Wendy,
This is beyond ridiculous.
We spoke with our private banker this morning and she too is flabbergasted at this situation and the demands made by yourself and afrihost - this from a client.
I am going to cc her in this email.
It is beyond me that you cannot understand this.fen
We erroneously made a payment to you.
Our monthly fee is around R900.
We paid R9000.
An obvious error. (You do not need an accounting degree to see the error)
The surplus is in YOUR account. (Proof was sent almost a week ago)
ABSA cannot reverse a payment that is already in your account
ABSA is not your client - I am.
I am the recipient of the refund NOT them.
I have requested the refund.
I have sent all necessary documents as told by numerous call centre agents at Afrihost
No provision for this kind of behaviour is dealt with in our service agreement with you.
Keeping money that does not belong to you and negatively affecting your client and a small business is despicable.
You take forever to respond to emails, neither you nor anyone in your "team" returns calls (Worst client service I have ever experienced)
You have not been helpful IN ANY way, and no one seems to know who your superior is for me to escalate the matter.
I have given all the documents proving the monies are in your account.
You - yourself can confirm that this has been received by Afrihost.
Just pay back the difference as requested.
Stop stalling us and keeping our money for no reason.
I have it good in my mind to cancel my afrihost "service" and hand this matter over to my attorney, the cost of which will be for Afrihost's account because this is frivolous and unreasonable at best.
I want this matter resolved today.
Claimed loss: R8100
Desired outcome: Process the refund and do the right thing
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You have done everything right and they are stalling. Here is the surgical fix.
Call Afrihost and ask for the Accounts Department manager directly. Do not explain the whole story again. Just say you need the manager's email address to send a formal demand letter. Then send a concise email with your proof of payment and the surplus amount, and give them 48 hours to refund.
If they ignore that, lodge a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman of South Africa. They handle payment disputes where a company refuses to return funds. Also, contact your private banker again and ask if ABSA can place a hold on future Afrihost debits from your account, so they cannot take more money while this drags on.
You are not being unreasonable. They are holding your money without justification.