poor customer care

i had such a terrible and unacceptable experience with standard bank customer care today. although i do understand that with covid, waiting times are extended but what happened was not purely as a result of that. i started by sending emails which no one responded to the first time, after the automated response. then from my second email, i got a response saying i should speak to transactional banking and was given a number. i have spent more than an hour trying to speak to someone who can assist me. all this whilst on an international call as i am outside the country and unable to roam where i am. i got through to a consultant who seemed like he would help but after about 20 minutes, the call cut. i called again, after which i was transferred to about 4 different people until the line cut again. i called for a third time, this time i was transferred once to the authorization department which seemed to be the right department. after going through the security questions, she said she was looking into my account to confirm the transaction i was querying.( i made a transaction using my virtual card, which was declined by the merchant and the money was to be transferred back to my account, but after more than 10 working days passing, the money was still not reflecting)...this consultant put me on hold for aver 10 minutes and after about 12 minutes, i get a automated voice asking me to rate the call after which the line cut! why, especially with covid can some of these issues be resolved online? i specifically asked one consultant after he did the security check if there was someone i could email because i was outside of the country, he just brushed off my question and proceeded to ask if he can call me back!