No support for ***** on Debit Card

I will tell the story and in between I will post the issues I have with the situation. Specifics included reference numbers and email addresses can be gathered if necessary.

TL;DR: I am a security-wise, IT literate user. Yet somehow my Debit Card was **********ly used in a country that I have never visited without security alerts or OTPs for several thousand rand purchases. Despite multiple channels of reporting this issue, FNB has not contacted me and not repaid all ****** funds.

Longer: My card details were ****** and a R4k online purchase was done in dollars. Issue #1: How is a purchase made internationally without the security alert being triggered? I have had issues using my card abroad while traveling because of their security, so why was it not effective when it was needed? Issue #2: How can my Debit Card be used for a payment without OTP? Does this mean ALL FNB cards are vulnerable to this?

The following morning I received an automated sms asking if this payment was *****. I confirmed and was put on hold. After several minutes it asked if I would like a call back since no one is available. Issue #3: I was never called back and never received a reference number.

At this time I was busy with a work project and it was hard to find time to deal with this. After a few days of no contact, I saw a second foreign purchase was made. Issue #4. This time there was ***** detection SMS.

I received notice that most of FIRST the ****** money was refunded. Not the second. And from the first amount, a few hundred rand was missing. Issue #5: The full amount was not refunded. The second deduction was not detected despite the first being alerted for *****.

In between work, I tried mailing their support email addresses to which I received days of delays and automated replies. I got one mail that my mail was being mailed to another team. Issue #6. Surely the FNB support center is able to handle emails more efficiently than calls? Most people don't have an hour to spend on the phone, how can FNB not be reachable via email? Issue #6: The "other team" never called back.

I called them. I gave them the ref from the "other team". The couldnt find it. They said they don't see the ***** report, I should open new ones. They cancelled my card for safety.

I called the second number and after some time, had opened new ones and requested investigation and ****** money returned. I was told the are investigating and will get back to me. Issue#7: Two weeks later, no one ever got back to me, no money was refunded, no email responses were received.

I received an SMS saying "Your disputed transaction was credited by the merchant" and a ref I didnt recognize. Issue#8 This SMS provides no way of getting further information about what was looked into and how to escalate if the issue is not solved. It takes work from my side to figure out what it is about.

After going through the transactions for the date, I found that they were talking about the first ***** and refund. Remember that I logged the support request to ask about the missing amount after the refund (around R350). That support request that I was forced to log over call. Issue #9. The amount is still missing and is a substantial enough amount that I need to know where it has gone. You cannot make a customer wait two weeks for a reply just to send an sms that the request has been closed. That is terrible customer service. Issue #10, the second ***** amount is still missing without any contact, not even sms.

This was weeks ago by now. Currently now I am sitting with the following situation: 1. The partial amount missing money in the initial instance of ***** is still not addressed. 2. The second instance of ***** has not been refunded and no updates provided. 3. Money being ****** from a customer bank account is arguably the most serious breach of trust and worst situation a customer can face. How on earth can the support system for something like this be so terrible. In my case the amount ****** totaled R5k. I get the feeling that if it were R100k would FNB respond equally ineffectively which is a concerning fact.