Painful conversation to try and amend a booking

I called SAA to amend my booking with the correct name as it appears on my passport. The lady I spoke to wasn't particularly helpful with me having to prompt her every step of the way for a constructive response. She took a few minutes to check with her supervisor only to tell me that I couldn't travel if the details didn't match my passport. I resisted explaining that I know this which is why I was calling. She told me she couldn't amend the name - only times/locations of flights. So I asked if she could cancel the flight and rebook it for me. After some prompting, during which she had to check what the charge would be (R285) she did cancel my flight, but couldn't send me any confirmation of the cancellation and couldn't rebook the flight. She said if I haven't had a refund in 21 days I should call back. At one point in the conversation I asked if I should just cancel the flight and rebook with another airline - to which her response was \yes"! I explained that as an SAA rep"