THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED FROM FIRST NATIONAL BANK, SOUTH AFRICA!!!

I made 2 X R350.00 EFT payments on the 3rd of December 2022 to a merchant using my FNB Banking app. I reached out to the merchant who confirmed that they never received the 2 X R350.00 EFT payments. I emailed the merchant the 2 X proof of payments numerous times and also chatted to them on their chat line and via email and the merchant kept stating that the payments were not received. I then reached out to FNB on the 12th of December 2022 and was told to fill out a cheque and debit card dispute form and email it back to that FNB department. I did that and received an email reply from that FNB department on the 14th of December 2022 wherein it stated that if the money wasn't refunded within 5 business days I should contact them back. I contacted them back through my chat option using my FNB Banking app and also telephonically only to discover that the incorrect procedure was given for me to use. Eventually I lodged a complaint and received an email response back from the Retail Recovery Service of FNB on the 23rd of December 2022 after having spoke to Bongani. Bongani mentioned in the reply email that they had filed a missing payment request and provided a case number. Between the 23rd of December 2022 and the 12th of January 2023, I have spoken to numerous people from FNB who have told me that they have escalated my request and that a manager will contact me back the next day but no manager from FNB has ever called me back. The refund of the 2 X R350.00 EFT's has been delayed, firstly, by being misdirected to the incorrect department, and secondly, has been further delayed by the fact that no manager has ever called me back. The top excuse is that they cannot transfer me to a manager as they work from home. The person from FNB then tells me that they will escalate my request and that a manager from FNB will contact me the next day, which has never happened. I am also further told that the problem can take 5 business days to resolve and this is each time that I speak to a new person from FNB when I follow up. The 2 X R350.00 EFT payments were debited from my Easy Account but we're not received by the merchant and I therefore did not receive the relevant services. It really seems to me that either the people from FNB have not been properly trained or simply don't know how to do their job. My best guess is that these 2 X R350.00 EFT payments were debited from my Easy Account but never made it to the merchant and are floating around in cyberspace. This has taken way longer than it should have and has caused me immense stress, anxiety and unnecessary frustration. I don't know what else to do as I haven't been able to speak to a manager or someone from FNB who has the authority to actually sort out my problem and I would really appreciate any help from hellopeter, thank you, Donovan McGeer, ***, ***.