WORST SERVICE EVER, MONEY TAKEN FROM MY ACCOUNT AND NO FOOD!!

So, iv posted my experience i had with KFC Belgravia on Sunday night at 20:40 PM ( to be exact ) on the KFC Page which has not been resolved as yet hence me now resorting to Hello Peter with the hope that this issue would be resolved accordingly.

Sunday night, my bf, his sister and her bf went to get supper using KFC's drive through. An African lady assisted us which was very helpful however this is how it went : my bf's sister had made her order and swiped using KFC's card machine, we waited like 3-5 minutes for her card to be released from the machine, the lady apologized and then took my order - the time was then 20:50 as per her slip. I ordered a For four meal, a lunch box, a coleslaw and a kit kat krusher to which i was told "we don't have wings, we don't have kit kat krushers and we don't have the chicken for the crunch burgers", i then replaced the kit kat krusher with a mojito and was told that they would give me a snack burger instead of the crunch burger and would still have to pay the exact amount ( even though the snack burger is cheaper than the crunch burger ). Whilst making my order 3 different females came to the little cubicle to assist the "cashier" , she was told "who told you we don't have wings, let me check if the new batch came out " Second lady then entered and said " who told you we don't have crunch burgers, we do! Who told you this and the cashier rep**** "Megan" , the first lady then entered again saying " we do have wings and we do have crunch burgers i don't know why Megan isn't letting you know ". Of course i was taken aback by this because the communication between staff was extremely poor. I then gave the lady my bank card to swipe for my bill R181.60 and then she mentioned that the machine was having issues. She waited for my card to be released from the machine and waited about 5 minutes, she then called Danelle and she then came in and shouted at the cashier " why are you using this machine, i told you its faulty and the battery is low (as the machine died or **** down)" , we tried the other machine and that too was not working. I then got a bank sms advising that the R181.60 was deducted from my bank account, i showed Danelle but she told me "no, we normally have issues like this but it gets reversed immediately" , i checked my bank balance on my cellphone and could confirm that the money has been deducted, the more i tried explaining this to her the more she tried to convince me that the money wasn't deducted. She gave me a small slip and the error message stated "response code 23, unable to go online, offline declined" The time then being 21:02 She then told me to come in to KFC and try the machines in front. We then reached the window where the food needs to be collected , the lady at that window had no idea as to what happened at the first window and wanted to give us the food, Danelle came shouting "don't give their food, they didn't pay" , when in actual fact we were only going to take my bf's sister's food as she had paid. I then went in to the store where Danelle was waiting with the machine, i swiped again and then got an error "response code 076, card declined" time was then 21:07, the payment then declined as there was not enough funds in my account due to the first transaction actually already being deducted. Danelle then loudly said "your card is declined so you dont have enough money" , i looked at her totally embarrassed as there were other people in KFC as well. I showed her the sms on my phone again and she said this doesn't mean anything. I asked what the process was now and she said "you need to get a bank statement proving that the money was deducted and come back" , i left immediately and drove to Vangate Mall standard bank, because of the time i could only print a mini statement and checked my balance and both confirmed that the R181.60 was deducted. As furious as i was drove back to KFC , showed Danelle the slip and she said " now i need to call head office , its going to take a while so you will have to wait ", i asked if i could pay cash for my meal and she said "no because i already sold it to someone else" and walked away. She was gone for about 10 minutes and came back to me saying "this statement doesn't prove that this is your bank account so you will have to come back" at that point i was highly frustrated how could this statement not be mine when the time and date is there as well as the exact amount which has been deducted. She told me "your money will be reversed as this always happens but you need to wait 12 hours i promise you" ( in Afrikaans might i add ). I showed her the slip, the statement and my sms but she turned her back and walked away. I was so embarrassed that i left and was willing to wait the 12 hours.

