iWyze - extremely poor service and treatment

It is with great disappointment that I have to write this email. Today is the 11th day that my family will go without hot water…

A claim was submitted last week Monday, 25th March 2019 for a burst geaser. We specifically asked upfront for a cash payout, since we want to replace the geaser with a gas geaser (accepting that there will be additional costs to install such a geaser) due to the current electrical situation in SA. This will also result to be a benefit to iWyze as claims on a gas geaser don’t happen frequently and the resulting damage is much less if any. The consultant agreed.

The plumber came out on Tuesday morning at 8h00 to assess the damage. A plumber that was contracted by Foggi, and Foggi who was contracted by Digicall. The plumber confirmed with us that the replacement quote he sent to Foggi was much higher than what Digicall is now apparently reporting.

Since Tuesday, nothing happened. No one came back to us to inform us on the progress or tell us what can be expected or informed us of the process. It is only on Friday, 4 days later, since the claim was reported, that I had to phone iWyze, to find out what is happening because we haven’t heard anything from anyone. Only then, the consultant contacted Digicall to ask for the report and assessment.

A team manager, contacted me and were able to find the report (after 4 days of silence) and sent an AOL for cash payout. However, after signing the AOL, the plumber that came to do the assessment confirmed that the replacement value is in actual fact much higher, and that they will never be able to replace the geaser for the amount that IWyze wants to pay out. So we withdrew the AOL and insisted that we source independent plumber quotes, as we do not agree with what IWyze wants to pay us and believes that IWyze wants to agree to an amount, much less than replacement value in the current market. This is unacceptable, since we are not being treated fairly and are definitely not given the best value to be put back in the position we were.

We sourced the quotes at our own costs. I sent it through first thing Monday 1 April (now already 10 days later) for urgent attention and escalation….and received a read receipt form the consultant. However, after a whole day had passed, no one rep**** or contacted us with regards to this matter.

I contacted iWyze at 16h30 yesterday afternoon, to try and find out what is happening. I was transferred to the team manager, who was not correctly informed of what had happened ever since she left the office early last week Friday. I insisted not to speak with her, since she was not up to date with the matter and kept on going back to the fact that the AOL was sent through and that iWyze did us a favour with regards to this. I specifically asked her to get the claims department manager to contact me.

No one came back to me.

After 18h00 I phoned again. Unfortunately the consultant that answered the phone were only able to listen to my frustration and were not able to help me since all the managers left for the day and no one was available to assist me.

Today is the 11th day without hot water….nothing has been done. No one is listening to us, or willing to try and understand that the only thing we want is fair treatment. The report they received from Digicall is clearly not market related. Their plumber confirmed that he will not be able to replace the geaser and put us back into the position we were with what they are willing to pay out. To try and proof this to them, we went as far to collect independent quotes ourselves.

I have left more than 6 messages today for the department manager to contact me, and for the consultant who is working on the case to at least get back to me before 12 with a progress report or update….and still only silence.

I can not believe that this is the way they treat their clients, especially with a claim as urgent and important as a geaser claim. Since IWyze can only offer me silence, I will direct my frustration to social media. They claim to make the claims process as painless as possible, at this stage, as with ALL our previous claims the service I am receiving from iWyze is by far more painful than the actual claim we had to endure. I find if highly disappointing that we have to resort to platforms as social media and Hello Peter to get attention from service providers such as themselves. With previous claims we had to go as far as the Ombud to get things resolved, I can’t believe that they are happy with this reflection on them as a “leading insurer”.

Their words, and I quote:

OUR VISION AND STRATEGY To be our customers’ most trusted partner and passionate about helping them achieve their lifetime financial goals. Our strategy Responding to our customers’ needs, we are building a long-term savings, protection, investment and lending group by leveraging the strength of our people and capabilities in South Africa and around the world. We will focus, drive and optimise our businesses to enhance value for customers, shareholders and the communities we serve.

Sadly, this is only the first part of the claim, since nothing has been done about the resulting damage of the geaser as yet. I can’t imagine to go through this painful process again.

We cannot accept this treatment or service.