Sly Insurance company with very Bad Service.

I would like to log a complaint / dispute regarding the claim on my vehicle. I was involved in an accident and the vehicle had to go in for repairs. The vehicle was assessed by Net Assess. The person that did the assessment didn’t know what he was doing and subsequently left net Assess. They suggested that we repair the bumpers and not replace them. I was of the opinion that it needs to be replaced. The vehicle then went in for the repairs at Cornright Motors. The bumper was repaired and not replaced. I wasn’t happy with the repairs that was done. I then requested Discovery to send an assessor out to the panelbeater to have a look at the vehicle with myself and the panelbeater present. With no response from Discovery I then had to call the assessors myself and arrange everything. The assessor finally came out and also agreed that the bumpers needs to be replaced as the repair was not up to standard and that I was not in a similar position as before the accident. I then did all the work again to shop around for bumpers and I provided them with a quote for the exact same bumpers as on my vehicle. The quote came out at R16 997.00 for the replacement bumpers as well as the fitment. I had to phone the Discovery the whole time as nobody phoned me back and they refused to put me through to their manager. I was finally phoned back stating that the bumpers was approved, but only up to the value of R10 000.00 as this is the way the Discovery interprets my policy. I disagreed and finally discussed this with a manager Rolan. He then said that he will phone me back the following day. This didn’t happen and I had to phone them the day after that only to speak to a consultant that indicated that discovery doesn’t agree with my argument and that they will only pay out an amount of R10 000.00. I disagree with the way in which Discovery Insure interprets my policy and the treatment of the above mentioned claim. I am therefor officially laying an complaint / dispute. Please find below my arguments. According to Discovery I only added R10 000.00 extra on my policy and therefor the maximum amount that they are willing to pay out is R10 000.00. I disagree with this as I’m of the opinion that it was added as extra to my vehicle which increased the value for what my vehicle is insured. I would like to use the following examples: If I buy a standard Nikon D200 camera for R15 000.00. The camera consists of a camera and a lens. Let’s assume that the camera alone is worth R10 000.00 and the lens alone is worth R5 000.00. Imagine I pay an extra R2 000.00 to upgrade my lens and Nikon gives me a better lens worth R7 000.00. So when I insure the camera I insure it for R15 000.00 as this corresponds to the invoice and that is the retail price of a similar camera. I then add an extra R2 000.00 onto my insurance to make provision for the better lens. The insurance is there for informed that I have an different lens so that when I claim they are informed. If my camera were to be ****** the insurance awe to be paying me R17 000.00 as this is the total that the camera was insured (R15 000.00 + R2 000.00). Imagine that only the lens was ****** and I still had the camera. The insurance awe to be paying R7 000.00 for a replacement lens. They shouldn’t only pay R2 000.00 as this was extra on the policy. The camera came out with a lens worth R5 000.00 it was replaced with a better lens and an additional extra of R2 000.00 was added to the policy. So R7 000.00 should be paid out to replace a lens not R2 000.00! The same example can be used for wheels and tyres. Every car comes out with standard wheels and tyres assume it costs R5 000.00. If I buy better rims I will add the difference on to my policy as extras, let also assume another R5 000.00. the cost was R10 000.00. this means that it should be insured for R10 000.00. The initial R5 000.00 plus the extra R5 000.00. If I hit a pothole an right off all 4 rims & tyres then R10 000.00 needs to be paid out not only R5 000.00. Discovery is arguing that I only stipulated an extra R10 000.00 an therefor they will only pay out R10 000.00. My vehicle came out with bumpers so according to me as part of my vehicle value there is a certain value for my standard bumpers. In fact I spoke to the assessor and the panelbeater and they are of the opinion that the standard bumpers will cost around R24 000.00. So firstly according to me my bumpers should be insured for a total of R34 000.00 (R24 000.00 standard + R10 000.00 extra). Secondly the amount that I am asking for is less than the cost of standard bumpers. If I add a winch to my vehicle I understand that this would be limited to the amount that I specify as a standard vehicle doesn’t come out with a winch, but my vehicle comes out standard with bumpers. The last point I would like to raise is that I didn’t work through a broker and that I’m not an expert when it comes to insurance as I don’t work in the insurance industry. So my expectation then is that the consultant should have explained it to me in detail so that I can understand how Discovery interprets extras. This wasn’t done so according to me there was a amount insured for the bumpers and that this is simply added to that amount. The reason why I’m saying this is that my Car is insured for roughly R370 000.00 (R360 000.00 retail value + R10 000.00 extra for bumpers). If we look at the way Discovery is interpreting this they are saying that my cars retail value is R360 000.00, my standard bumpers are not covered (less R24 000.00) and that I added my extra cover (add R10 000.00) which means my vehicle is only covered for R346 000.00 and not R370 000.00. So why have Discovery worked out my premium on R370 000.00? This is way I’m not agreeing with Discover Insure. I’m therefor requesting that you please consider the above and come back to me with your final decision. If we don’t come to an agreement on this I will be taking this to the ombudsman for short term insurance. I will allow you 48 hours to respond to this email. So If I don’t get any feedback by Monday close of business, I will be submitting my complaint with the ombudsman. I’m not trying to be difficult here all I want is to be in similar position that I was before the accident and secondly to get what I pay for. I hope you will take the above into consideration and come back with positive feedback. My personal details are: Name: Malcolm Fernandes Claim: ********** Thank you,