Unpaid Claim

I’m a beneficiary of Hollard Funeral Plan of my late uncle Velile Gqotso his had the policy for 11 years since 2013. Last week January 13 the policy holder passed on and on January 15 I called the insurance company to inform them of his passing. They sent me claim forms and I submitted the claim with all the required documentation. Advised to allow 48hours when that lapsed on Friday January 17 I called back to check on progress only to be told they are still listening to recordings and after listening to recordings they will decide mind you the funeral is the following day January 18. I’ve been waiting for there decision since, yesterday when I followed up I was told the claim had not been captured which is disappointing and that it will be now sent to complaints department for consideration and to allow 7 days. We have had to compromise a lot for the funeral to happen because there was no money. If it was not for the burial society, loans and contributions we would still be waiting in limbo with no burial. The insurer claims there were short payments on the policy as the premiums had changed from R279 to R349 but when I ask for policy documents they can only provide 2018 and 2020 and there are no annual increase letters issued and no other communication advising premiums changed, when you ask the amount that was short paid they are not able to give us a figure. The policy has been paid monthly since 2013 they claim the policy lapsed in 2022 and they can see we continued to pay premiums to date but they are not making the decision to pay it out.

I am disappointed and frustrated that we were not able to give my uncle the send off he deserves due to this experience with the claim. There is another ceremony we must do this week “ntlamba peki” that also needs money and we are now told to wait another 7days for the insurer to make a decision. This is not fair and the waiting period is too much on an urgent matter like this. I feel the insurer does not care and they are stalling and don’t want to pay and will make every excuse not to pay.