The Monday morning i posted on KFC's page on Facebook and only received a call from Chantelle at 16:30 PM. Chantelle advised me that she is the store Manager and that she apologizes for the incident which took place. She told me that they cannot find my slip on their end , i then told her that i am in Claremont and will come to KFC at 17:00 PM. I arrived there fuming and stated all my facts, had a standard bank statement as I went in to the bank earlier that day and still the money was missing. She then made copies of all the receipts and statements and told me that the time frame for reversals is not 12 hours as Danelle had promised but 24 hours. I expressed my anger to which she offered me a 5 piece meal, i refused saying that i drove out my petroleum, went to an ATM after 9PM on a Sunday night and had to drive until there again, she then told me the most she can do is give me a 6 piece family meal. I asked that i rather collect it the next day at Vangate to which she agreed. I asked her where Danelle is and she said she doesn't want Danelle to come to the front desk as she doesn't want things to get out of hand, i asked her to call Danelle instead of her apologizing on her behalf. She then called Danelle who couldn't even look me in my face or utter 3 words. Chantelle said she will escalate the matter and call me the Tuesday 10AM with an update. I left and was then called from the Customer Service department who apologized and said they will investigate the matter.

The Tuesday morning, no call from Chantelle i then called 11:30 AM, Chantelle answered and said she will call me back in 5 minutes. She called back and told me that she spoke with the finance department and that they cannot find any proof that the payment has gone through and that they need to investigate further, i asked her to escalate the matter further as its now 2 days later. Later the day i got a call from Bianca who advised she is the area Manager and apologized for the incident , she then told me that she is on the way to find out whats happening and then she will get back to me she also then quoted a different time frame for reversals "24-48 hours" ( the third different time frame given).

She then sent me an SMS saying " Afternoon spoke to finance and no reflection yet, what they also mentioned was on your statement it shows pending". I rep**** " Afternoon , pending? I have my statement infront of me and it doesn't say pending anywhere. I have gone in to the bank and called in today and they have confirmed that the money has been deducted. If you need a written letter from the bank i am more than happy to get that for you. Yet again, another delay" and she rep**** " I've asked them to notify me first thing in the Morning, will keep you up to date. Regards,".

So the above has been my issue since Sunday night, it is now Thursday morning and no call from head office, no call from Chantelle and no call from Bianca as promised. The R181.60 is still missing from my account and no reversal has been done. So now KFC, I ask of you - what is the actual process and how are you going to fix this??

⁠⁠⁠Firstly the communication amongst staff is extremely poor, nobody knows what's happening and there is a lack of respect for eachother. Knowing that the card machine was faulty , they still accepted payments via card. They wanted to give me a snack burger instead of the crunch burger which comes with the lunch box and pay the normal price The card machine shut down while my bank card was in it. Danelle refused to listen to me Danelle shouted at the collection window that i had not paid Danelle let me drive to a bank after 9PM on a Sunday night taking in to account that it is dangerous Danellle called the call center that time of the night, were they even open? She knew that she could do nothing for me yet allowed me to get a statement. Danelle told me that the statement doesn't prove that it is mine even though the time, date and amount corresponded. My bf's sister got a soda water instead of a sprite which they then replaced. This is a case of deformation of character as Danelle indirectly told me that i am lying and that the mini statement isn't mine. Danelle spoke to me in Afrikaans when i was speaking to her in English, was she not to respond to me in the language i was speaking to her or does she need more training. I was PROMISED by Danelle that the money will be refunded within 12 hours - didnt happen. How can you promise something without investigating? I was told by the store Manager Chantelle that the money will be reversed in 24 hours - didn't happen either. I was told by Bianca, the area Manager that the timeframe is 24 - 48 hours after the complaint is lodged and it is now Thursday. I was told by Chantelle that the call center closes at 5PM yet Danelle "called" them Sunday night after 9PM. My family went to bed hungry Sunday night as i received no food. My money has been taken from my account and still no refund. If the timeframe for reversals are 24-48, the time has now exceeded and could be a matter of theft as nobody can explain where the money is Standard Bank has confirmed that no reversals has taken place. Bianca sent me a link to read as to why cards decline and in that link it states 72 hours - what is the actual timeframe??

⁠⁠⁠I have given KFC more than enough time to listen to me and to investigate the matter, i have not received my money nor the food that night and nobody can explain why. I have provided all proof to KFC as per their request yet each time i should settle for " the finance department cannot find the receipt so i will follow up tomorrow " , how long is this going to continue? On my post on Facebook several people commented saying that i will not be refunded and i HOPE that this is not the case.

I have given KFC the opportunity to right their mistakes however nobody was able to assist me. I have literally just checked my balance and no reversal. I will be going to the ombudsman and suing KFC for theft and deformation of character by tomorrow!!