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Tessa P

1 reviews | Active since Mar 2013

02 Dec 2020, 13:20

Apalling service from Hippo

Good Day Due to financial constraints we had no option but to downgrade our medical aid membership to a more affordable option. Therefore we had no option but to resign from Bonitas (***) to Disovery. We opted for the Discovery Smart Essential Quoted to us by Justice Leve of Hippo.co.za at R2800 pm as that was all we could aafford He requested 33 years worth of member certificates from us as well as necessary documents to prove our membership. We bent over backwards to accomodate him and were able to give him names of medical aids going as far back as 1969 !!!!!! Please tell me who keeps medical aid membership certificates as far back as 1969? We gave him what we had going back to 2015 and went so far as to give him a sworn affidavit with which medical aids we were on from 1969 onwards. We sent him everything he asked for and more, we even sent him a list of all prescribed medicines for both myself and my wife and submitted final docs first thing on Monday morning. Something that we emphasized was that we must be on Discovery from the 1st January 2021 and that we do not pay a late joiners penalty. Once all documents had been submitted to Justice we followed up with him to ensure that he had received all the documents he had requested. He advised that he would get back to us if needs be. Since then we have not heard anything from him. This morning (2/12/2020) we get a phone call from Hippo (Cindy) advising that all the documents we had provided them with were not sufficient and that if we wanted to join Discovery they could sell us a policy at more than R4000.00 pm. The whole reason for us moving from Bonitas to Discovery was the cost. We are both pensioners living on a very small income. We had a very bad experience from late last year when we resigned from Fedhealth (this we did because Topmed had amalgamated with Fedhealth and we had not received proper notification from them regarding the amalgamation (we had only received a letter from them saying that there was a PROPOSED amalgamation). We started looking for a new medical aid via Hippo again and before we could turn around they had a broker from Cubesquared contacting us (Hansie Kotze) He advised us to go with Medihelp. After we had gone back and forth for more than a month filling a million forms he advised that we go with Bonitas and we opted for Bonsave Essential. He did note submit docs on time and therefore the waiting period was from 1st Feb 202o to 1st May 2020. We had no option but to accept this. My wife was in 2015 diagnosed with myoclonic dystonia which then worsened into epilepsy. Previously she had only had short blackouts but on 6th April 2020 she suffered a full-blown seizure and was admitted Netcare Krugersdorp Emergency Room. We paid for everything upfront. Her epilepsy was declared when we made an application to Bonitas and were told that it would fall under PMB. Well nothing was recognised by Bonitas and we have been fighting to get back what we had paid out - well over R7000.00 - everything seems to have been settled now but it has taken until now with hundreds of phone calls and emails to try and rectify this situation. We have now asked Bonitas to please reinstate us on their Bonesstenial option ((our son is now paying our subscription for us) We are hoping and praying that they agree to our request. If they don't we are left high and dry

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Replies (1)
Hippo.co.za
Hippo.co.za's reply02 Dec 2020, 13:31
Official
Hi Tessa

We are looking into this urgently and will provide feedback soonest.

Kindest regards
The Hippo.co.za team

Best regards,