THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE TAKING BUDGET INSURANCE

I had the most disgusting service from budget insurance this past week. I had called in to get my windscreen repaired after it was cracked from a random stone which came off the back of a truck on the highway. I instantly remembered that my insurance covered windscreen repairs and didn’t think it would be such an issue. I called budget insurance the very next morning to log a claim for my windscreen and I was told I’d be sent a link to do a self assessment so they could send it through to their provider. After a couple of hours with no link coming through I decided to give them another call to tell them I hadn’t received a link and a second consultant assured me I would receive one after an hour I waited an hour and still no link. I decided to call through the third time towards the evening and I was told they would send authorisation to the provider manually since I have not been receiving the link they were trying to send to me. Day 3 and still no link and no contact from the provider, at this point the crack was getting worse, (bare in mind they state that if it’s a small crack they will repair it at their expense however, if it’s a large crack I’d have to pay an excess of R1000.00. ) knowing the urgency of the matter I had heard no feedback from them at this point. I give them another call and this time I request to speak to a manager, that rude consultant with no customer service skills whatsoever tries to put me though and after waiting for close to 15minutes comes back to me and tells me the manager is not available and that I should call back! At this point I am furious and request she give me a call back as I had already spent a fortune on call fees. This woman refuses to call me back stating she is not allowed to call members BACK!!!!! I refuse to cut the call and demand she transfer me to a different manager and wait another 10/20minutes until I get to a “manager” called Helena. This “manager” proceeds to tell me that my claim was put through to the provider the previous day in a very condescending tone, bare in mind I had already spoke to two consultants that day that told me they were putting the claim through directly to the provider as it seems like they have not received my claim. I then tell her what her colleagues confirmed to me and she states that she is not responsible for the incorrect information I have received from THEIR consultants. She also tells ME to call the provider and ask them what’s going on with the claim! I refuse to call the provider and tell her that I’m paying budget insurance premiums every single month without fail and that i have no dealings with the provider but rather have a contractual agreement with them so it is not my job to be calling THEIR provider. At this point I’m guessing something clicks and she tells me to hold on the line while she calls them. I hold for another 10 minutes before I’m connected to the provider. When I finally speak to them they tell me that they will order my windscreen and that i have to pay R1000 rand for it. NOBODY bothered to check if it can be repaired first, NOBODY contacted me back after my initial call and NOBODY bothered to even ask for a picture of the damage before imposing excess fees. I am truly horrified by the experience and my windscreen has gotten way worse than it was when I initially started the process. Budget insurance is a **** if you ask me and if they can’t put out for a simple thing like a windscreen repair what the heck are they going to do when my car is written off? Or worse ******? I feel that I have wasted so much money in premiums for absolutely NOTHING! I don’t even care for a response from them now as i have written a couple of complaints to them with no response or even an apology. This review is just to make people aware of what they are dealing with before signing on the dotted line. Please be very careful of budget insurance the ads are really just for show and I feel, are a way to rob hard working people of their money.