Complaint - Poor Customer Service

I had an incident on November 14, 2021 in which my phone was accidentally exposed to water. I had then went directly to Nicolway MTN to claim for Accidental Liquid Damage, however I was told that they do not deal with claims in store and that I was to fill out the claims form and email it to *** - which was done on the same day at 19h15. I then received a reply with a ticket number. Thereafter, I did not receive any response, until I called the claims department on *** to follow up on the 15th. I was then told by a lady named Fortune/Fortunate, that my policy was still under my old phone and that when I did the upgrade, I had to call the insurance to update them as well, which was never relayed to me when I did the upgrade in September 2020. I was then told that in order for my claim to be processed, the policy on the Galaxy A6 needed to be cancelled and updated, and that I needed to pay a back billing fee of +-R500.00 - which I find unacceptable. I then received a call the next day from sales, 16th - again only after I had called the claims department to follow up on my query - I spoke to a gentleman named Rob, he assisted with updating my policy for the upgraded phone. He informed me that the policy has been activated and that I can claim for any damage as soon as the next day. Immediately, I called claims and informed them that my policy was updated and that I need the claim to be processed asap, as I currently do not have a phone and I use my phone for work purposes as I work remotely. And this is affecting my work negatively, as people from my company cannot get a hold of me efficiently. I spoke to Fortunate again, she advised that the claim will only be processed once the back billing fee is paid and that I will receive an email with the amount to be paid and the billing details. Even though I find it absolutely unacceptable that I have to pay this fee when I was not informed accordingly when I did my upgrade, I have not received an email since then, until I called yesterday to follow up again. Does this mean all queries are left unattended to until the customer calls to follow up? This is pathetic customer service. Till today, my query has not been resolved and I'm still without a phone.