FNB Short term Insurance: Broken Promises, and EXTREMLY POOR Customer Services

I registered a claim on 1 May 2022 with FNB Short term insurance, and since the start all I get from the Claims Consultant Mr Shaldon Harilal is promise upon promise, and none of these promises are kept. I should have realised on 3 May 2022 that he could not be trusted as that was the first time he did not kept to his word. Promise to phone me that afternoon, which he did not, had to send him an email on 4 May before I got a response.

I was told on 31 May that a pre-liminary report was imminent and I would receive feedback very soon as per the email below from Mr Harilal..

On Tue, May 31, 2022 at 11:01 AM Harilal, Shaldon <***> wrote: Morning Sir I received feedback from the assessor stating that they are still validating the claim, however, they will be sending Me a pre-lim report very soon. Thank you

I heard nothing further, and then requested feedback on 13 June, after which I received the following feedback.

On Mon, Jun 13, 2022 at 2:49 PM Harilal, Shaldon <***> wrote: Good Day Sir I actually received a prelim report, however I was advised that quotes are outstanding. Claim should be finalized anytime soon Thank you

I again had to request for feedback a week later as I have heard nothing from Mr Harilal and received the response as per his email below.

On Mon, Jun 20, 2022 at 6:47 PM Harilal, Shaldon <***> wrote: Good Evening Sir I have received the final report form the assessor on Friday afternoon. Final feedback will be given to you on Wednesday. I just need to read through the lengthy report and confirm the quotes. Thank you

I made contact during the afternoon of 22 June, to enquire about the outcome as promised. Mr Harilal told me in no uncertain terms that it was not yet close of business, and he is not obliged to give me any feedback before then. On enquiring about what time close of business is, het told me it is 16:30 and that I should not put words in his mouth as he has not promise to give me the final feedback before then. My understanding of his email on 20 June was obviously not correct. He phoned me just before 16:30 only to tell me the claim has not been finalised as promised and further investigations are required. Which he however refused to discuss and referred me to the assessor.

Since then, I do get a one liner email on Wednesdays to inform me that the investigation is still not completed.

Then on Friday 8 July I received the following email from Mr Harilal.

Harilal, Shaldon Fri, Jul 8, 4:59 PM (4 days ago) to me Hi Sir CIG had just submitted the balance of the report. I will go through the report on Monday and will update you accordingly before COB Thank you

Once again, my interpretation of the email must be wrong, as I thought that “on Monday” would be the first Monday after Friday 8 July which based on the calendar was 11 July 2022 And my understanding of “before COB” would be before 16:30 on Monday 11 July 2022.07.12 Obviously, that is not the case as I did not receive any feedback as promised.

Should I take it that I will receive feedback on a “Monday”, whether it is next week, next month or a year from now, and as for the “before COB” well this can be any day from now till end of time. Your guess is as good as mine as to when it would be, but obviously not something I should expect very soon.

After the way I was treated by Mr Halilal, I have reported this for the first time on HelloPeter.com and did receive an response from FNB within an hour Ref No ***NF with the promise that one of there consultants would be in contact with me about my unhappiness.

I did receive a call from a Mr Harvey Malubana which he followed up with an email a day later, promising to escalate my concerns to Senior Management. Since then, I have not heard a single word from Mr Malubana, and not even any responses on emails send to him.

Surprise surprise, Mr Harilal did respond to an email I send to him on 11 July after close of business, reminding him of another broken promise on his side

Chris Verwey <***> Mon, Jul 11, 6:17 PM (13 hours ago) to Shaldon Another broken promise, to be honest I did not expect anything else from you, as you have not once managed to keep your word.

I will forward you the link to the HelloPeter report once I have done it, which would be before close of business on Tuesday, 12 July 2022.

That is a promise.

Regards Harilal, Shaldon 7:04 AM (36 minutes ago) to me Morning Sir I will definitely admit that I missed this yesterday, being a busy Monday…. But I do assure you that this is not the norm, If you go through all your e-mail correspondence, you will see that I have responded to your mails. With regards to the claim, the claim was sent to my manager for review. Feedback will follow in 24 to 28 hours. Thank you

I don’t know what to make of this all. Is it the norm form Consultants at FNB Short term Insurance to break their promises? Is it the norm to appoint two different companies to do the claim assessment? Is it the norm to have family members interviewed in person by the assessor, even if they have to drive 200km to do so, but as the policy holder a 3 min phone interview is sufficient? Is it the norm to have your cell phone locations confirmed by your mobile services provider on the date and time of a break-in incident? Is it to late to ask for another claims consultant to please take-over my claim from Mr Halilal and see it to finalization? Is it the norm for an FNB Short Term Insurance claims to take in excess of 73 days to be finalised? Is it asking too much to have someone at FNB Short Term Insurance whose word is his/her honour please let me know when I can expect to have my claim finalised, as Mr Harilal surely don’t. Lastly Customer Service is not just the name of some or other department, it is the way you treat your customers, and it is not just related to those people working in the customer services department, but applicable to all people interfacing with customers.