Worst experience

Absolutely shocking service from GEMS.

We submitted our medical aid application close to a MONTH ago. Since then, we have followed up repeatedly and have been told FOUR OR FIVE TIMES that the matter has been "escalated internally".

And yet, here we are on 28 September with absolutely no resolution.

Our existing medical aid ends at the end of September. GEMS is fully aware of the urgency, they have been made aware of it repeatedly, and somehow every "escalation" disappears into a black hole with nobody taking ownership and nobody actually resolving the application.

This is not a minor inconvenience. This is MEDICAL COVER. People cannot simply sit around indefinitely while an application gets passed from one internal department to another with no accountability, particularly when their existing cover is about to expire.

What makes this even worse is that every time we follow up, we are essentially given the same response: it has been escalated. At what point does an escalation actually result in somebody doing something?

We submitted everything well in advance specifically to avoid this situation. We have done our part. GEMS has now left us days away from potentially being without medical aid because they cannot seem to process an application or provide a meaningful answer after almost a month.

This has been an unbelievably frustrating introduction to GEMS and, frankly, an appalling level of service from an organisation dealing with something as important as people's healthcare.

If anyone senior at GEMS actually monitors these reviews: please stop "escalating" the matter and RESOLVE IT. We need an outcome urgently, before our existing medical aid terminates on 30 September.