misinformation and no follow up service from HIPPO Medical

I found Hippo is great when it comes to selling products quickly but they have no follow-up or support after the sales. I wanted to move over from a Medical aid to a more affordable medical insurance so that I can also add my partner but for a similar amount. The Hippo advisor assisting me assured me they will handle the termination of the one and the start of membership of the other and that it would happen smoothly at a specified date. So they signed me up to a product, and I then had to submit the termination letter to my existing medical aid per email by myself. I received communication from the medical aid that the forms I submitted are outdated and they sent me a new form to submit, which I then also did. One day before the starting date of the new medical insurance I received notice that the existing medical aid will be terminated with the normal one-month notice period. This meant that BOTH companies were going to deduct their fees the following day. Please note, that this notice was issued to me from the medical aid company after the Hippo advisors assured me that the termination date will be BEFORE the starting date of the new product. Since I used Hippo I tried to contact Hippo to find a way to fix the problem and cancel the medical aid on the date they said it would. I basically spoke to people who merely shrugged their shoulders. I was advised that there is a notice period that I will have to adhere to. I was flabbergasted, because surely if I was informed about this notice period I would obviously NOT have consented to the starting date of the new product to overlap with the existing product. I was notified that the starting date of the new product has to be moved a month later. I was made to believe that the manager from the medical aid department I was dealing with will be able to handle the situation on my behalf. Unfortunately on the first of the month, BOTH deductions went off from my bank account. I send numerous emails to the advisor who helped me at the beginning but receive no response. I also then asked Hippo to contact me which did not happen. When I phoned and spoke to a new manager I was told that they will arrange a refund and will explain the situation to the medical companies involved. This also did not happen. I then contacted the medical aid as well as the new medical insurance by myself. The medical aid just confirmed their notice period and explained they had regulatory authorities under which they were required to keep to the notice period. The other company who I thought was the medical insurance who deducted their fee already rep**** that I was not on their records at all, in fact, my so-called membership number is not on their systems. I then contacted my bank and organised a reverse debit order. I am not happy doing this because it will now have a negative impact on my credit score, but honestly I saw no other solution. I finally managed to get hold of the other medical insurance (same name as the one I wanted but underwritten by another company) and explained this whole debacle to them. They were courteous enough to honor the 30-day grace period and canceled my membership with them as a no-starter. I tried to email and contact Hippo again, but by now all the emails I sent to the same email address of the advisor who helped me previously were returned as the recipient does not exist. Luckily I was able to sort out the situation by myself in the end. I do not know how all of this will reflect on my record. In the past, I really enjoyed working through Hipp since they work closely with such a range of products and companies and I have previously found their advisors to be kind, helpful, and knowledgable. This experience however has erased my previously positive feelings for the worse. I found it terribly frustrating not to be able to email people directly or having to speak to a new advisor every time I phone in. I have ended numerous phone calls thinking someone will phone me back with an explanation or solution. I feel I was misinformed, I was signed up with a product other than the one I asked for and I was made a promise of a smooth transition from the termination of one product to the activation of the next. Up to this date, I have not received any kind of apology or admittance of lack of information on their behalf, but in fact, have been met by silence. Hippo is great at selling products, but they are actually not as well informed as I thought at first, and they have no after-sales service.