ABSA Home Insurance | Disgusting Service Delivery | Complaint

ABSA Home Insurance,

Policy Number: ***

Claim No 1: *** – Logged 19/04/2022

Claim No 2: ***

NB: Please read all the claim notes as both cases are related so that you can see how long this issue has been going on.

I am writing this complaint to ABSA Home Insurance on behalf of Mr and Mrs Ford. My parents are of age and are both pensioners. My dad is sick, he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and Dementia Disease.(If you do not know what these are, please go and look them up.)

Mr and Mrs Ford have been loyal ABSA Home Insurance Clients for the past 22 years, the service we have received recently is beyond pathetic and unprofessional. The claim logged was to fix a geyser, something simple… yet it has been a tremendous battle for the last month between ABSA and the appointed plumbers(Mellita Trading). How would you like it if there was no hot water for a month during peak winter? Especially for someone who is ill with Parkinsons and Dementia disease?

Ref *** was logged on the 19/04/2022. Mellita Trading came out to replace the element and the thermostat in the geyser. Roughly 5 weeks later, the geyser stopped producing hot water. Numerous calls were made to Absa Home Insurance to try and get this matter resolved. We have been calling ABSA Home Insurance at least 3 times a week for updates, when it seems that nothing is going to happen or there is silence for a few days. It is not the Clients responsibility to call ABSA for updates every week on a logged claim. Please train your claims handler to be more communication efficient with regards to the updates/progress of a claim that has been logged.

When calling ABSA Home insurance, querying for an update, it was insisted that a 2nd claim *** be logged and further excess be paid. This is completely unnecessary as we could have used the first claim number. The geyser was fixed and it only even lasted a month. There is warranty/guarantee on these parts that cover these items. Mellita Trading then came out and told us that the element and thermostat is blowen as the geyser is being switched on and off daily. This is absolutely nonsense and a cover up for faulty parts. We currently live our lives in loadshedding, geysers go on and off all the time. Eskom and City Power, as well as the Ward Councillors instruct residents to switch off and on the geysers during load shedding. I am sure that you are aware of this.

ABSA Home Insurance then appointed 2 different plumbers to come out to check the geyser. Please check the names of these plumbers on the claim notes. Both of these plumbers confirmed that the parts are still under warranty and that Mellita Trading who was appointed in the beginning, needs to come out and fix the geyser. The warranty/guarantee issues between Mellita Trading and Plumblink(parts/spares) are not our concern. We are ABSA Clients, we pay ABSA a premium every month so therefore we expect service delivery. What upsets me the most is that someone from Plumblink called Mrs Ford last week Wednesday and shouted at her with foul language, that is extremely rude and uncalled for.

Today is the 28 June 2022, this is going into the 4th week of not having hot water during peak winter. Let me remind you again that Mr and Mrs Ford are pensioners. Mr Ford has Parkinson's Disease and Dementia Disease. Mrs Ford needs to take care of Mr Ford daily as his caregiver, and with no hot water it makes things extremely difficult.

Mellita trading was onsite today (28 June 2022) – geyser still not fixed and no hot water! Plumblink is refusing the warranty on the parts, this is not our problem and should be dealt with between ABSA, Mellita Trading and Plumblink. Letso from Absa claims says that there is nothing further that can be done and that we have to pay a further excess for the parts for the geyser to be fixed, why should we pay double excess for something that was only working for 5 weeks? This 2nd excess cost should be absorbed by ABSA.

I have instructed Letso from ABSA claims to give the go-ahead to Mellita Trading to pursue new parts for the geyser, we cannot go on like this without having hot water! Please note that due to the unprofessionalism and poor service delivery, you have lost loyal clients of Absa Home Insurance. I also won’t be recommending any future potential Clients. I would not want anyone to experience this type of service delivery.

Regards,

Grant Ford

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