British Airways flight booked, money deducted, booking not confirmed

I have a huge issue which I have been dealing with since yesterday and my issue is still not resolved. I booked a flight online, the money was deducted but the booking was not confirmed.

When I called yesterday around 4pm I was told that the money would be reversed in 30 minutes so that I can make another booking. That obviously didn’t happen and 2 hours later a lady called Nicole told me to call my bank to make a reversal and get back to her. The bank told me that doing that will probably take 30days. When I called Nicole again, no one knew of a Nicole who is a supervisor yet she told me to call back and ask for her.

I was literally given the run around, even told to go to the airport by a lady called Lerato who was “assisting” me together with Nicole as the people at ticket sales would be waiting for me. When I got there the ladies at ticket sales knew nothing about my case, they tried calling the head office and there was no answer.

The lady I spoke to today, Monde, gave me a customer relations email address and said they are usually quick with their responses. I sent the email and received an automatic response stating a 48hr response time. Which is already too late.

This has costed me a job opportunity as I was meant to attend an interview today, and yet they just see it as “just another black person trying to be difficult" Had it been a white person missing out on a flight to a holiday destination they would have ensured that they got onto a flight yesterday, and trust me I know this as my white friends tell me these stories. Well this is bigger than a holiday, they have costed me an opportunity to improve my life, have literally distracted my future.

I still need to be in JHB today to try and fix the mess that they have put me in.