Credit Card ***** by Mattress King Gateway Mall

I am an elderly lady with chronic illnesses and severe underlying medical conditions. I recently tried to buy a mattress and base set from Mattress King on a Black Friday sale on a 6 month lay buy for R4999. This ended up being my biggest mistake and what ended up causing me physical injuries, pain and suffering, humiliation and completely ruining my Christmas and holidays.

I tried to buy a mattress and base set from Mattress King on a Black Friday sale on a 6 month lay buy at the Gateway Mall. When I tried to pay the R1000 deposit with my credit card the salesman Bane told me their card machine was not working and that he needed to do the payment manually, so he had to phone his office and give them my card details.

I then received an sms from African Bank that stated I had R3000, R4000, and R1000 debited from my account from Mattress King. I do not have a car so I had to immediately take an Uber to the bank to see what was going on. At the bank they showed me the 3 unauthorised debits (-R3000, -R4000 and -R1000) on the bank statement. They asked me to go to the police station to open a case of ***** and provide them with the case number. I tried to contact the salesperson Bane but he refused to answer my calls and respond to my messages. A few days later Bane phoned me to inform me that his office withdrew R3000 from my credit card by mistake and he was so sorry, and they will put the money back into your account.

Two days later my son received an SMS informing him that the mattress and base set will be delivered that day. The same day the bed was delivered, and I discovered the base had a hole in it. I tried to call Bane’s mobile phone, his WhatsApp and the office number and they were all blocked. Since I couldn’t speak to him I SMSed him that the base has a hole in it and they need to replace it. Bane then messaged my son on WhatsApp and asked him to send him a picture of it. My son then sent him pic of the base with the hole in it on WhatsApp.

From there I had to get transport to the police station and opened a case of ***** against Mattress King and then had to take another lift back to African Bank and gave them the case number. Their ***** department then told me they will be handling the ***** case.

The next day I got a phone call from African Bank ***** department, and they asked you to go back to the police station and make an affidavit stating what happened. I immediately took another lift to the police station to make the affidavit and on the way fell on the stairway and injured my knee. I am 55 years old with numerous chronic illnesses and severe underlying conditions. Because of all of this I feel so sick that I think I got the covid because of all the running back and forth to the bank and police station. I then took another lift back to the bank and gave them the affidavit. The bank consultant asked me to break the card. They then blocked the card and issued me with a new card. From there I went to Checkers to use the new card to pay for groceries and I was completely humiliated when the new card did not work twice, and I had to leave the items I was going to buy and go back to the bank to find out why the new card was not working. When I got to the bank the consultant that issued me with the new card was not there, and another consultant informed me that the new card is still blocked until the ***** case is concluded which usually takes 30 days but longer now because of the festive season. After all the cost and inconvenience of numerous trips running up and down to the bank and police station and physical stress and injury that I have been through because of Mattress King now my Christmas and holidays are completely ruined because I have no access to my money for anything not even food. Mattress King stole my bank card details and used it numerous times. If I was not informed by my bank, the salesman Bane would have continued to use my card. I am devastated that such a big company could commit such ***** and think that they can get away with it.