WHERE HAS THE MONEY GONE?

Dear Standard Bank,

Today is 8 days since your services went offline (AGAIN). On the day in question (Sunday 8 May 2022), I tried to swipe at a merchant who informed me that the transaction had not gone through. I then swiped with another more reliable bank’s card and left the store. Later in the day I returned to find my Std Bank account had been debited despite the merchant saying the transaction never went through.

I returned to the merchant the following day and was presented with their credit card transaction history (daily banking) for the previous day. The transaction for the reliable bank reflected but not the one for my Std Bank card. So, if the money didn’t go to the merchant, who did it go to?

Since then, I have had noting but 2nd grade service from my bank and even being told “don’t worry, the transaction will reverse itself”. This of course hasn’t happened and the agents are all now very quiet.

Please be advised that if my transaction isn’t reversed immediately, I will take further action. More importantly, can I be the only one who has money debited from their account and it not going to the merchant it says it is? Is this theft or *****?