Extremely dissatisfied with Discovery Insure Service

<p>My name is DR Tahira Banoobhai, my entire portfolio is with Discovery; medical aid, life insurance, investments and of course vehicle insurance. Thus it was extremely disappointing to receive such dissatisfactory service from a company that is supposedly in the top 5 of insurance providers in our country.</p> <p>I was a victim of an armed ******* on July 2nd 2017, where my vehicle was ******. Discovery Insure was notified of this within the hour and a claim for vehicle theft was laid the next day on the 3rd July 2017 and was informed by the consultant that my claims advisor is Cynthia Makola and she will be contacting me shortly. Being in an armed ******* was traumatic in itself, but dealing with Discovery Insure was an additional traumatic experience;</p> <p>Firstly it took 33 days for the claim to be settled, from the 3rd of July to the 4th of August 2017!</p> <p>· During that 33 day period I received a maximum of 1 call from my claim advisor (Cynthia Makola). I had to call the insure department numerous times (being a doctor I do not always have unlimited time to make phone calls during office hours) to enquire about the progress of the claim. Note: Each time I called, a different claims advisor assisted me as my claim advisor was either busy, not in the office or only God knows where. Leaving a message with another advisor for her to call me back or at least email. It was all in vain as I was in the dark for the duration of the claim process.</p> <p>· I, as the client was also asked to provide them with the settlement letter and information on my vehicle. It is actually their job to liaise with the financial house regarding these matters, and keep me informed of the progress of my claim.</p> <p>· I was not offered trauma counselling (which is inclusive in my insurance cover) by my claim advisor (Cynthia Makola), instead it was noted on the system – “the client does not want trauma counselling.’’ I gave NO such consent nor was informed of this facility. It was only on the 28th of July during one of my numerous calls to discovery insure, that a different claims advisor offered me trauma counselling. This was news to my ears – I had not been previously offered, let alone had I declined trauma counselling.</p> <p>· Being unhappy with the service I was receiving I began liaising with the team leader of that discovery insure department, Jathin (surname unknown). I first spoke to him on the 7th of July 2017 clarifying the settlement amount discovery would pay and the turnaround time for the claim. I was told it would take a maximum of 12 days for the claim to be sorted. I asked Jathin if the claim would be settled within the month to avoid Wesbank debiting me for a car I no long have. He assured me that it will be done before the end of July. On the 28th of July I spoke to him again. He was surprised the claim has not been resolved yet and promised and reassured me that he personally would authorise the pay out by the end of business that same day. To no surprise this did not happen! I waited hours for the Agreement of Loss to be emailed so that I could sign and return it. During that day I emailed the team leader (Jathin), I called the department but he was unavailable, I left messages for him to return my calls, but none of these attempts were responded to. Therefore, by the end of business on the 28th July 2017 my claim had still not been sorted as promised by the team leader.</p> <p>· Note: that during the 7th July and 28th July I had called numerous times to speak to either my claims advisor or the team leader, but they were always unavailable , thus another claims advisor had assisted me each time. My messages to return my calls were not acknowledged.</p> <p>Not only is this service provision disappointing, dissatisfactory, not client centred, but frankly it is unacceptable! As a discovery client whom has their entire portfolio with Discovery, I expected better treatment than what I was provided. My hard earned money goes into paying for this service. As a doctor, lives are in your hand, delaying a service could result in death. Yes, this may not be as dramatic or serious as life and death, but people fail to realise the impact their action or lack of it, can make on others people lives. As a result of this lengthy ordeal with Discovery Insure not only have I lost out on airtime and valuable time, but also August’s monthly instalment for my vehicle (Note: a vehicle which is no longer in my possession as it was ******) being debited by Wesbank because Discovery Insure had failed to settle Wesbank by the end of July 2017. Furthermore, I had to pay an excess to Discovery Insure. An excess payment for what, I ask? For all the airtime they have cost me? For all the valuable time they have cost me? For my vehicle instalment I had to pay for a car I do not have? For the brilliant service I was provided with?</p> <p>As a doctor I have received many offers and better options to change my portfolio but look where my loyalty to Discovery has got me… I am seriously considering moving my entire portfolio from discovery to a company that provides better customer service!</p>