Disgusting service

I am so disappointed at the appalling service we received from ABSA Home Insurance. We recently experienced the misfortune of having burst pipes at home. Since my father is now elderly, unwell and bedridden is unable to attend to the runnings of the house- as his children, we handle all issues pertaining to household maintenance even though we live in another province. We recently had an incident of burst pipes ( which we initially thought was the geyser), inside and outside the house. We immediately called Absa Insurance- what an horrible experience that phone call turned out to be! I was told that since the policy is not in my name, I must go get a” power of attorney” from the lawyers – I challenged that because they made reference to POPI act – that it restricts them from “disclosing “client information to third parties. I could not believe my ears! I was requesting them to dispatch a plumber to sort out the problem- and certainly not asking them to disclose anything about my own father or his soon to be damaged property! POPI ACT does not require any Power of attorney- it requires consent- big difference! 1. surely you can tell by the ID of the client that he is elderly, 2. You are told that he is ill and frail. 3. I have answered all security questions for verification- what more do you want???? My father’s address is on the system, surely they can request the plumber since he’ll be going there, to obtain consent from him to register one of his children as a “care taker”. Or Email us a copy of a consent form to give to him to sign. After all the arguing, the manager finally allowed me to lodge the claim- after all ,the damage to the property was escalating and cost to fix it increasing. We were advised the plumber would be dispatched within 4 hours- and a building contractor will also come to assess the damage. We waited a whole 8 hours for the plumber who arrived around 7pm during loadshedding. He left saying he’ll go buy materials and come back the next day. This was 2 days ago, he hasn’t come back, and he is not picking up our calls now. I called ABSA again this morning and I was assisted by a very efficient lady who introduced herself as Clementine. She contacted the plumber whilst I was holding and tried to resolve the issue. The plumber promised to call be in 30 minutes and return to the property- which did not happen. Hours later the plumber still has not arrived, the ceiling has now fallen down, and carpets drenched in water. Despite having turned the water supply off- the house is completely flooded. My father lying helplessly in bed! Out of desperation I called Absa again- only to be told by the consultant that she won’t help because I don’t have power of attorney. She said she’d transfer me to Clementine ( who assisted earlier), after putting me on hold for an excruciating 15 minutes- she dropped the call. Since then I’ve been trying to call back- no luck. Basically we are now waiting helplessly for the rest of the sagging ceiling to fall down and for the exorbitant water bill- for which we will hold ABSA liable.