Hollard Call Centre NIGHTMARE

On behalf of my 83-year-old, Mom, who is normally well organised and in total control of all aspects of her business but has been left traumatised trying to claim less than R800 on her Hospital Cash plan.

It was easy enough to get through to the general call centre, asking how to process a hospital benefit claim. The form was mailed through, filled out and submitted. A prompt email response was received on the 7th of November, asking for additional documents as well as supplying an email address the forms need to be submitted to. A couple of days later the documents were sent back via email. A week later, mom was trying to navigate her way through the call centre, who insisted that her policy does NOT exist. Out of frustration and a high level of anxiety, I called back and spent the most frustrating 2 hours trying to find someone to help. All the call centre staff wanted to know is where was that policy taken out, with Edgars, etc? Our response was consistent that this was taken out direct with Hollard. Absolute DEAD end. We supp**** the policy number, my parents had on file as well as the policyholder ID number. STILL, they could not find it. Finally, they asked, what is the reference on their bank statement against the stop order. It was quoted and confirmed, yes it does exist, but the documents mailed through does not reflect on the system. We confirmed, clearly the email address, was given a reference number and with great relief, it was re-submitted. Today is 7 working days later, mom calls again and guess what. The documents has not been received. Mom is beside herself, because all she knows is that she has been paying Hollard for more than 10 years, thinking that this is a great investment, should she ever need to claim against her policy. Instantly, she obviously has a meltdown because this will now be the THIRD time. I then take the phone, because she is traumatised, and ask to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor wants me to repeat everything, again. Mom is sitting next to me, insisting that her R800 claim is causing her too much stress. She wants to cancel the policy. The supervisor is giving me her OWN email address to mail it to. I ask whether I could hold on the line, while I'm sending it to her so that she can instantly confirm that she has received the mail. Not possible - we need to call back, or they will call us. [que meltdown] because she told me she can't speak to me because I am not the policyholder. I tell her, I'm handing the phone to my mom who is already traumatised. I hand over the phone, and I was not able to witness mom meltdown any more. I took the phone back and asked her to confirm the email address, I am sending it right now and that I look forward to a positive immediate response to my parents.

R88 a month as well as 2 funeral policies of more than R50 each is held in their name with Hollard. Our thinking is, that THIS is not great client service - especially when you are clearly dealing with a pensioner.