Standard Bank ******* action

What I believe Standard Bank has done with my earnings cannot possibly be legal.

On 4-08-2021, My invoice was paid for the 1st job for 8 months for the amount of 12825.00. The customer had incorrectly paid this into the above account.

I immediately contacted the call center and was told not to concern myself, as the account was closed in September 2020, and the funds will be rejected.

However, this was not the case. I called again and was told by the call center that there is nothing that could be done my side and I would have to ask my customer to re-call this amount. This was done on 11-08-2021.

By Monday the 16th the funds were still not re-paid. I called to complain at the branch only to be told this amount was written off to bad debt.

The history was that the company went out of business due to COVID. The only transactions were bank charges and interest only. The final figure was around R3,900.00. I was contacted by a legal type person, and a proposal was made that I would get a large discount if paid in total. I advised the person that this will happen as soon as I either receive a load from UK or when this money gets paid.

I went in to see a Mrs Zulu at the hillcrest Standard Bank. She was really helpful but I was told it would take 24 hour to trace and be refunded. I insisted I get my funds repaid but demanded the 50% discount to pay the outstanding amount.

Yesterday, I received a call from Ms Zulu insisting that she was requested to get a letter from me from the person offering the discount. I told her that this is the job of the banks to resolve and further advised that this cannot be legal as the amount withheld way exceeds what was owed. All telephone calls would have been recorded and insisted I get a copy of the recording. I also sent an email to Drizal Crouch. The email was read on the 16, but I have received no response.

To date, I have not received one cent from Standard Bank in return.

I cannot believe that this action is legal. How can banks behave in such a ******** manner?