Discovery ***** and stupidity

At the beginning of January I visited the Optometrist and got new prescription lenses & frames. At the time I elected to pay for the frames out of my own pocket and asked discovery to pay only for the lenses. I called their call centre to discuss this prior to submitting the claim and was advised that this would not be a problem. My covering email clearly explained what was to happen. During the call I was told that this would be "noted on the system" and that my instruction would be followed (Ref: ********** 824). Despite this the entire amount lenses & frames was paid out of my medical savings account despite the fact that the frames had already been paid for.

In a follow up call Discovery failed in any way to accept responsibility, claiming that the consultant I’d spoken to had been mistaken but somehow this was my fault! In this second call I was asked to re-submit a split invoice to a “claims adjustments” email, this I did and clearly explained in the email the error and what needed to happen to rectify Discovery’s mistake.

Despite all of this discovery paid out the amount again from my! Discovery have deducted twice off of my MSA now for the same claim, meaning my MSA has now been depleted by nearly R6000 for a visit to the optometrist that only cost R4000 in total. That is straight up *****!

Does nobody at Discovery bother to read any emails at all? I’m beyond words to describe the levels of stupidity I’ve encountered during this episode with Discovery.