ADDING INSULT TO INJURY!

I have been a discovery member for over 25 years.

My daughter was part of an exchange student program in Berlin, Germany during June 2023. As part of the visa requirement I obtained the International travel benefit that covers an individual for up to R 5 million.

Soon after my daughters arrival she fell severely ill. She was rushed to the intensive care unit of the Berlin University hospital. She was diagnosed with acute septicemia with multiple organ failure. She was placed on a ventilator for 12 days.

I quickly booked a flight upon hearing of her condition. Upon my arrival I decided to get hold of MSOI international ( Discovery with same physical address ) This is where all my hell started. I had to make numerous phone calls to Gail Peggs to see what is covered. An amazing number of promises were made but none was delivered. Gail insisted that my daughter be evacuated with an air ambulance. ( The cost of this would have been close to a R 1 million ). Seeing that my daughter was in a state University hospital ( Government funded ) < Charite Universitat hospital > ranked 7th in the world I felt that her chances would be much better at this hospital.

Luckily my daughter recovered well enough that we could obtain a business class flight out of Berlin to South-Africa. The doctor in Berlin said that the very least Discovery can do was to pay for our business class tickets as an economy class seat would be detrimental to her health. ( She lost almost 15kg;s and weighed 45kg after the ordeal. ) I was never offered a medical assistant and had to deal with all of this by myself.

So Gail Peggs promised me that Discovery would at least cover the cost of the airline tickets seeing as they saved an enormous amount of money to not make use of the air ambulance. When I wanted to make the booking she said I must pay for the business class tickets and DISOVERY would reimburse me upon my arrival in South-Africa. By this time I was short of funds and had bargained a lot with Qatar Airways to get the price of the tickets down to R 66 092.43 saving Discovery almost R 950 000.

Upon my return almost 10 WEEKS ago I submitted my claims with all the necessary paperwork with proof of payment and bank details. Sadiqah Harris that was supposed to deal with my claim has never gotten back to me, I have sent her another 3 reminders that the payment is now LONG overdue, Maybe she left Discovery because of her own sheer incompetence?

I got hold of Herschelle Elders and he was helpful enough to inform me that payment was supposed to have taken place at latest yesterday. He also couldn't get hold of Sadiqah as she possibly ducked and dived.

Here is the last correspondence I received from Gail Peggs ( Note that they now didn't even want to refund me my seat although I was my daughter's medical chaparone )

Good Day Mr De Beer,

As discussed, the international claim form for the costs of the business class seat for Linca, and any other medical costs incurred by yourself while in Germany

Kind Regards Gail Peggs Case Manager Clinical & Benefit Management MSO International

I didn't even include all the medical costs I incurred in Germany ie. wheelchairs, nebulizers, pain medication, antibiotics, sleeping pills for myself or the expensive accommodation I had to pay.

I hang my head in shame on behalf of DISCOVERY