Terrible Claims Service

<p>I logged a motor claim on Monday 03 July 2017 for an accident that occurred at 17.30 on Friday 30 June 2017. I am the policyholder and my brother is the regular driver of the vehicle - as noted on the policy schedule. The incident itself was quite straight forward and involved another car hitting the side of my brother's car as he changed lanes. At first the service was commendable, details regarding the incident were taken from from my brother and I and I received a call from a claims handler named Kamlin Naidoo (spelling may be incorrect) He assured me that he would be keeping me updated throughout the entire claim process and also that the assessment would be completed in the next 2 to 3 days and he would be able to update by 06 or 07 July re the outcome. In the initial call to me, he did seem a bit confused regarding who the regular driver of the vehicle is - I clarified that immediately by pointing out the policy schedule clearly states that my brother is the regular driver. I am in fact paying a higher premium than usual purely because he is 23 and the regular driver. </p> <p>I had not heard anything from Budget insurance by the 06/07 July and so I called and was told by a helpful call centre rep that the assessment was indeed done and the repairs amounted to 19700 and the excesses were around 9300 (includes extra excesses due to my brother's age etc). Relieved that the car ( a roughly 11 year old car) would not be written off, I assumed repairs would be authorised asap. </p> <p>Unfortunately this has not been the case. Instead an investigator was assigned to the claim. Having worked in the insurance industry for a fair amount of time now - I am fami**** with what is the usual claim process. I am also fami**** with the circumstances under which an investigator is appointed - in this case, it could have been due to my brothers age or the fact that the policy was just under 6 months old (if there is some other reason - Budget have failed to inform me). I have zero objections to any investigation being carried out. My issue is that this investigator only contacted me on Tuesday 11 July to apparently begin her report - 8 days after the claim was logged. In my experience investigators are appointed at the beginning of the claim process -- not 8 days after the claim is logged. Who is at fault here?? Did the claims team only appoint the investigator at a late stage or did the investigator fall behind - whatever the reason is, as a client - it is not my problem. Why am I having to follow up instead of you keeping me updated?? Why does your investigator move at a snail's pace on what should be a simple claim? Why does your investigator seem fixated on whether my brother is the regular driver of the vehicle - why, pray tell, would I opt to pay a higher premium to insure him as the regular driver if he was in fact not the regular driver?? </p> <p>The policy schedule - supposedly derived from your system - clearly shows he is the insured driver. So basically, the regular driver as the per the policy, had an accident. Is this a strange occurence at Budget??</p> <p>I am busy paying for car hire in the meantime which is costing a small fortune but why would Budget care about that - they are not footing the bill for it. I suspect things would be moving alot faster if they were ! (I definitely regret not taking out the car hire benefit - but surely I should not be penalised for the fact).</p> <p>The car has now been sitting at the panel beater (where Budget towed it to from the accident scene) for 2 weeks - the panel beater has even called my brother to apologise that repairs have not begun yet because Budget has not yet authorised it. </p> <p>This is a claim involving roughly a 10 00 0 pay out from Budget - the rest is covered by the excesses!!!! </p> <p>If this is how you treat a 10 000 claim - I shudder to think how you would handle a larger claim on a newer or more expensive vehicle. </p> <p>In the last 2 weeks since I have logged the claim, I have not heard a word from my supposed claims handler Kamlin - in fact I am posting this due to the fact that a call centre agent assured me that Kamlin would call me by midday today (within 3 hours of my phone call). I have not received any phone call or communication. </p> <p>Apparently claims handlers also don't have direct telephone lines so it is apparently impossible to give me a contact number for Kamlin so I am unable to contact anyone besides the call centre. I am currently even starting to doubt the existence of Kamlin - perhaps a figment of my imagination??</p> <p>This is incredibly frustrating and quite frankly pathetic service - I do not see any delays in debiting my bank account every month for a policy which I was assured covered the car comprehensively. </p> <p>I know many people who are currently insured with Budget and are horrified at my experience and are now questioning if they should remain so. If I had known this claim would take so long to be finalised, I would have had the vehicle repaired myself. Foolishly I believed the word of a claim handler who clearly does not understand his role in the claim process and sadly his superiors are also not bothered in the least about a simple claim taking this long to be finalised. </p> <p>Are there any SLA's at Budget at all? Or do you guys just work on claims when the mood strikes you? Are you ever going to repair my vehicle?? Right now, it seems like all you are interested in is wasting my time and money. </p>