Burst Geyser - The most horrific customer service!!!

Re: Burts Geyser – Horrific Service ABSA Idirect Client - Ombudsman

I have never experienced service like this n my life. I myself work in the insurance, customer service and emergency assist industry. We work with lots of insurance companies such as Hollard, PSG, MiWay, Constantia just to name a few. Customer service is absolutely critical in this industry. Especially in emergency situations. In our industry the following are (Plumbing) emergencies as there are costly consequences (Resultant damages): • Burst Geyser • Blocked Drain or toilet • Burts Pipe • Leaks • Blocked baths, sinks & taps Sadly, Abda Idirect has the WORST service standards I have seen in my life. They have an online Assist247 website (False advertising to begin with) that is useless. The service providers allocated to a certain area is completely off. For example, I searched for Delmas they gave me service providers from Joburg a good (50km+ away) when I found my own service providers in the area with out struggling. The procurement side of Absa Idirect it is a total mess. I am pretty sure there are no checks and balances in place to make sure these are qualified service providers. In this industry there should be • Vendor docs, • Check their BEE status, • Tax clearance • Owner Id’s • CIPC checks • References from clients (Not the SP’s choice) we do all sorts of checks to ensure we only give the best quality service as that is what INSURANCE IS ALL ABOUT!! But not Absa Idirect. So my poor elderly (66 years of age) mother in law Santie who lives in a complex in Delmas had the most unfortunate event of her geyser bursting on Monday 16 December. Granted it is a holiday this is an emergency situation as there could be resultant damage. My husband and myself living in the East Rand tried the whole morning from 8:30 – 11:30 to get hold of someone. That is how we found out that Absa Idirect’s so called Assist247 is only for roadside – that should be specified as per the Customer Protection Act! Being worried as the water has flooded her lounge ruined her TV unit, carpets are ruined and starting to rot by now, the ceiling has water damage. So my husband and I tried local service providers. Problem is they want cash as the insurer is not logging the case! This made me furious with ABSA in general as they do not look after their loyal clients at all!! Finally, by Tuesday morning around 9am on 17 December 2019 my Husband Dirk managed to get through to the assist who promised they will send someone out asap. We got a claim number ***. We both assumed it will now be sorted out as it was logged early morning and explained it is an emergency that anyone in insurance should know!! Sadly by 8pm while my husband and I went to church my mother in law phoned us in a complete panic. The guys only got there at like around 6pm or so and my poor elderly mother in law is alone in her flat now there are these strangers in her house that are taking long to finish their job. By 8pm my mother was feeling unsafe as they were not only staying in the kitchen area where the geyser was. Naturally in the country we live in she asked them to leave or she will call the police. She was so scared she called us in tears! Now you can imagine how furious and upset I am with this terrible service. My husband and I both work so we are unable to go through to Delmas at this stage that is what your insurance assist is for, which she has on her policy as well. Now we are on day 3 with no water her carpets are rotting the bottom of the tv unit is swelling up and my patience with this horrific institute is finished. Wednesday morning 8:45 am on 18 December I phone the number given to us ***) then the service gets worse. It took 10min to answer the phone. After explaining to the person who answered the phone what I need she said she will transfer me to the right department. After holding for 12 min got through to Tendy who works in Legal???? Nothing to do with this. She proceeds to put me through to the right department. After 7 min of holding I get through to Cecilia who is not capable to assist me. So I got angry and said I want to speak to a manager right now as this is getting ridiculous. After 12 min of holding I got through to Precious who said she is the call centre manager. She is the only person who has a little savvy. By now it is around 9:30. Precious advised she will send out an electrician immediately and I can use the reference Precious for the call. By 12:17 still no electrician has shown up after being dispatched at let say around 10:00 giving precious half an hour time to dispatch. Out of personal experience to dispatch takes maximum 15min. My mother in law phones me saying the electrician phoned her at 11:00 and said he will only get to her in 3 hours’ time no reason why or what is going on. He is dispatched from Joburg and a normal drive to get to Delmas takes max 1 hour. So now I phone Precious back to find out what is going on, after holding again for something like 20 min to get through to her first going through 2 wrong individuals called Belinda and Queen……. You can imagine my frustration at this point. Precious gives me the number of the plumber his name is Samwell and his number is ***. By 2pm I phone the driver asking him where he is. He gives me attitude and says he is on his way to my mother in law. I ask him nicely to please hurry up. By 4pm I aks my mother in law if she has been helped, and still no one has arrived, no has called her to keep her informed of what is happening. So once again I go through the holding process by now no patience at all I asked for a manager his name is apparently Walter Stevens (He never called me by the way) A man by the name of Keitumetse Motake with number *** from “escalations” called me back. He assured me that everything is under control he apologised for the bad service. Told me the owner of this electrician company was on his way to my mother in law. His name is Abraham Jules number ***. Keitu promised me he will keep me updated on what is going on. (This never happened, he actually ignored me, true caller showed him as available I have screenshots and he did not answer my calls, when whatsapping him he gave me attitude and then stopped answering me. I told him I am going to take this to the news papers as this is totally unacceptable and the public deserve to know that Absa Idirect is the worst possible insurance for emergency situations. Still no response.) I am also going to report this to the Ombudsman. So I tried calling the company who said he is on the way he should be at my mother’s house at around 5pm. (This guy was dispatched at 10 am this morning????) So at 5:30 I phone my mother in law who is in tears she has not been able to bath for 3 days now. We can’t go fetch her as we need her there when the service prover gets there. I tried calling ABSA but as per usual they do not care about their clients and they have no after hour assist at all. At around 7:30 – 8:00pm my mother in law phones and says the electrician has finally pitched up. After getting a full job description by myself and hopefully absa he had no cable to link the geyser…. My mother in law had to borrow cable from a friend who was busy with renovations. She now finally has a working geyser! My concern is I want a certificate of compliance for the geyser! I want someone QUALIFIED!!!!! To go inspect and make sure this geyser is compliant. I want a full damage report and compensation for my mother in law’s troubles and emotional stress!!! I want the damage report and quote for the resultant damage sent to me as well as ABSA and my mother will not pay a cent of excess or anything !!! After all of this nonsense!