Appalling Car Claim Experience from Discovery Insure

On the 18th of December 2021, I logged an accidental damage claim with Discovery Insure. Despite receiving the notification for the claim capture, it took Discovery Insure 12 days to acknowledge the claim and communicate on the next steps.

This was strike one! Meanwhile my car broken down, not moving and stuck 1500 km away. It didn't matter to Discovery that we had to make arrangements for my car's temporary storage in the Northern Cape and find alternative means of transportation back to Gauteng.

Strike two! Discovery took a further 14 days of doing absolutely nothing to advance my claim before they decided to e-mail me an update on 14 January 2022. They took four more days before they asked for my car's location details. This was exactly a month after I've been without a car.

Strike three! When they eventually managed to tow the car back to Gauteng, they advised me that my car would be assessed and either fixed, auctioned (with my prior permission) if they can't fix it or returned to me in case I wanted to fix it myself.

Strike four! But the assessments took longer than expected and when I would call on weekly basis, the "updates" I would get would in the vain of, "Please be advised I am still waiting for the assessment report from net assess and I will advise once received." Basically, Discovery was just sending me "updates" for the sake of it; no real details, timelines and accountability about what was being done on my car.

Strike five! We were now in February 2022, there was still no concrete feedback on my claim. Regular check-ins online were laughable; the agent attached images of a separate house claim which they could not rectify after calling them out on it. Regular phone check-ins were even more frustrating and useless because I would use my airtime to request updates but instead detailed information I need, I would be constantly put on hold by the agents and referred to the specialist agents to provide further details. But the details came through, and every single time I call I would be put on hold until either my airtime ran out or the line breaks! On the 24th of February 2022, I called Discovery Insure six times in the space of one hour talking to various agents who would put on hold until my airtime ran out or the line breaks!

Strike six! It took Discovery another month before they could give me a decision on the claim on the 17th of March 2022; a day after my car rental was unexpectedly cancelled (e-mail sent @ 8:04 PM containing threats that I return the car before 11:00 the following day or incur costs on my account)! But the decision takes the cake, my claim was not approved three months after I logged it and had to tow my car from the panel-beaters at my cost. As if that was not enough, once I receive my car from a private towing company, it looks like it was stripped for parts; engine parts are on the passenger and driver's seats, all sort of smaller parts are under the seats, backseats are laid flat and the tire exposed at the back, the compartment closure for the tools storage are gutted out, basically, the inside of the car is a mess just all over. The car is sun damaged and dirty with rain and dust stains even inside the engine. There were leaves gathering on the windscreen and the top of the engine.

Remember the options that Discovery gave me on what would happen once they assessed my car? They are no longer applicable. And I still don't know what the issue is with the car! I've asked Discovery for a detailed report because in the one of the "update" they mentioned, "Please be advised I am still waiting for the assessment report from net assess and I will advise once received." The assessment report does certainly sound like it has the details I've been asking for, for a while now.

Discovery, it's time now that you take the responsibility, stop making empty promises and do right by me. The least you can do, since you can't fix my car giving the most fickle of reasons that I still not understand to this day, is give me back my car in the condition that you received it! It's absolutely the least you should do. Shocking customer service to a former loyal customer who would always sing your praises to friends, colleagues and family!

I've seen Discovery Insure for what it was, and I will no longer be supporting them with the multiple policies that I have with them.