Appalling service from Discovery

I wish I could complain about the service I received from Discovery - but if you feel there was no service, I guess I can't complain. Before I typed this review, I had a look at some other reviews on Hellopeter and it would seem like I'm not the only person experiencing appalling service from Discovery when it comes to claims.

I pay premiums to the extent of R10 000 to Discovery every month - for some not a lot - but that is 30% of my income - for products ranging from short term insurance, Life, disability, critical illness, Retirement annuity, Retirement optimiser, business insurance as well as medical aid.

To not bore you any further - my complaint - My house was struck by lightning on the 10th February @ 22:00. My electric fence as well as alarm was damaged, both security lights on the exterior of the house was damaged. My computer with keyboard and mouse, vinyl cutter and 2 printers where also damaged. On 11 February - I informed my broker of the damage and also informed the business consultant about the damage. My biggest concern is the fact that I live in a stand alone house, alone and I have NO security and there is an open field right behind my house - I mistake was to think that Discovery will have the same concern and have at least my security sorted out asap. On the 12th February my friend assisted to replace the 1 security light at the back so that there is at least some light since there is NO security. My alarm and electric fence was only fixed on the 22nd February - 11 days after the incident - for 11 days I had absolutely no security. The sad part of this is - after the alarm was replaced every time I would arm the alarm - the security company would get a medical emergency alert - and at 23:11 every night they also receive a distress signal and would phone my alternative contacts. I then phoned the service provider and explained that there is something wrong with the alarm - I was informed that it is the radio link with my security company and they should come and have a look. I phoned the security company - guess what - arrived at my house within 2 hours after calling them - and the alarm was set-up incorrectly - so something the service provider should have done correctly from the start. The call-out from the security company amounted to R920 which I had to pay. Luckily my broker could get Discovery to pay that money back to me.

My computer that was also damaged - let me explain - every device that was connected via USB is faulty - I personally took my Computer, keyboard and mouse in to the service provider to speed up the process of assessment and if need be fixing - this was on 14 February - on 21 February I received a call from the Discovery adviser stating that they received the report on the 18 February and there is no fault on any of the devices - I phoned the service provider personally and learned that the damage report was already sent to the insurer on 15 Feb - in other words the advisor **** to me when she stated that they only received the report on the Friday. I went to fetch my PC and guess what- it still gives errors on the USB drives - so what now!!

Then don't even let me start on my Business policy - from 11 February till date - a service provider come out to do an assessment and then nothing. So from the point of view of a new business just starting up and just getting in orders - I now have to tell customers that I can't assist them because my machines are not working and I'm not even sure if the insurer will fix them - if they are not going to - just tell me - then I could have had it fixed on the 11th February already.

If this is how Discovery treats the little guy - I will take all my business elsewhere.