Claims department

I've had a terrible experience with the Claims department at Discovery Insure, and this isn't the first time.

There have been some very helpful individuals - notably Irvin Johnson in Claims and Tshepo Mokhoabana in the service centre for adding new quotes.

But right from the time of the crash, I have had trouble from first the Roadside assistance people, then the assessors, and lots and lots of resistance from people in the Claims department. It's now three and a half weeks post crash, and the claim staggers on. They charged me for an unlicensed tow, although their Roadside Assist people insisted I take the tow from predatory tow truck drivers hassling me as I stood at the roadside with bad concussion. I told them I'd prefer to use a different tow truck and they said no, I must go with them. THEN they charged me for an unlicensed tow, and when I challenged this, they spoke with a team leader in Roadside Assist who said there were no recordings of my conversations with them.

After I'd reported them to all the compliance, complaints and ombudspeople I could find, someone else spoke to a different team leader in Roadside Assist, who found all the recordings and forwarded them to Claims. Nevertheless, it has taken an additional 10 days for them to finalise this claim and they still haven't settled the right amount. It seems that, when you express concern and ask for something to be escalated, their team leaders and managers put on the brakes and slow down authorisations etc. They also never call back when they promise they will, there is no accountability, and the whole thing is abusive and offensive.

I believe in Discovery/Vitality's preventative initiatives so I stick with them, but if I have another experience like that, I'll be tempted to move.