Failing To Assist With Unauthorised Monthly Debits

<p>In September 2016 I bought and audiobook for my wife online using my credit card details. The audiobook cost approx R85. In February 2017 I noticed that since that transaction a similar amount has been deducted from my account by the same provider on a monthly basis.</p> <p> </p> <p>I had not noticed this earlier since, by default, I did not receive notifciations for transactions of less than R100. To prevent this in future I cancelled my credit card and ordered a new one.</p> <p> </p> <p>After contacting FNB I was told that I had to cancel my membership with the provider. I explained that I did not sign up for any form of membership, and provided proof that my mailiing address is not even registered with the provider (which is the only way for members to log in).</p> <p> </p> <p>I was then told that I need to provide proof that I had instructed the provider to cease taking money from my account before FNB could assist in preventing such transactions in future. I explained that even if I wanted to do this, I was not able to, as I did not have any form of identification, such as a member name/number, to link to such an instruction.</p> <p> </p> <p>The call centre agent advised me that due to the nature of the transactions it was likely a debit order, and that cancelling my old credit card would not necessarily prevent the provider from repeating this in future.</p> <p> </p> <p>As a debit order requires the account number, which I knew I would never disclose online, I asked the call centre agent if she could confirm whether these transactions were as a result of a debit order. She stated that she is not able to confirm or deny this, and that there is no department within the bank, or any department I could come in contact with which would be able to confirm or deny this.</p> <p> </p> <p>As the bank facilitates and authorises debit orders I found this very strange and unsettling.</p> <p> </p> <p>After a bit of deliberation with the call centre agent we concluded that my only two options were:</p> <p>Wait until the day of the month the money is usually debited and to see if it happens again, and if it did I would have to close my account and lose out on another unauthorised debit from my account. </p> <p>Alternatively I could close my account from the immediately.</p> <p> </p> <p>To avoid all the hastle of closing my account I opted for the first option, and there has not been another such transaction on my account. This however just confirms my stance that I did not sign up for any type of membership, since that would require my account details, not just my card details.</p> <p> </p> <p>I was also told that I would have to convince the provider to repay the unauthorised transactions and that FNB could not assist in that regard. I found this quite amusing, since as I mentioned before I had no member number/name to link to such a request, and it could at most be something like "Would you kindly repay the money that you took without my consent. I can however not provide you with any additional detail"</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>