IF YOU ARE DEALING WITH ATO EAZE/INSUREAFRICA BE AWARE!

IF YOU ARE DEALING WITH ATO EAZE/INSUREAFRICA BE AWARE! If you are dealing or thinking of dealing with AtoEaze/InsureAfrica be aware! In April 2021 we took out a mechanical warranty for a Hyundai Santa Fe with Auto Eaze which is currently managed by InsureAfrica a Registered Financial Services Provider. The policy number was ***-AE1280. All bank payments for the past 29 months have been paid against this policy number. On submitting a claim in August 2023, InsureAfrica informed us that they did not have such a policy on record. According to them, however, they did have a policy registered against my brother’s ID. On tracing the warranty against the ID we were also told by a Mr Mpumelelo Madi, Claims Administrator for InsureAfrica, that, according to their telephone records of the on-line transaction, the warranty was for a Kia Sportage and not for a Hyndai Santa Fe, and that if we wanted to claim we would have to take out a new policy for the Santa Fe! (That was so helpful.) We requested a copy of the on-line telephonic transaction to clarify the issue of the allegedly incorrect correct vehicle being insured, whereupon we were told that the matter had been escalated to management and that “you will receive feedback." We did not receive feed-back. On following up on our claim we were informed by Mr Mpumelelo Madi that we should contact the complaints division. A day later he e-mailed me the e-mail address of the complaints division. I followed up and managed to get hold of a person who identified himself as Clint Geluk who undertook to e-mail us a copy of the voice recording. The voice recording was between the salesman of the extended warranty and the client (my brother) which was at that time 82 years old and hard of hearing. The client did not pick up or register that the salesman talked about a Kia and not the Hyundai that he intended to purchase and insure. The registration number of the vehicle (SXH403GP) insured for the extended warranty as per the registration document was for a Hyundai. InsureAfrica had the registration number of the insured vehicle as well as the registration certificate and should have been fully aware that it was that of a Hyundai. AfricaInsure, however, refused to acknowledge that there was an anomaly and insisted that the facts pointed to a Hyndai and not a Kia. We referred the matter to the Ombudsman for short Term Insurance. However, the Ombudsman rep**** that they could not assist in the matter as AutoEaze had been liquidated. HOWEVER, InsureAfrica had been receiving monthly premiums for more than a year on behalf of AutoEaze which had been liquidated without advising us of any changes. After a month and a half of communicating with the claims and complaints divisions at AfricaInsure they finally swept all the information at their disposal under the carpet and started again with the initial argument that they will not honour their obligation as according to them apparently the telephonic record overrides written records and documentation On Friday 29 September After 5 and a half weeks of e-mailing back and forth I eventually received and e-mail from Nadia, the General Manager: Corporate Governance at InsureAfrica, who said that she would go into the matter. On Monday 2 October I received another e-mail stating that I could proceed and submit my claim for the Hyundai Santa Fe as there had been a glitch in their system and that they now recognise the Hyundai as the insured vehicle. This is where it gets technical. The engine of the Santa was insured for R12 500. However this only gets paid out to the repairer of the vehicle once the engine has been fully fixed. If the engine is too expensive to fix, you get nothing. If the engine can’t be fixed, you get nothing. If the car is s****ped because the engine is too expensive to fix, you get nothing. If you want to fit a second hand engine instead of fixing the original engine, you get nothing. What was deemed a good warranty for unforeseen breakages in our case turned out to be a meaningless and useless piece of electronic garbage. Everybody looking for extended warranty cover should make sure of these small print conditions before taking out a mechanical warranty. Whether it is ethical, legal and accepted practice to keep on receiving monthly premiums for a company that has been liquidated and to pose as an administrator for such company without advising or communicating with the client and advising him/her of any or revised contractual conditions is another question? This is another argument that I don’t even want to touch on. The long and the short of it all: Consider the facts above and decide if you want to do business with AutoInsure. My advice as a general caveat to everyone out there looking for a warranty or related products is to AVOID InsureAfrica at all costs and to make very sure what you are being sold irrespective of who the broker is.