Theft? Seems harsh but payment made and no goods received? Also, no resolve or communication. Shocking.

On Wednesday, 17 January 2024 I went to Woolworths in Gordon's Bay with my very last 'Janu-worry money' to get some goodies to feed us till payday. Paid for my items at 08H48 - Funds went off my account but apparently declined on 'their end'. The cashier continued to 'retry payment' on my card, costing me an 'insufficient funds fee' PER additional swipe. Since the funds were my last, and already deducted from my account, there was obviously no longer sufficient funds. We proceeded to show my account as well as the transaction email received from my bank, proving that payment had in fact gone off. Now, I do understand that these things happen and that funds are then usually reversed shortly after. We were asked to please bring a bank statement, should funds not have been reversed by lunchtime. We returned with the requested bank statement after 14h00 same day, only to be told that there is “nothing they can do” and that funds would be reversed within 24 - 48 hours. I proceeded to contact Woolworths through social media in hopes of a resolve as we were left with no money AND no food. I was told same day that someone would be in touch… Nobody got in touch. The following day (Thursday, 18 January 2024) was another full-day of excuses such as "we've escalated it to our team, who'll be in touch with feedback soon. We're sorry for the delay." – Needless to say, again, nobody got in touch. This morning (Friday, 19 January 2024), 48 hours later, I STILL have not received my funds OR my groceries. I did finally receive a call this morning from the Gordon's Bay store, requesting that I bring ANOTHER statement, showing that I have not yet received the funds - Which I am obviously happy to provide. I was however not STILL not given any resolve, I have simply been asked to provide more proof for "them" to send through to head office for further investigation... My husband and I left with (STILL) no money or our PURCHASED food items.

Now, my husband worked in retail, for a company who DOES in fact care about their customers AND their own reputation - He now works for their support team and let me tell you, when a client has an issue similar to this, the client is showered in vouchers, additional compensation, apologies and RESOLVE. Woolworths however could not even be bothered to give me a phone call in this regard, not until I called it "theft".

I run a SMALL online store and I have sent out an order to a client, even though her payment did not reflect on my payment gateway. Why? Because the client could prove that she did in fact make payment, so why would I withhold items from her, that she had paid for? I sent her goods, even though, as a small business, I could not afford to (Woolworths very well can afford to supply the goods I HAVE PAID for), as the issue was with MY payment gateway, NOT the customer? Yet here I am, with no food or money because a giant corporation could not care less about their customers.

This is all especially ironic since they are proudly going "cashless”, yet they cannot even resolve electronic payment issues?