Extremely Poor and Inconsistent Service from Discovery Health

Extremely Poor and Inconsistent Service from Discovery Health

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Our firm of attorneys was instructed to assist a client with the administration of a deceased estate. As part of that mandate, we were required to obtain the deceased’s medical tax certificate from Discovery Health.

What should have been a straightforward administrative request has turned into an unnecessarily frustrating and time-consuming exercise.

We contacted Discovery Health and were advised by one of its agents that a Power of Attorney was required. The requested Power of Attorney was duly provided.

When we subsequently contacted Discovery Health to follow up on the request, after spending a considerable amount of time waiting on the telephone, a different agent took a different position and rejected the Power of Attorney that had already been submitted. No satisfactory or coherent reason was provided for the rejection.

What is particularly frustrating is that, despite apparently having concerns regarding our authority to act, no meaningful attempt appears to have been made to simply contact the client and verify that our firm is duly authorised to represent her in relation to the deceased estate.

We have now spent approximately one hour on telephone calls alone attempting to obtain a medical tax certificate, notwithstanding that the documentation requested from us has already been submitted.

The inconsistency between Discovery Health's agents is unacceptable. A customer or authorised representative should not receive one set of requirements from one agent, comply with those requirements, and thereafter be told something entirely different by another agent.

Professional firms charge for their time. Our client should not have to incur unnecessary professional costs simply because we are forced to spend excessive time on telephone calls dealing with inconsistent advice and avoidable administrative obstacles.

To date, despite our efforts and submission of the requested documentation, the medical tax certificate has still not been provided.

Discovery Health should urgently review this matter, confirm precisely what documentation is required, and provide the requested certificate without further unnecessary delay.

This has been an extraordinary waste of professional time for what should have been a routine administrative request.