Finrite and Telkom Direct

This company does not pay out claims, and will find all sorts of loopholes to avoid having to do it.

I ordered a Samsung Galaxy S9 from Telkom as an upgrade to an S7 I had, previously. Never once was I told that I needed to get a proof of upgrade or that I had to go into the store to go and get my new device onto the same insurance I'd been paying for since the S7 was gotten on contract, but they still deducted money from my account for the insurance. The premium I paid is the same for the S7 and the S9.

So now, when my S9 had a bad fall and its glass broke, I wanted to claim it from the insurance. Immediately, they said my insurance was still on the S7, not the S9, and that I needed to go into a physical store to go and get a proof of upgrade. I did this, only for the physical store to tell me that they couldn't give it to me because I did an online upgrade. They were, however, able to take a screenshot on their system of when I upgraded, to which device I upgraded etc, and emailed it to the Finrite guys.

I phoned Finrite the very next Monday and told them about the proof of upgrade that had been emailed to them, and they said that they had received it, and would contact me soon. This never happened. I am a very busy person, so I didn't contact them again for 2 weeks.

2 weeks later, when I did try to phone them again, they gave me the same run-around again, saying my S7 was still the one insured, not my S9. I reminded them of the email, and after I told them I felt like they were deliberately stalling to avoid having to pay out the claim, they told me that everything was in order, I just needed to email them an invoice to show that I really did have the S9 and was paying for it every month. I did this without hesitation, only never to receive a follow-up email.

Now, 3 weeks later, I decided I would phone them again, and then the entire facade came to a crumble. The first two times I phoned, I just got through to a person who kept breathing in the background, and I could hear the other agents in the background doing what they're supposed to be doing. This already annoyed me, because this is completely unprofessional and it was wasting my lunch break.

Then I phoned again a few minutes later, and actually got through. They repeated the same old story that I thought had been resolved during the previous call I made weeks ago, and said that my S7 was still the device registered. I, again, referred them to the email that the physical store I visited had sent them. At this point, I was already over the entire thing, but then they had the nerve to tell me I was actually supposed to go into a physical store the moment I had gotten the upgrade and register it with my insurance again. No one ever, at any point, had informed me of this.

I am well aware that they probably have some sort of fine print somewhere that will make this an unwinnable court case if I decide to pursue it, but buyer beware: don't upgrade or purchase anything from Telkom's online store, and don't insure your device with Finrite, just insure it with your actual home and car insurer. They are the biggest ********* I have encountered in my life, and there's nothing that can be done about any of this, so just don't fall into the trap of 1) taking a contract online with Telkom, and 2) insuring your device with Finrite. They will rob you blind.