ABSA Credit Life - Lack of support & poor service.

I did application for a credit card with ABSA Bank in Witbank (Klipfontein Branch) in June 2017. As part of this application I opted for the Credit Protection Plan, and was overjoyed when informed that my application had been approved. I went in to the ABSA Klipfontein Branch on 09 June 2017, where I was provided with quotation (ABSA Document No 5762) that contained all of the relevant information regarding the Credit card, as well as the Credit Protection Plan. Once I read through the document and was satisfied with the quotation, I signed the document along with a witness and an ABSA consultant making the quotation the formal agreement between ABSA and I as stated on the ABSA document itself. I was provided with a copy of all of the signed documentation and have received not other documents regarding my Credit card since.

To cut a long story short, it so happened that I was diagnosed with a very rare lung cancer in February 2018. (ASPS). There is no known cure for this type of cancer and ordinary cancer treatments have no effect at all. I was totally devastated as there were no symptoms to the cancer (It was picked up on an X Ray during a routine medical check in January 2018). and this news came totally unexpectedly.

I contacted the ABSA Life Claimes Department on 05.03.2018 at 10h35, and enquired how to go about logging a claim for my terminal illness. To my disgust, I was simply told that terminal illnesses were not covered by my Credit Protection Plan. After explaining to the consultant that the signed document right in front of me stated that the underwriter of the policy would pay off the outstanding amount if I die, or are permenantly disabled, or if diagnosed with a terminal illness. Thereafter, the consultant stated the documents that I had to fetch from the branch and other documentation that needed to be submitted along with the claim. I collected all of the required documents.

When we tried to submit the documents, we were told that I was not covered for diagnosis of terminal illness.

I sent an email to cardlife@absa on 15 March at 11h29 requesting documentation that I had signed, stating the acceptance of cover other than that of the provided quotation/agreement. Natasha Groedewald responded on 15 March 2018 at 13h43 via email, providing me with an unsigned copy of the accepted quotation (Which also reflected cover of diagnosis of terminal illnesses under the Credit Protection Plan), a copy of the online application (Which clearly indicates the request for credit protection) and a welcome letter that was supposedly issued to me. This included a document that was posted to me explaining my credit protection cover, which I did not receive through the post. I responded to Natasha on 15 march 2018 at 16h44, and wanted to know why diagnosis of terminal illnesses was even included in the quotation, if not covered for. I also pointed out the fact that the premium deducted from my credit card monthly fell under the same category of Optional Insurance under which the credit insurance premium was calculated. This cover clearly indicates the cover of a diagnosed terminal illness. Natasha responded to my email again on 16 March 2018 at 09h05, and told me that a relationship Manager would contact me. I returned a call to Zandile Nkosi on 16 March 2018 at 15h15. She told me that the consultant allocated to my case was Magret Masilela. She further stated that Magrte could not speak to me personally, as she was not at work and her PC had crashed. I did not get a telephone call or email from anyone as of 16 march 2018. As each consultatnt is given between 2 and 5 days to respond to a request (Absa delaying tacktics in my opinion), I submitted an email to creditlife@absa,co,za on 22 March 2018 at 23h39 stating that I had not received any correspondence from Magret Masilela as of yet. I stated that as each consultatnt has 2 to 5 days to respond to each complaint, that I would wait no longer than the 26 March for feedback as to how to submit this claim. My wife contacted ********** to enquire about progress at 13h30 on 26 march 2018. She was told that Margret was not in the office, and would be given a message to contact her back. My wife then contacted ********** again at 15h06 and requested to speak to Margret on progress of this case (Case No ********** ). She was told that Magrets phone was busy. My wife then contacted ********** at 17h02 to get feedback, but was informed that Magret had gone home.

ABSA. 1. How do I submit the required documents? 2. To Whom do I send them.? 3. What is the turn around time of these cases? 4, How will progress be tracked going forward? 5. If the signed agreement stating that I do have terminal illness is cover is not acknowleged, why should I then acknowledge anything else on the document? ie repayment.

I have other things to worry about, and really do not want to waste the little time I have left being bounced around between consultants, each with a 2 to 5 working day response period. Absloutly not feedback is given by your consultants, and one has to constantly contact then to try and find out what is going on. How the heck does Natasha Groendewald get so much done over two days, and other cannot even send an email within 2 weeks? She has done more on this case in two days than the rest of your team combined. Thank you Natasha Groendewald, your efforts are really appreciated.