Unhappy with Miway claims process and outcome

Not happy with the service received from Miway insurers. They say your insurer is only as good as their claims process.

I submitted a claim on 15/12/2019 for my cellphone which fell and got badly damaged. On 18/12/2019, they assigned a provider in JHB to assess the phone ( I am in Cape Town). I advised that it doesn't make sense for me to be without my phone for 3 days while the phone needs to be couriered across the country for an assessment. I asked if they could reassign a provider in Cape Town, and was told that I should take it to a provider (which I did at my expense). After receiving the report and sending it to them, I was advised that they need to check my insurance with previous providers as well as claims history (even though I have never had cellphone insurance prior to having my cellphones insured with Miway). I was on the phone with the other insurance companies (with the Miway agent) for 30 mins trying to verify and obtain this information. I have never had to do this for claims with my previous insurer. Is this standard process when claiming?

Once they verified the information, they approved the claim, but only in the form of a voucher. I advised that the stores they want to give me a voucher for (TakeAlot, iStore and Makro) are quite costly, and it would be better for me if they paid me the amount cash so I could replace my phone for cheaper. They refuse to do this. They are basically forcing me to spend more to replace my phone at a place which I would not usually shop at. I'm not in a position to spending a couple of thousands to replace my cellphone because my insurer is insisting that I do. So much for "doing insurance your way".

I am not happy with this outcome, as well as their claims process, Definitely need to reconsider my insurance options again. This was only a phone, I can't imagine what the process would be like if it were one of my cars, home or contents I was claiming for.