Lack of communication leads to unnecessary claim

My wife damaged the front bumper of her car a few months ago. I took it to a panelbeater (Carello Auto in Kyalami) and they said it needs to be replaced (as opposed to repaired). So we contacted AON and they sent an assessor who also said it needed to be replaced because the damage was too extensive. Based on what the AON assessor said we calimed. My wife emailed the AON contact Leani asking for whether the claim was approved. She initially did not did not respond to our emails. After almost 3 weeks she says that we did not inform her that we wanted to claim. Once we got this sorted we sent the car in for a replacement bumper. When I went to pick up my car last week, the repair wasn't very good and I questioned why as this should be a new bumper. I was only then informed that the assessor had changed from replacement to repair. My complaint is that this should have been communicated to us upfront as this is our asset. And had I known this, I could have gotten the repair done without the need for an insurance claim. My questions to Leani and her superiors as to why we were not informed that the assessor changed the claim was met with no assistance or explanation at all.