FNB Short term insurance on Building and Home Contents

On 15 September 2022 I submitted a claim with FNB Short term insurance for my building and home contents relating to my home automation system. I had a blown power supply fuse on my ELAN M86 PSU and a damaged ELAN ITP-8 Intelligent Touch Pad. These two items were damaged due to a power surge, on assessment by ELAN (the Original Equipment Manufacturer). The items were clearly burnt and photos of the burnt parts were shared to FNB. ELAN's assessment, which was communicated through a report by my installer did mention that the cause could have been a power surge or lightning or ESD (Electro Static Discharge - the net effect or conclusion is the same but I did advise FNB that it could only be power surge because I realized this after load shedding.

FNB first brought an assessor who never tested or opened the items but gave them a report after more than a week stating certain irrellevant items had malfunctioned due to mechanical failure. FNB's assessor alleged that relays for my lights were malfunctioning despite that I did not report them to be damaged as they were in proper working order and my installer confirmed that they are in proper working order. Their assessor also claimed to have tested the LAN controller and it also malfunctioned. Once again this item was not reported damaged and it is still working even now. Bringing such an inexperienced person on home automation systems goes a long way to show the lengths FNB goes to to avoid paying claims. I challenged this report for the obvious reason that the assessor did not even check or test the damaged items and cannot claim anything relating to mechanical failure on the items we reported to be damaged. If FNB disputes this, they can share the report with me and I know from the conversations I have had with their consultants that the report does not talk about testing the two items I have reported to be damaged.

After my challenge, FNB authorized a reassessment. Unfortunately for FNB, the report from the reassessment has confirmed what ELAN and my installer had said and FNB is still refusing to honour my claim saying that the report from their second assessor is inconclusive and they still have questions to ask the second assessor.

One month later, I still have not had a resolution from FNB Short term insurance on Building and Home Contents. Horrible service, this is the worst insurer I've come across and anyone thinking of joining them should seriously reconsider, they go a long way to avoid honouring a claim.

The worst part with my claim is that due to having this damaged Touch Pad, we've had to disconnect the alarm and now my family is without proper security just because FNB cannot resolve this small issue.

I would just like for FNB to share with me the reports from their assessors and we resolve this in court. How can the first report and second report differ significantly? Clearly a pattern to avoid honouring a claim.