Living Lifestyle - Dying Lifestyle

To whom it may concern,

I am probably one of thousands by the looks of things on Hello Peter who is going to complain and provide a negative review. I hoped I would not need to.

When I banked at Standard Bank, I was referred to their in-house broker who works for Liberty. Bearing in mind I already had a very good broker, however it was posed to me that it is a service offering and I thought / trusted that perhaps it would be a good idea to move my stuff over to them to keep it under one roof so to speak.

Well, all good for a few years, until I became ill gradually and had to go through a long period of finding out what was going on with my health. Long story short for this review is that I was diagnosed with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.....Still RA but my serology does apparently not show a high RF factor. According to Liberty this does not fall into their 30 categories (incorrect as RA is there. It does not specifically say must be seropositive or negative) and declined my claim for my living lifestyle benefits.

This process has been going on for 18 months now. In the interim, I have had to rely on family to assist me financially with the added medical costs, adjustments etc. Instead of being in it with me, I was told that I need to have one or more organs affected!!!! I have lung fibrosis, thyromegaly, dysphagia, joint and muscle pain/issues to name a few. (It's on the reports) My CRP remains high, the latest done in July 2024.

It has been a rough ride, while being sick trying to recover or in this case keep my head above water barely, I am having to FIGHT for my claims, and it makes you feel even worse. As a single parent the diagnosis has affected things terribly and I am starting to think Liberty has designed their processes in such a way that one: You die (God forbid) and they don't have to honour the claim or Two: you give up or simply run out of funds to pay your premium. Granted some claims may be incorrect or not payable, but I cannot help but to think HOW MANY CLAIMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAID but have not been due to incompetence, lack of understanding and transparency. How many lives have been dramatically affected.

Thankfully I moved back to my previous brokers and they did get the Liberty income protector claim approved and acknowledge the condition. Great and I am thankful for that, however I was not aware (partly as I don't read the documents and trust that all is in place) that the broker at the bank put on a 24 month limit!!!!! This ended on the 9th of August...now what? Still waiting on the Living Lifestyle Claim....Its now a catch 20 - can't afford the treatments, meds etc to get better to start to earn again, but also need to try to get better to work again so that I can pay my premium, but health deteriorates.

Liberty has lost documents and asked for resubmission, they have sent my Rheumatologist some questionnaire wrt headaches (stalling) which has nothing to do with my current diagnosis...The Rheumatologist has had to complete two sets of the same claim documents, two motivations.....why? You already know the diagnosis and confirmed it in the letter for income protection....It's not going to change...I live with it every day. Liberty has promised to get back to us on timelines they do not adhere to nor communicate that it's taking longer or what else is it they need. . Asked for tons of additional medical information which has been provided to them. They then said they will send a letter for a capacity evaluation to my OT....after numerous follow ups we are told no they don't need it, they are going to look at it under catch all....I cannot understand why this was not the route taken in the first place....if it is an option as I have catch all, extended and plus. What was I sold and now I am afraid to not pay the premium in case I have complications, and my life insurance needs to pay out for my child...which again, I'm not even sure they will, which is a terrible thought. I cannot afford the better medications, regular monitoring of my condition and treatments which I could have been on had the claim been honoured.....so I stay on basic meds and my condition remains the same.

Be Careful consumers....get second opinions and pray you don't ever have to claim from Liberty ever. Ask questions, don't trust that they have your best interest at heart as my experience is they simply do not.

I have the names of all the people I know of who have dealt with my claims from Liberty as well as proof of documentation, emails, incorrect dates on decision letters, etc. I dont believe it has been thoroughly reviewed as stated.

Not only do they have really *********** brokers, with zero customer service skills, but Liberty also sells people a false sense of security assuming you understand everything, and you are only going to find this out should you ever need to claim.