Changing back to Outsurance as soon as my claim is finalised.

I switched my insurance from Outsurance to Discovery Insure approximately 2 months ago because I have other Discovery products and wanted to capitalise on the points.

A month later there was a gas explosion in a flatlet on my property, that I rent to a tenant. The explosion blew the sliding door of the flatlet right out into the garden and damaged the cupboards next to the stove. My tenant incurred various medical bills.

The explosion happened on a Sunday evening and I immediately phoned Discovery. I was informed that this was not considered an emergency and that I should call again the next morning. I called when the call centre opened and was helped by Mpho Mamaregane. He was pleasant and seemed efficient. Except that was the last I ever heard from him except for automated emails giving his name. It is not possible to call any claims agent directly because the only phone number goes to a call centre so you get a different agent each time and the agent assigned to your claim is always busy on another claim and not ONCE in a month have I had a call back after leaving a message. Not once have I had a response to an email I have sent to the email address provided. I have called Discovery almost every single week day for the past month, on a significant number of occasions I have called multiple times in one day. Nothing happens if I don't do this. I have had to ask and ask and ASK before each tiny step forward happens.

On the day after the explosion when I called back several hours after I logged the call I was told that a provider had been appointed and would contact me, I was told this more than once (I called several times) before an agent told me that the earliest somebody could come and replace the sliding door was Wednesday! This is a door that opens into the garden, ie. this is an EXTERNAL door to a room where my tenant lives and sleeps! The fourth time I called I asked if it Discovery did not have an agreement with PG Glass! To which they responded, "oh, do you have a PG Glass in your town?"!!! PG Glass indicated that they could come on the Tuesday but when they called me to find out the details of what needed to be fixed, even though it was already 2pm they made a plan to come sort out the door before the end of the day. If I hadn't kept calling the door would only have been fixed two days later.

Now, I'm trying to get the Liabilities department to make progress with the payment of my tenant's medical bills. It took Building Claims 2.5 weeks to tell me that emailing the bills to Mpho was not the correct procedure and to give me the email address for 3rd party claims. This part of the claim is being administered by Eli Munnell. There has been some "IT problem" or so I was told last week Thursday but after FIVE phonecalls - speaking to different people each time - a helpful claims advisor in building claims took the time to try and sort out the issue for me. Apparently the reason for the claim in given as Gas Explosion in Building Claims but whoever created the portion of the claim that the Liabilities Department is working on gave the reason as Accidental Damage so the system is rejecting the status update Building Claims is doing and the Claim is staying in Pre-Auth so apparently the Liabilities Department can't do anything further. This agent called Eli Munnell himself while I was on the line and was told that Eli and his manager, Vekash, would discuss this immediately after his lunch break.

This was my FIFTH call last Thursday, I have sent two emails to Eli cc'ing Vekash and Mpho since then and have received no response whatsoever. It is just over a month since I lodged this claim. In 18 years with Outsurance I have NEVER experienced ANY delay. When my car was ****** 10 years ago, they sent a locksmith the day I reported the claim, to change my front door lock as my keys were in the cubby hole, I was paid out in full for the car within two weeks. I was also kept up-to-date regularly. Two other claims I had during my period with them were dealt with as promptly and without any need for me to call and follow up, I was kept updated throughout and there were no delays.

I am stunned that such a big and well-known company as Discovery could have this lack of service. I have been on Discovery's medical aid for over 18 years and have always been incredibly impressed with their service. This makes no sense to me at all.

As soon as this claim is finalised I will be transferring my insurance back to Outsurance, no amount of Discovery points or cash back on petrol is worth this amount of time, inconvenience and frustration.