KAREN Arendse

Good afternoon

1. On 2023-06-14 as well as 2023-06-15 we had a rainstorm in Paarl area whereby the water flood like a river through my house as well as my yard for the 2 days where we at one stage was told to evacuate the premises due to the levels of the water.

2. On 2023-06-14 at 14:30 we phoned Absa insurance to log a claim. The assessor came out on 2023-06-19 to assess the damage.

3. My cupboards in main bedroom, children's bedroom and kitchen was damaged besides all the other damages.

4. The services of absa insurance were very poor and pathetic, because a whole month passed and not even a phone call back from the insurance company regarding our claim and keeping you updated and then the fact that not one person is allocated to our claim and we have to repeat ourself with every phonecall and put on hold for so long that you exhaust all your airtime every time.

5. On 2023-07-13 i decided to contact the insurance myself. I spoke to Lerato who e-mailed me a scope of the findings and amount to be covered by the claims department.

6. We went through the scope and was not happy with the outcome. We e-mailed absa insurance that same day to revisite the claim regarding the payment of our claim towards our cupboards. On the outline of the scope it showed that only R44203-68 was set aside for damages to 1 x bedroom cupboard to be replaced, quantity on scope is one(1) which to my understanding is for replacement of one(1) bedroom cupboard. I also attached a photo of my kitchen cupboard where the tiles was removed by the person send out by the insurance to check water damages to by kitchen cupboards which shows that the chipboard are still wet. The flood removed the grouting between my tiles and the water went in under my cupboards. Currently my cupboards are smelling damp and mould is everywhere which is a health risk to my daughter that have asthma and my husband who had an lung operation last year and were again for scans for his lungs on Friday 2023-07-14 because of the moist and damp which formed mould on ceilings and mould in the house due to the flood. Nowhere in scope is provision made for tiles on footpart of cupboards that also needed to be replaced .

7. On 2023-07-14 at 10:39 i contacted the insurance again and spoke to Thabo explaining my story again and he informed me that they send and e-mail to the assessor to request a report regarding the damage to my built in cupboards and that i must give them time until Monday 2023-07-17 to receive and review the report.

8. On 2023-07-18 at 09:16 i contacted the insurance again regarding my claim . I spoke to Hector again explaining my situation. He read an report to me regarding the mould on my ceilings that is due to mould forming over a long period of time but there were only wet spots on my bedroom ceiling where mould is growing as well as on my kitchen ceiling due to the damp and moisture in the house with the flood. My roof was maintained of which the assessor concered and took photos in this regard. He also read about my tiles that needs to be regrouted that is not even reflecting on the scope. I asked him to forward the final paperwork and report to me via e-mail which he agreed and i am still waiting on it.

9. On 2023-07-19 at 14:49 i contacted the insurance once again and spoke to Motho again explaining everything regarding my claim. She tried to get hold of Hector and i waited 17 minutes for her to come back to me on my airtime that ran out eventually after she informing me that Hector informed her that the insurance see the claim as finalised.

10. We are not accepting the amount of R 77 947.22 for claim damage. We want you to revisit the assessors report regarding my damages especially with regards to my kitchen-, main bedroom cupboards ,ceilings that is not covered according to this scope that was e-mailed to me. We spend R 60 000-00 to install my kitchen cupboards. We got a cabinet maker of our own to assess our cupboards for the two bedrooms as well as kitchen. He informed us that the water went in under our cupboards in kitchen and that the foot part as well as the panels inbetween the cupboards are damaged and gave us a quote of R 57 557-63 for all 3 x cupboards( for 2 x bedroom cupboards R 37 160-12, and for kitchen cupboards R 20 397-51 including labour)the quote was attached to e-mail to Lerato Jan on 2023-07-13. You tell me in what era you live with our current interest rate in our country with everything that is so expensive how are we going to replace all 3 x rooms cupboards with a merely R44 203-68.

11. Me and my family are already traumatized due to the flood and sit in fear when it rains scared that the same thing will occur again. 17 years ago when we signed our insurance policy at Absa we had peace of mind that we are well covered in any event irrespective of all warning from friends and families that Absa insurance is the worst insurance company because of bad encounters they experienced with claims lodged, yet we stayed loyal to the company and never missed one(1) payment. We asked the insurance to revisit our claim but without any success. After being loyal for 17 years and when eventually lodging a claim for damages due to a rainstorm Absa insurance do not even cover half of the damages we suffered. Absa insurance service are pathetic after lodging a complaint a month went by without even a phone call or an e-mail regarding our claim we had to phone them when a month passed and holding on for 17 minutes at a time untill your airtime ran out. And don't think they will phone you back after your airtime ran out now you must phone them again on your own expenses and every time you get another person assisting you and you have to explain your situation again. I will nor recommend absa insurance to anybody and today it is with huge regret that i never listened to friends and family to take my insurance to another company