Ster Kinekor's atrocious communication

Terrible service after trying to book on the new beta online site (https://www.sterkinekor.com/beta/).

On Saturday, 5 May 2018 I wanted to go and book 2 movies on the Ster-Kinekor website. I tried to navigate there and was redirected to the above "beta" site. So I decided I would try it out.

I navigated to the first movie that I wanted to book, Solo: A Star Wars Story. I made the booking for two 3D tickets, using two vitality cards. Everything went smoothly and the tickets were added to the "cart". I then navigated to the second movie that I wanted to book, Deadpool 2. I followed the same steps above and booked two 2D tickets, using two vitality cards, and again everything went smoothly and the tickets seemed to be added to the "cart".

I then preceded to "checkout" to pay for my tickets and confirm the bookings, it came to a total of R175.00 .

I went through the online payment platform using my credit card, everything went well and the money was debited from my account.

When the screen was redirected from the payment screen, the following message (copied verbatim) was displayed: "Payment was successfull, We Failed to complete the order. " My confirmation email never came through. I never got the tickets.

I then drove down to the local Ster Kinekor, the one I was trying to book at, hoping they can help. They told me that it was something that only their ticket line can sort out. They asked me to phone from their back room, which I then did only to be told that I must phone them back the next day after 24 hours had passed. So I took down the number ( ********** ).

I phoned them the next day and was told that I need to email ********** and ask for a refund, include the credit card number as well as the expiry date for the credit card that made the purchase, as well as include proof that the money has gone off of my account. I did all of the above and included a screenshot of my transaction history to show where the money was debited from my account.

The email above received a generated email response on Sunday, 6th of May 2018 at 15h56. The email contained the case number included below, assurances that I will be contacted soon, and indications that I must reply to the email should there be any additional questions/information.

Three days went by with no further communication and so I rep**** to the email on Wednesday, 9th of May 2018 at 09h25, asking if there was any new information regarding my refund.

I received no response.

On Saturday, 12th of May 2018 at around 13h00, I phoned the ticket line again to follow up and find out what was going on. I spoke to a lady named Jacqui and she told me that the case was not moving forward since the information I provided as proof that the money had been debited to my bank account was not good enough and I need to provide my bank statement as proof that the payment was not automatically reversed and that if I submit the correct documents that day, the case should be processed by Monday 14 May 2018. I had gotten no indication from Ster Kinekor that the information I had provided was incorrect prior to this. They should have rep**** to my case and asked me to provide the correct information.

So I again rep**** on the case email and this time included my FNB statement and underlined where the money went off of my account. This too received no response.

So today, Monday, 14 May 2018 at around 16h45. I phoned in to the ticket line to again follow up and find out what is happening. This time I spoke to a man named Meshan who informed me that my case is now with the Finance department and my refund will be processed in 7-14 working days. 7-14 working days.

Why was I not informed at any point in the past week and a half that it would take this long for them to process a refund?

I wanted the money back so that I could re-book the tickets but now I have to re-book the tickets without having received a refund, ie spend the same amount of money, and hope that they actually do refund me at the end of the day.

Where is your customer service Ster Kinekor?