********* Business Practice and very poor customer service

I have a Mobile contract with Telkom - Account Number: ***. At the end of September 2021 I ran into financial trouble. Telkom attempted to deduct my August payment, invoice no: A***, on the 30th September 2021. This request was denied by ABSA due to insufficient funds. Telkom then charged me for September on 1st October 2021, invoice number A***. The total balance at 1st October 2021 was R4290.58. This amount was due on the 1st November 2021. Telkom then proceeded to submit a debit order against my ABSA Bank Savings Account on four (4) different occasions for an amount of R3003.41. The dates of these attempts were 16 October 2021, 20 October 2021, 26 October 2021 and 30 October 2021. These requests were all denied by the bank due to insufficient funds. On the 1st November 2021 October's invoice (Invoice No: A***) was added for an amount of R2347.99. This brought my total due to Telkom to R6638.57. The due date for this amount was the 30th November 2021. A debit order for R2500.00 was submitted to ABSA on the 26th November 2021 by Telkom Collections Department. This payment was successful. The balance due on the 30th November 2021 after this payment was R4138.57. My service was suspended on 28 November 2021 and I contacted Telkom telephonically and was advised to pay an amount of R1800.00 in addition to the R2500.00 debit order deducted on the 26th October 2021. This would bring the account up to date excluding the new invoice charged on the 1st November 2021. The operator also advised me that it would or could take up to 48 hours for the payment to reflect on the account. At the time of the call the R2500.00 debit order payment was not reflecting on the Telkom computer system yet. I paid the R1800.00 at Pep Stores, Key West Shopping Centre, Krugersdorp on 28 November 2021 in two payments, one for R1700.00 on my Absa Savings Account Debit Card and the other R100.00 in cash. I scanned and sent my proof of payment on the 29th November 2021 to *** for my service to be reconnected. On the 1st December 2021 November's invoice (No: A***) for an amount of R1305.00 (two contracts were cancelled thus the difference in the instalment) was added to my account meaning that I now owed Telkom R3643.57 due on 31st December 2021. On the 1st December 2021 my normal debit order to Telkom was successfully collected which meant that only the November invoice of R1305.00, due on the 31st December 2021, was owed. The payments were posted on the Telkom Computer System as follows: R2500 (debit order collected on 26 November 2021) posted on the 3rd December 2021. R1800.00 (manual payment at Pep Stores, Key West, Krugersdorp) posted on the 28th November 2021. R2338.57 (normal debit order payment) posted on the 9th December 2021. Telkom's Collections Department then proceeded to submit a debit order request for the amount of R3643.57 to ABSA on the 10th December 2021 which was returned due to insufficient funds. Please note that I did not owe this amount to Telkom at that stage anymore as I have made several payments on the account which were all posted to my account by the 9th December 2021. On the 22nd December 2021, three days before Christmas, Telkom submitted another debit order request for the amount of R3643.57 to ABSA which was paid successfully. Only Telkom will know why they requested THIS amount as I did not owe them this money anymore. The only amount that was outstanding was the R1305.00 due at the end of December 2021. This amount was supposed to be deducted from my bank account on the 31st December 2021. When I phoned between Christmas and New Year and spoke to a consultant regarding Telkom refunding me the lady told me that they have taken the payment of R1305.00 (payment due on 31st December 2021) off the R3643.57 and would only be able to refund me an amount of R2338.57. I agreed to this and asked if she could please escalate the matter as I needed the money urgently for food. Regretfully I did not make a note of the reference number. I phoned again on the 7th January 2022 and was informed that there were no open cases on my account. The consultant loaded the case on their system again with reference number ***4. I received an email on the 15th January from Hlengiwe Mtambo requesting proof of payment which I sent on the 17th. I phoned again on the 21st and was informed that Hlengiwe closed the case on the 17th January but no refund was requested. A new case was opened (Ref: ***0) they have deducted the payment that is only due at the end of January from the refund amount again and this is totally unacceptable to me. My account is in credit with R1290.67. Telkom has made my Christmas a very sad one as I did not have any money. I phoned again yesterday and was put through to various people one of them works in the Telkom IT Department. I am still waiting for a response from Telkom and I am still waiting for MY money. This is not only ********* but also dishonest on Telkom's behalf and their customer service leaves little to desire. I am a very unhappy customer.