ABSA HOC Insurance - Pathetic

I am a customer of ABSA for the last 30+ years and have submitted a home insurance claim. I submitted the claim due to the extent of the damage and am disappointed in the quality of the assessors ABSA use, and the blatant disregard of the agents that follow up.

The damage was due to strong wind that broke facia boards on the roof, bent and broke a lightning conductor, a wall, electric fence and, due to the fact that the lightning conductor fell into the pool, caused a crack and leak to the pool. I had the wall repaired and the fence also done, at my costs, and decided to contact ABSA insurance to repair the pool and the roof damage, thereby limiting the amount I would have to claim from ABSA.

After being contacted with a reference number and being told to source my own contractors, I did this. The town I live in do not have approved contractors with ABSA, but that did not seem to be a problem. I also offered to pay them upfront and if and when ABSA paid me, I would recoup the costs. All photos and reports, as requested, were sent through, except one: the one of the lightning conductor physically in the pool. All of a sudden, I was told, after I had already approved the quotes from the local suppliers, that ABSA would send their own assessors and contractors to assess and do the job. They arrived and took photos of everything to do with the pool and some of the house too, struggled to spell the street name (Elm) and left oil marks on the paving for me to clean up.

Today, I get a phone call from Nombulelo from ABSA HOC stating that she cannot approve the claim due to the fact that I am using my own contractors without her permission, and the fact that they have not included a report stating what had happened, even though I had sent the reports in, and that I don't have a picture of the lightning conductor in the pool at the time of the incident, or that nobody that was sent here was able to see the pole still in the pool and lying on the wall and fence, inches away from my neighbour's roof.

The claim has subsequently been withdrawn by myself, and I am highly upset that I was forced to do so, due to a single photo that I did not have. Every evidence to the fact that the damage was created by the strong wind was evident, and the 3 different people, including ABSA's assessors, saw the result of the damage, but due to the fact that the photo was not taken with the pole in the pool, the entire claim is now moot.