***** Alert

I am currently faced with what looks like a *****ulent activity on my Telkom account. on October 27 I received a text message from Telkom informing me of a payment failure. I Found this odd as I had more than enough funds in my account and couldn't understand how the debit would have been rejected. It was on the 28th of October (Monday) that I called in to find out what happened and whether I would have to make a manual payment as I am being told that my account was debited but came the 27th the funds somewhat reversed. The lady I spoke to further went on to say i should consult with my bank as to avoid such an issue again (implying that this mishap was due to my bank). It was only on November 5 2024 when I received my Telkom invoice noticing the rejection fee of R202.70 that I contacted my bank regarding the payment rejection and everything the consultant from Telkom had said to me over the call I had with them on the 28th of October. My bank confirmed that no debit order was run from Telkom and that the last debit from them was on the 25th of September 2024, therefore what they told me makes no sense. After having spoken to my bank I contacted Telkom looking for clarity on how I am being charged a rejection fee when my account wasn't even debited to begin with. I spoke to a consultant by the name of Noluthando Gumbi who after asking me security related questions along with what I felt was a bit too much informed me that a request was made that my banking details be changed to a standard bank account and that the request was made by email on the 25th of September 2:39pm. When I asked for the email details she informed me the email isn’t attached. I was told a case has been open and that it would take about 72hrs to get feedback. I called again today (15 November 2024) only to be told the investigation will take 7-14 working days and that I will have to pay the rejection penalty fee. I am honestly annoyed about this as I am suffering for something I didn’t do and being penalized for someone else’s incompetence. I do not have the R202.70 that I’m being asked to pay especially for a problem that I had no involvement in and feels like a *****ulent activity that somewhat went wrong.