***** and *******

At the end of July BEFORE my debit order was due to go off, I realized I would not be able to afford the payment. I phoned Budget Insurance and asked the call centre consultant that assisted me what would happen if my debit order bounced. She explained that I would not be covered for that month (fair enough) not much of an explanation though. So I tried pulling teeth as she wasn't volunteering much. I asked what charges would be made should my debit order bounce. She told me I would be charged R59.50. I thought okay not too bad. I can't remember word for word, but basically I confirmed again that this was the ONLY charge that would be made if the debit order bounced. She assured me that yes it was.

So my debit order bounced. Next thing I get an email or sms to say my debit order has bounced and they will try deduct again on the 22nd. The call centre consultant didn't mention anything about a second deduction and my bank charges R100 per bounced debit order. So I wasn't all that impressed but okay. The second attempt bounces but they manage to get the R59.50.

7 September arrives and not only do they take the monthly fee, but off goes an additional R260!!!! Nothing was said to me about R260 when I spoke to the consultant. So I phoned the complaints department and they were an absolute joke. He says to me but they sent me an email AFTER the debit order bounced stating that I wasn't covered and that there would be an extra R260 deducted. Fair enough I didn't read the attachment because I knew my debit order had bounced and that I wasn't covered so I didn't know about the R260. BUT my complaint still remained that I had phoned BEFORE the debit order bounced the first time and asked the consultant more than once if the R59.50 was the ONLY charge, nothing was mentioned then about the R260 which is obviously as a result of the bounced debit order. Telling me about it afterwards totally defeats the purpose of my phone call to enquire BEFORE THE DEBIT ORDER BOUNCED! But the complaints consultant wasn't interested he just kept insisting they had informed me and wasn't interested in sorting anything out.

So what according to the Budget Insurance consultant consulted BEFORE the debit order bounced should have been a deduction of my premium plus R59.50 and the R100 my bank charges for bounced debit orders, so an additional R159.50 on top of my monthly premium. Lands up being R200 charged by my bank for bounced debit orders, R59.50 as indicated, my monthly premium AND R260 which equals R360 MORE than I was informed of when I phoned to enquire.

This is absolutely disgusting, what was the point of me phoning to find out what would be charged when I get half the information. I might as well just let Budget Insurance deduct whatever they feel like whenever they feel like.