“No Insured Peril”

For years I've been a promoter of ABSA I Direct insurance. Unfortunately, that has changed drastically. In October 2021 we had a severe hail storm. During this storm we encountered some hail damage to my property (gutters, Lapa roof etc.). But being a good client, I did not raise a claim. Then on the 25th November ‘21 another epic down pour, I mean epic. One of those you take a video when it happens. This time water seeping into the roof. I called the insurance to log the claim. I held on for, “you know”, one of those calls, and eventually got through. The agent said she is aware of the storm and that they were inundated with rain damage claims in the area. They sent out a contractor to have a look at the damage. Then the waiting started. Constant follow ups to be eventually told that the claim is under review. Then another follow up. This time was told that they can see on the system that the claim was declined, but they will notify me formally. If I'm not happy I should contact their complaints department. Get this, the reason for decline is “No insured peril” Eventually I learned that means - lack of maintenance on a tile roof. I've been insured with them for many years, many rain storms came and gone. Now mmm, Lack of maintenance. I tried to escalate the matter just to get a response. They reviewed the matter and if I'm not happy I should raise the issue to outside sources. Whom will adjudicate the matter with burden of proving the contrary resting on me. I requested them to reconsider their decision taking into account the years of monthly installments and no claim history. But this seemingly did not even deserve a response. Well, everyone with tiled roofs, be warned, you need to climb on your roof every, well who knows, as no one can tell me. Otherwise, when you have damaged your insurance could notify you of “No Peril”. Joke is that the damage was minimal, but just imagine if it was not. Wonder how many people faced the same situation. In their case lots of damages, that thought they were insured. Just to learn the meaning of “No insured peril”.