BAD SERVICE

On the 8th October 2017 I was involved in a car accident while driving with my family on the R21 around Olifantsfontein. The towing company guys who rushed to the scene immediately helped to call Standard Bank, with which my car is insured and they authorised the towing of the car to designated place. I also received notification thereof. Subsequently the next morning I contacted standard bank insurance to lodge a claim, and to my surprise I was told that the claim could not be processed since my policy was cancelled apparently in September because the last premium/debit that went off was in August. I was told the reason for cancellation was because Standard Bank got a code for a stop payment from FNB, which they claimed either I or FNB had authorised, and therefore the policy automatically cancelled on their system. Surprisingly, I never received any correspondence from Standard Bank regarding cancellation of my policy as one would normally expect from an insurance company. I only learned of the cancellation when I needed to lodge a claim. Instead what I received was an email dated 19th September 2017, notifying me that the debit did not go off due to insufficient funds on my account, and that they (Standard Bank) will debit again immediately when there's funds in my account or if they fail, they will subsequently debit double my premium in October. I explained to Standard Bank that I had never stopped or authorised my bank (FNB) to stop my car insurance policy. The only policy that I know to have stopped is a home insurance, which has a different amount and reference number altogether. I was therefore told to contact FNB for clarity, which I did. FNB confirmed to me that according to their system, the car insurance policy was never stopped and they wrote a letter to Standard Bank to confirm that, also highlighting clearly the the policies that were stopped. Standard Bank insisted that there was a stop payment code received by them, and at this stage I had been referred to and dealing with the head of the complaints department at Standard Bank, Mr Louis Muzangwa, who maintained that the stop payment code came from FNB and that evidence was revealed by their investigation on the matter. Up to this day, my claim has not been processed and I have not recently heard anything from Standard Bank. I've been tossed around between Standard Bank and FNB with no luck at all. I'm also very concerned about my car which is accruing storage costs wherever it is. All I know is that I had never authorised my bank to stop the debit order. I would like the ombudsman to help me with this matter. Kind Regards Motlalekgomo Makube