Delayed Claim due to consultant incompetence - Duration 1 month

<p> </p> <p>My accident occurred on the 13th of April 2016. Since my claim has been in the claims department it has been stalled. </p> <p>After I received the email that my car is a write off on the 28th of April, the consultant in charge of my claim called me on the 2nd of May and told me that I had two options; to settle with my financial house or to receive a new replacement vehicle. This is my first car and first time claiming from insurance so I was surprised to hear that there is a replacement option so I opted for this.</p> <p>I got told that I can withhold with requiring a settlement quote with my financing house as this process has to go through the replacements department where 2 quotes will be presented to my finance house for approval. I was advised that this process will take approximately 5 days and that they only reason why the finance house would not approve if there's arrears in my payments. I followed up on the 5/05/2017 and got told that the replacement department has my claim and should have quotes to present to my finance house by Tuesday (09/05/2017).</p> <p>I followed up on Tuesday 09 May 2017 after getting an email that a settlement letter has been requested from my finance house. I got through to a consultant and he informed me that they are settling the car with the bank as I do not qualify for a replacement and that I have been misinformed. He showed no remorse to the fact that this mistake has caused me inconvenience as I don’t have a courtesy car and I rely on the timelines that they give me to arrange transport. He translated this as my problem and that both timelines for both processes are equal in duration which is not the case as the mistake has stalled the finalisation of the claim by a week. He said it was a minor mistake of that the vehicle in question is a 2016 Ford Figo and it is now 2017 so a lazy assumption of the age of vehicle was made. At least 3 people consultants, including a team leader, in this department failed to ask and missed that the vehicle was registered in January 2016 the same date that my policy with discovery insure started.</p> <p>After numerous calls I finally got through to the consultant in custody of my claim that afternoon, she apologised and insured me that she will act swiftly (12 hrs) to settle this matter following the inconvenience that she and her team have caused. She also agreed to me speaking to her manager about this matter, she has since not being able to get me in contact with her manager. She also said that she will give me a transunion report on the retail value of the car. It is Monday 15 May 2017 and I haven’t received anything that this department has promised.</p> <p>It has been a month the accident occurred, a month without a vehicle. Being in this situation is a very stressful one and when one is in it they expect that they get the best service delivery that they can as a loyal and paying customer. I have been highly disappointed with the time it is taking to deal with my claim. I am a first time car owner and this is the first insurer that I have ever used and I have to say that I am not satisfied. Situations like these are why people get reluctant to join certain insurers more especially when they marketing strategies do not uphold the best service delivery that they claim to have. I have no problem with the response time at my day of the accident and I felt relieved by this commendable response. The response with claims is however the polar opposite.</p>