Probably safer putting your money underneath your bed

<p>A couple of months ago I subscribed to a service on a month to month basis. I cancelled this subscription at the beginning of August and received confirmation from the merchant that no more debits would come off my account. On the 28th of August I got an sms notification saying that my credit card had been debited with the subscription fee. I immediately phoned the bank to get this debit reversed. I was transferred to the authorisation department where I dealt with one of the most unhelpful people I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. When I tried to explain what had happened she kept interrupting me to tell me that Standard Bank to not reverse debits off accounts. She then said that it was my fault for giving the merchant my banking details. I finally got put through to a manager on duty who listened to me and asked me to send proof of the cancellation of the subscription. I did this and immediately got an sms notification that the transaction had been reversed.</p> <p>Great...right?...well not so great. I logged onto my internet banking about a week later and saw that not only was the original amount still being debited from my account, but an additional R35 charge was charged to my account!!</p> <p>I phoned Standard Bank straight away... I mean surely this was a mistake, as I had received an sms notification saying that the debit was reversed.</p> <p>Again, I dealt with a very unhelpful person who, again, was so busy telling me that Standard Bank do not reverse amounts deducted from accounts to hear me tell her that I had received an sms telling me that the transaction was reversed. Eventually she said that the merchant had banked the money, so the reversal was reversed and if I wanted to get that money I would have to log a dispute form which would take 24 working days to resolve.</p> <p>My point is, why should I have to wait 24 days to get my money back, when I had contacted the bank immediately after the transaction had gone through and had already sent proof of cancellation of the subscription. I also can't understand that if Standard Bank are supposed to protect my money why I can't tell them to stop a payment from coming off my account. </p> <p>I also asked them to block this merchant from debiting money from my account again, they said they couldn't do that and the only way to stop the merchant from deducting money from my card every month is to cancel the card. </p> <p>Needless to say, I am not only going to cancel my card I am going to close my account with the worst bank in South Africa.</p>