Funeral cover pay out before or after funeral ???im lost please help

can someone please educate me here... do funeral covers pay out before or after the funeral ??? ive never had to claim for any funeral policy in my life however in 2014 i decided to take up a funeral cover for my grandmother and my family ....not having any knowledge of what im putting my self too ,i paid all my premium in full with no fail and to my surprise when i have to claim for the first time i have to fight ......firstly i was told my father is a beneficiary and he has to claim for me ......my father did not even know about this policy but i needed his permission to claim ...they dont even know my father or even have my fathers account details ??? but he has to claim, i was told am just the policy account holder and an account payer .......oh okey lesson learned , my father and i had to go an make an affidavit to give me permission to claim on his behalf ,for MY POLICY ....i than sent though all the documents ....on Saturday and I was told that the claims department only works Monday to Friday ......I got angry but im still calm ......first thing monday morning i called to follow up on the documents i sent .....i was told the claim is sent though for payment and the funds will be credited in my account midnight and i should have the funds by today 17/07/2018 when i checked my bank balance this morning .........i just cried .....not only for my gran i felt like i was ****med for 4 years ,yesterday when i asked how much will be paid out .......they said its R19 700 i asked why is it not R20 000 as per the agreement thy told me they already deducted the premium for this month ......what the hell ??? you debit premiums on the payouts ....what nonsense is that ......my mother is with old mutual she got her payout sameday of the claim and she got an additional R2000 and we started our covers the someday......hollard I need the payout asap .....i need to bury my gran in piece .....im in so much pain and this is the last thing i need ..... please please please can you pay the money in my account today or my fathers account its still fine i just need the funds .....i cant take loans when i paid so much for 4 years ............my friend is already worried with her policy she has with you just by looking at me everyday stressing and making calls non stop begging you to payout , so i dont think you want to loose clients , i will not recommend hollard to anyone personally and the sad part is that i still have 6 more people covered with you ......im so stressed ......if am struggling with my first claim .....what more with the rest i have ..... what have i put my self into .....my ref :WF_ ********** 75