POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS.

I joined Discovery in 2016 and gave birth to my first born in November 2017, due to me being on maternity i was unable to pay the monthly contribution from January, however even thou i was unable to work from the time i was 4 months pregnant my contributions were still paid and my baby was even added to the medical aid immediately. I contacted Discovery numerous times to assist me in giving me my total that i need to pay to ensure the medical aid is up to date, however i spoke to so many different people whereby it took me forever to get in contact with someone and the line dropped due to my airtime being depleted. At this point I was fustrated and sent discovery a detailed email stating that somebody should contact me during the specific times as i do work and nobody assisted me even then!!! Finally somebody contacted me a week later and then tells me that i cant continue with my membership due to me missing the reinstatement period by 3 days!! And that i need to start a new membership. Had somebody contacted me when i asked to be contacted, i wouldnt of missed this period!

I then looked around other medical aid options cause it meant the samething starting over with Discover again and losing all my benefits. I then decided to stay with Discovery and join the keycare plus option again effective from the 1st of July and no waiting periods were allocated to me. When joining the membership it was done telephonically whereby i disclosed all information truthfully. The agent that assisted me asked me if i have been hospitalised in the past 12 months, i did say yes from the 16th of November till the 25th of November 2017 for childbirth and then he had asked me if im on any current treatment i did disclose to him that im on family planning from the time my son was 2 weeks old, i take the 3 month injection and that my last injection was in May and im due again in September. The consultant failed to capture this on the system as per the risk administer who was in contact with me.

On the 13th of July ive been to a gp to consult with him regarding the bloating of my stomach, i could of not been pregnant because everytime i took the injection they did a pregnancy test before that and all came back NEGATIVE (which i have proof for - appointment cards etc). My GP then advised me that it could be because im not getting my periods regularly i could have a cyst growing and asked me to visit a gyne (keep in mind i did a pregnancy test which came back negative in May) and conduct a scan. I visited a gyne who did bloods and did a scan and it picked up that i was pregnant which was a .

Not knowing that i was when i joined Discovery. My first actual consult with a gyne was done on the 30th of July. On the 15TH of August i had an injury at work whereby somebody bumped into me and i had a ruptured placenta, i was bleeding and cramping non stop and my life as well as my babys life was at risk!! I went to the hospital like i was told to do so and they needed to admit me to take steriods and an antiobiotic to repair my placenta to ensure my baby survives. While in the ward, my husband comes up and tells me that theres an issue with the medical aid and that they not giving me authorisation immediately however theres a 6-8 turn around time which could be declined or approved. I had to pay for all my bills cash!!

Nobody contacted me to notify me about the situation i then took it upon myself to contact Discovery (whereby i used over R500 airtime due to me being transferred to so many people and having to explain myself so many times to different people). At one point i was on the line with a switchboard operator for over 25 minutes. Finally when i got to speak to someone they tell me thats theres a 12 month waiting period added and that my authorisation got declined due to me not disclosing all my information correctly (when i did while joining). I then informed the consultant my situation and he asked me to send through my documents so that it can be reversed. I spoke to risk management administer Thabisile Tsope who was absolutely ****ing arrogant and tells me i missed her first call and reason being i was still in hospital unable to even speak during to me being sedated. She also asked me to email her the documents which i did before 5pm the same day and all came back as undelivered because her mailbox was full which i have delivery mails to prove. I tried calling her numerous times with the number she provided in the email and she refused to answer, it just rand and rang.

At this point i was fustrated and called Discovery cause i needed assistance and no one was able to assist me finally i got to speak to someone by the name of Sharmilla Moodley who put me on hold to speak to someone from the standards department who said theyll review it and give me outcome before 5pm provided i send everything before 5pm. This lady then sends me the email address to send through the stuff and sends me a wrong email address ********** . After being done on the call formore than 45 minutes i had peace of mind knowing it will be resolved. It was then after 5pm and i hadnt received feedback so i called again and spoke to Ashmuuka Barens and she corrected the email address ********** after having to explain myself all over again and the sistuation, she then told me the department is closed and that she spoke to her supervisor and he called the standards department and advised i should call first thing the next morning at 8am, as they will assist me knowing i sent through all my documentation.

At this point my funds were exhausted because i had to pay cash for everything plus phone 10 times and speak to so many different people explaining myself over and over again. The next day i called they told me that my case will be reviewed by the board and that somebody will call me at 11, at 11 nobody contacted me and i called at around 3pm and they tell me that they sent an email to me. The email then stated that a 12 month waiting period is added and confirmed because when joining i knew i was pregnant which is utter ****ing bull**** cause i didnt even know till the 30th of July and that my pregnancy is a preexisting condition yet i sent through proof to show that all my tests were negative! But the board administers, who ever decides this clearly cant read or isnt doing their jobs correctly, cause it the email it states that i knew i was pregnant, how am i suppose to know i was if all the pregnancy tests were negavtive!?

I called in serveral times after this and the guy from standards that spoke to me said to me his decision stands thats the rules of discovery if id like i can dispute it by filling a dispute form!! This experience with discovery was absolutely ****ing horrific and ill never recommend them to anyone the fact that their customer services suck and that if they had contacted me when i had asked to (after all im the customer) i wouldnt of needed to join a new membership and go through all this **** with the new medical aid and put my life as well as my babys life at risk.

Discovery needs to fix this asap because at no point when joining was i aware that i was pregnant, had i known i would of disclosed it the same way i did when the agent made the sale and gave me no waiting period. To have a medical aid and not be able to use it for 12 months is absolutely patethic especially when ive been with them from 2016 and they should of contacted me when i asked to. It feels as if Discovery doesnt value the lives of their clients even thou they a npo and as if they just want to rob customers in broad daylight even when you have legit proof to say that you was unaware of your situation.