1 reviews | Active since Mar 2020
Absa do the right thing
I bought my house over 15 years ago as the perfect place to raise my family. Over the past few years there have been endless problems, from bad workmanship when certain repairs were undertaken by the ABSA Insurance (ABSA) preferred contractors, to the after effects of said workmanship. Last year after finally getting the ABSA assessor over, we showed him all the areas of concern and he said that they would be in touch, which promise was not kept, something I had become accustomed to from my dealings with ABSA Insurance. The house therefore remained in a state of disrepair with the result that only one bathroom was working, which had to be shared between 5 kids and 2 adults. In September 2019 I noticed huge cracks in the walls, in respect of which I took videos and sent them to the already long list of emails I had sent to ABSA to show the urgency of my situation with no response, and again which were ignored. In December 2019 the cracks became so bad that they had pushed the burglar bars out of the wall at the front entrance. Again I took a video and sent it to Absa explaining and pleading for help with no response. In February 2020, while at work my house was burgled up to 6 times, and it appears the burglars were able to access my property through a window where the burglar bars had fallen off due to the cracks in the house structure. I then sent another email on the same chain as my previous emails to ABSA Insurance, this time pleading for them to help as I feared for my life and did not have the budget to fix what had been broken, yet still received no response. It was then I decided to cc the CEO of ABSA and the next day I finally received a response. Subsequently, Absa sent an assessor/ engineer who admitted that all the work done by their preferred contractors was substandard and that the cracks were so bad that the house should be condemned. He reported back to Absa and they said that they would separate the issues into different claims. They proceeded to offer a settlement to fix the work not adequately completed by their preferred contractors, and agreed to fix all the damages to the structure which was caused by the huge cracks in the wall pushing the burglar bars out. The Absa representative I spoke to said I should report the cracks as a separate claim and I did. Absa then sent another engineer to see the cracks and told me he could see the foundation had moved causing the cracks, walls-and ceiling to shift. The cause of the shifting foundation turned out to be a water leak beneath the foundation which should have been picked up by ABSA’s assessors/engineers, but was not. After Absa had changed locks and put the bars back over the cracked walls I had to pay for an electric fence, alarm and garage gate because Absa continued delaying the finalisation of my claims, leaving me vulnerable to further break ins. After finally seeing the assessor for the security and still waiting for a response, I received communication from Absa telling me that because the cracks and shift in foundation that caused the bars to fall out happened over a long period of time, Absa would be not be indemnifying me for the losses. I am now so disappointed and confused, and to make matters worse Absa’s legal are threatening to sell my home for whatever they can get for it (which won’t be a lot due to all the huge damages) and I will still be liable to pay back the remaining shortfall on my bond with ABSA. Because of the very bad service and unfair treatment I have experienced at the hands of ABSA, feel like I have no choice but air my grievances on this public forum. I have paid over R800k into a home that I had bonded for just over R800k and yet I now owe 1,3 million on the same property. I am desperate as I have no other choice but to stay in a condemned property until forced out on the street by ABSA. Surely by paying for the burglary damages ABSA acknowledges their accountability for failing to act sooner to prevent the foundation from shifting which resulted in the huge cracks in the walls?
