GEMS LETS ME DOWN AT THE CRITICAL MOMENT OF MY LIFE>

I am writing to you again as you have been very helpful in addressing our issues in the past. I have been a member of GEMS for numerous years up to now. I am in my 4th year of retirement and still remain a member of GEMS. I have witnessed a serious deterioration in the quality of service that our Medical Aid has been giving to its members and now I have recently become the victim. My problem with GEMS commenced on the 1st of August 2021. After experiencing some difficulties with the Debit Order System of Standard Bank, I decided to move the collection of GEMS debit orders to ABSA to take effect on 1 August 2021. At this point, my debit orders were up to date. On 2 August, GEMS presented a debit order of R860 to Absa, but the debit order was returned unpaid by Absa Bank. This was an error committed by Absa and at that time, there were enough funds in the bank for the debit order to go through. However, Absa had raised a significant amount of charges on the account which upon my inquiry on the 3 August were reversed and paid back into my account. On the same day, ie., 3 August I physically transferred the unpaid debit order of R860 into GEMS account *** held at Firstrand. However, on 17 August 2021, I received a notice from GEMS that there are arrears of R860 outstanding in respect of my contributions and that these arrears are due for payment on 06 September 2021. On the same day that I received this message, I obtained Proof of Successful payment from Absa and submitted same to GEMS through the GEMS Provincial Office in Bloemfontein. GEMS promised to trace the payment and revert to me. This promise was never carried out. On 1 September 2021, GEMS again attempted to present two separate Debit Orders of R860 and R870 respectively against my Absa Bank account for which no sufficient funds were available for both these debits. As a result, these two debit orders were returned unpaid. This is unfair as only one R860 debit must be presented once every month. These attempts have now left my banking account miserably overdrawn and has attracted unnecessary charges from Absa Bank. As I am writing this review, I must categorically state that the only outstanding contributions to GEMS relate to September month as a result of this fiasco that GEMS generated. I again visited GEMS Office yesterday and spent a lot of time with the Consultants there to try to resolve this issue. All advice I could get was that the matter has been escalated to Credit Control. I have now received a message from GEMS today stating that my membership is now suspended and that my arrears with GEMS stand at R1730. This is really too far from the truth and I think this unilateral decision by GEMS smirks of ********ity on their part. Can you please assist me to resolve this issue? I am a Pensioner and I am trying to live within my little means. I would like to request that a proper Reconciliation be done by GEMS and confirm that my arrears are only amounting to one contribution for the month of September 2021.