*****ing the Elderly and Defenseless

Forwarded message --------- From: Jason Dwyer ********** Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2019 at 19:26 Subject: Re: Hellopeter Complaint - Jason Dwyer To: Aletta Clarence ********** Hi Aletta the info you requested I.D. No = ********** 04***x member ********** written as trust bank funeral cash provider (metropolitan Life policy) R5000 funeral plan R5000 accidental cover (my dad was 79 accidental falls away at 65) R5000 life cover (this is where I have my issue nowhere in the policy does it mention life cover Falls away at 65) I feel my Elderly mother is being ******

My complaint\Review was lodged 5 months ago This is their reply .
I have the original policy "Life cover – member only, up to age 65 = R5 000" is mentioned nowhere in the original policy (I have it ).

Potential customers PLEASE read the drivel below and put your premiums in a 30 day call account instead .These people are shameless ******* . Thank god I now live in a country where banks and insurance underwriters are as made accountable and kept as honest as possible .

Aletta Clarence you missed the point your dishonest company hurt my Mom, my Dad died and your company ****** her when she was at her most vulnerable .#kickinganoldladywhenshesdown

$350 means nothing to me ,but everything to my frail grieving mother.Your regretts and apologies mean even less than the money and your callous offer of extending that worthless dishonest policy to my mother .... are you serious ...! lol

Shame on you and your company ,I pray you get a conscience and or a better job soon ,god bless ,good luck and I hope people treat your loved ones better than your company and you have treated mine.

Jason D

P.S. A funeral shroud has no pockets

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Dear Jason Dwyer We refer to your HelloPeter complaint of 16 April 2019. We apologise for only being able to respond now.We have various types of group scheme products, each designed for a specific group of clients with a certain demographic. In this instance the funeral plan was designed for clients of ABSA (Trust) bank. · This product was a family funeral benefit, which included a free life cover benefit for the main member, up to the age of 65 years. · Regrettably this product was not developed or priced to include for a paid-up policy for the surviving family members after death of the member. · We do have products that make provision for paid up benefits, but these are generally much more expensive, especially if taken out later in life.We agree that your father, Michael Dwyer, took out an ABSA Bank Cash Provider funeral policy with us in August 1996 for a monthly premium of only R49.32 per month. At the time your father was 57 years old and enjoyed the following benefits under the policy:· Funeral cover – member = R5 000· Funeral cover – spouse = R5 000· Funeral cover – children:o Aged 14 – 21 years = spouse cover (R5 000)o Aged 6 – 14 years = 50 % of spouse cover (R2 500)o Aged 0 – 5 years (incl. stillborn) = 25 % of spouse cover (R1 250)· Life cover – member only, up to age 65 = R5 000· Double Accident benefit = to funeral cover if participant older than 14 years pass away due to an accidentRegrettably, but the time your father passed away, he was older than 65 years and the life cover no longer app**** to his claim. Also, as the product does not make provision for the surviving family members to continue to enjoy cover after death of the member, cover for your mother ended when premiums ceased. Premiums were receive on a regular and consistent basis from inception, till February 2019, befor4e your father passed away on 6/03/2019. · A quick calculation shows that he contributed his monthly premium to purchase his cover for 271 months. · At a monthly premium of R49.32 this translates to R13 365.72 in premiums over the duration of the policy.At a glance it may appear to be unfair for your father to have paid over R13 000 in premiums for R5 000 cover. One should however bear in mind that:· There was only a 3-month waiting period on natural causes of death on the product and no waiting period on accidental causes of death.· This means that if your father or mother, or child (older than 14 years) covered on the policy died:o Due to an accident after just one premium was received, Metropolitan would have been liable for:§ Member death: funeral benefit (R5000) plus accident benefit (R5000) plus member life cover benefit (R5000) = R15 000§ Spouse & child older than 14years: funeral benefit (R5000) plus accident benefit (R5000) = R10 000 eacho Due to natural causes after three premiums have been received and 3 calendar months have expired, Metropolitan would have been liable for:§ Member death: funeral benefit (R5000) plus up to age 65, member life cover benefit (R5000) and possibly plus accident benefit (R5000) = potentially R5 000/R10 000/R15 000§ Spouse & child older than 14years: funeral benefit (R5000) and possibly accident benefit (R5000) = R5 000/R10 000 eachUnfortunately it does happen that some members, like your father end up paying in much more than in premiums over the years than the benefit amount is. It should however be borne in mind that funeral cover is classified as risk insurance. As such it does not have an endowment component that build up a cash value, the longer you contribute, like an investment policy would.We have however taken your and other client’s comments on the matter up with management and there have been discussions at various levels of management within the business. This product is a closed book product – which means that though we maintain active policies on books, we don’t market it anymore. In turn this means that we cannot change the product anymore. We have however reached a decision to offer the surviving spouses on such policies the opportunity to continue with the same policy in their own names, at the same cover level and premium the late member used to pay and waive the waiting period, as they have enjoyed cover on the late member’s policy for a long time.Should your mom be interested in continuing with the policy on her own, she should complete the attached Bank Debit Order from and indicate , Beneficiary nomination form and copy of her ID. She should indicate the policy number as “*** /300 -spouse continuation”Your mom is welcome to return these documents to me, so that I can drive the application for her.We trust that the above provisionally complies with your request and look forward to hearing back from you again.