Absa Insurance - A Joke of A Service

I've been a client of Absa for over 20 years and I'm unsure why I never moved my policy earlier to another company.

After numerous storms experienced in Pretoria, the wall to my property was damaged and a portion collapsed. I submitted my claim to Absa in September, and after having to go back and forth with them for over a month they finally approved the claim.

The assessors arrived from a company by the name of DZIMUVE SUPPLY AND PROJECTS, and after the claim was approved I was informed this same company would carry out the repairs and reconstruction of the entire wall. I'm unaware as to why the same company that conducted the assessment also had to be the one to carry out the claim, as this can cause a conflict of interest and bias.

When they arrived on Monday, the 23rd of November 2023, to begin the job, they informed us they were only sent to do the part that fell over and not the entire wall, despite that not being what was stated in the claim. This should have been our first indication of the level of work and service they were to provide. They had spent that Monday until 2 p.m. simply chopping down the trees they claimed were in the way for them to build and left shortly after leaving a mess behind. Each day after the would arrive after 9am and leave just before or exactly at 3pm. Tuesday arrived, and my son had communicated to them that the claim states it is the entire wall that needed to be done as it was falling apart. They informed him they would confirm with their employer about the job. Each day, they would only complete about a meter and a half at best, which was unacceptable since each day six builders would arrive to conduct the job. We could see through the cameras only three were working and the other three mostly lounged around and watched. We could see, however, that the height of the wall was not the 1.8m it was before, and on Thursday my husband and I did come to the property to communicate with them, and they informed us they would increase the wall to the original height, however, this did not happen.

Another issue that occurred was in accordance with the claim documents 3223 bricks were to be used to reconstruct the wall, and only a maximum of 1000 were brought and used. They informed us that a few of the previous bricks were still in good condition to be used, and they would use some of the bricks from the wall. The foundation was never reconstructed, and they continued from the previous foundation and continued upward, not adhering to the original height. We have measured the height of the wall, and the largest height is only 1.6m in height. The wall is of poor quality and will likely not last in the event of another major storm.

On Friday the 3rd of November, they had stated they were done with the job, and would clean up the site. They collected all the materials they had brought that they did not use, such as the new bricks bought and any cement and building sand. What we also noticed is they had collected from our possessions some cans of paint and PVA that we used in a few renovations in our house. Friday was the only day in the entire time they have been coming to our property they had stayed past 5:30 pm, and demanded from my daughter who was on the property, that she sign the clearance certificate even though they had not completed the job, and informed her they would not leave until she signed. My husband did call the owner of DZIMUVE SUPPLY AND PROJECTS to inform him the job had not been completed, and we would only sign once it is, and my daughter has no authority to sign as she is not the policyholder. The owner was extremely rude from the start of the phone call, threatened my husband and the safety of my daughter, and informed us that he didn't need our signature. When asked regarding the height of the wall, as he only used a portion of the bricks authorised by ABSA, he said that is how it is. We did not sign the clearance certificate. They left after 5:30 p.m., as seen on the camera footage, and told my daughter they would return on Sunday to collect the form. It also seemed they never planned to clean the site or remove any rumble in accordance with the job card.

The most severe issue we have is the security and safety threat they have posed on our daughter, who resides on the property.

This level of service is unacceptable from an established banking and insurance entity such as Absa. In my 20 + years of being a client with Absa, this experience has been beyond unacceptable, unprofessional, and downright abhorrent.

I would also like on record that I have, from the beginning, been in constant contact with the case manager about my concerns, and unfortunately, I have been ignored.

We do have security footage of the employees *****ing our goods. As a side note, when they contacted my husband demanding the form, he told them we have cameras and could see they were taking our possessions and asked they leave it behind. They still proceeded to take them.

I have discussed at length with my private banker, Hector Mokgoshe a claims consultant, and his manager Steven about this and have asked they reassign the claim to a better reputable company and have the mounds of rumble and ******* removed from the property, and all I have received is they are looking into the matter. It has been a week since then and I still have not been contacted for a resolution.

It seems I will be ignored and dismissed, and I will bare the cost and trouble to rectify this situation. Thank you Absa for your poor service, I've learned my lesson and will be moving my policy this week to an insurance company that will care about carrying out a claim correctly and the safety of their clients.