly subscription on 1 June 2020 as it was due on 6 June 2020. This means the payment should have been reflected, at the latest, on 3 June 2020. On 3 June, I received an SMS stating that my next debit order would be requested from my bank on 6 June 2020. I then phoned Multichoice and a n agent explained to me that the (iilegal) instating of the unauthorised debit order was due to a system fault. She aqlso then removed the authorisation for the debit order from my account. She also warned me that the debit order requests are normally sent to the banks 3 days before the date of deduction and advised me to phone Multichoice again if the money was indeed withdrawen from my account.

On 6 June 2020, the debit order was honored by the bank and the money withdrawn from my account. On Monday, 8 June 2020, I phone Multichoice. The agent I spoke to was not friendly at all but after about 5 minutes, told me that I should have my money within the next 24 hours.

On 10 June 2020, I phoned Multichoice again because, as you may guess, the money was not back in my account. I was served by a very helpful young man and after about half an hour on the phone, he explained to me that the finance department has to authorise the refund and that I will have my money on 16 June 2020. He also explained that it would be better to reinstate the debit order because the finance department can then use my account detail for the refund and it will help with skipping a lot of paperwork. I then authorised the debit order for the reasons given above.

So 16 June came and there is no money in my account. When I phoned Multichoice, on 16 June, I was told that the refund is still awaiting authorisation from the finance department.

How is it possible that one agent promises tells me I'll have my money back within 24 hours, the other gives me a date which meant I had to wait for 6 days and then STILL, the finance department has not authorised it?

During this time I also experienced other problems with a decoder and in the case of my payment problem, as well as the decoder problem, I have been put on hold and the agent disappeared until I eventually ended the call.

It seems the agents do that when they don't know how to solve the problem presented to them - put the (Paying) customer on hold and "forget" about him because if he phones back, chances are 100% he will not get through to the same agent.

What can we do to get Multichoice to handle customers, who by the way, pay their salaries, like customers and not some irritation on a phone? I don't know but my lawyer will surely be able to help!