Ombudman takes on case and when queried on decision slams widow with Section 27(3)(a) of the FAIS Act

Complaint against FAIS –ombudman My complaint is about how my complaint against Nedbank was handled by both Nedbank(Nedgroup Life) and the ombudsman. My husband passed away on 27 October 2013. As part of our long-term financial planning we took out a bond-ability insurance ( policy ********** ) from Nedbank to the cover of R1 000 000. This policy was taken out on the 25th of November 2007. The policy was described in the schedule as a life assured policy to the amount of R 1 000 000 not bond amount or a decreasing policy. It was taken out via tele-sales, so there is no record of advice as would be normally signed when a policy is taken out. I sent in the claim in December 2013 and 4 months after the claim, in 2014, an amount of R600 362 is paid into the bond account. I reported the discrepancy to the estate lawyer who contacted Nedbank who took their time in replying, coming back saying the bond was only for R600 000 and therefore the policy cannot be for R 1 000 000. So they only paid what the bond was worth, into the account and deducting what was owed as balance on the account. When the lawyer did not manage to get anything other than that feedback I went to see my financial advisor who contacted them and got the same response also with elongated time on Nedbank’s side. Saying they struggle to get information since the policy was not taken out at the bank directly. He then decided we should take it further to the long-term insurer ombudsman in 2015 (Ref 2015/xx/2262) of which Judge McLaren was the person handling the case. The bank then came with a counter offer of R13 176.37 as refund for the fact that a premium was paid on a bond of R 1 000 000 that should never have been. The case dragged on till October 2015 because Nedbank kept playing for time since they did not have the recordings of the telemarketing sale. They send the recordings and judge McLaren after listening said he could not find that the telemarketer emphasized that the policy should not exceed the bond amount. He did not make a decision but rather referred us to go to the FAIS ombudsman. At that time I was struggling so much and my child had just been diagnosed with autism that I did not emotionally felt up to the task. Knowing that There is a 3 year period for cases I contacted the FAIS-ombud in June 2017 and asked since I was referred to them ONLY in 2015 will they still help me, which they agreed to. I app**** on the bases of wrong financial security and advice being supp**** to a customer. I sent all my communiques from 2014 to 2015 in a zip folder, that in the end did not go through via email. I let them know about it and they said they will ask for it if they need it. They said turn around was about 30 days for enquiries. Then I get a call in August to say, they are dismissing the case because if I wanted a policy of R1 000 000 I should have app**** for one! Then I had to explain the complaint again and say I am disputing the R600 362 that was paid in when the policy was for a million and they said they would investigate further. So on 29 September 2017 they send me a dismissal of the case letter that dismisses my claim and that the 1 million rand description was to cover my bond of R600 000. Why would we take out a policy of 1 million to cover six hundred thousand? When I disputed this asking then why did Nedbank offer to refund my premiums? The senior case manager (Marc Alves) of FAIS-ombud contacts me saying this was a decreasing policy (which is not mentioned in the policy schedule, only life covered of R 1 000 000 ) and that they took into account all evidence provided (of which they never asked any) and that they feel that the million rand was to cover the mortgage of R600 000. And then he ends off, my time for complaint has anyway been exceeded and that they are done with the case. When I queried why they then took on the case when I mentioned that I was referred to them in 2015 only, he said it has nothing to do with them if I did not come to them in the first place!!! SO CONGRATULATIONS NEDBANK, LONG-TERM-INSURER AND FAIS-OMBUD YOU MANAGED TO STICK IT TO A WIDOW WITH TWO MINORS(OF WHICH ONE IS AUTISTIC)!!!