Advance payment not accepted by woolworths

Since December is regarded as the holiday season in SA, many consumers are encouraged to pay bills in advance to prevent arrears. However, woolworths, one of the major retailers doesn't encourage advance payments and this came as news to me. Before going on holiday in December, I decided to pay R1000 towards my woolworths account on the 12 December - my normal installment is around R260 per month.<br> <br> However, I received continuous SMs's stating that my account was in arrears and eventually a call centre agent phoned me and I explained that I made this payment on the 12 Dec. She stated that advance payments don't reflect as account payment if not made on the due date. I then received a SMS to state that the credit bureaus have been notified of my non payment. Through all of this not a single soul in woolworths seems to comprehend that the payment made on the 12 Dec was for the month of December. <br> <br> As a committed woolworths consumer I spend thousands of rands a month at this retailer and with this \dark age"mentality of not being able to think outside of rules"