Food Poisoning

Ocean Basket - Cape Gate, Brackenfell

Really disappointing experience, especially considering how serious the original incident was.

My father became seriously ill after eating at this restaurant and ended up spending around 4–5 days in hospital. Obviously, this was a pretty frightening experience for him and for our family.

I contacted the restaurant's support team and eventually got hold of the branch owner, who assured me that the matter would be passed on to their third-party insurer and that they would contact me.

That was unfortunately not the case for quite some time. I ended up following up roughly every three days, and it took about a month before the insurer finally contacted me.

I provided the medical invoice as requested. I was then asked to provide proof that the medical expenses weren't covered by medical aid. They were covered by medical aid, but I don't really understand why that means the incident itself suddenly becomes irrelevant. My father still spent several days in hospital because of what happened.

We also explained that he lost a day's income as a result. I completely understand that some proof may be needed for a financial claim, but we are now being asked for various employment documentation.

At this point, the whole process is becoming incredibly frustrating.

I'm more than happy to provide reasonable documentation to support a legitimate claim. My issue is the amount of admin involved, combined with the terrible communication from both the restaurant's support team and the insurance team. The amount of back-and-forth is really becoming tiresome.

What I also think is unreasonable is waiting a month just to be contacted by the insurer, only to then be faced with these increasingly complicated administrative requirements.

I'm not posting this expecting special treatment or trying to make accusations. I simply think that when a customer becomes sick enough to spend 4–5 days in hospital after eating at your restaurant, the matter should be handled with a bit more urgency and consideration.

I would still like to see this resolved properly, but after the experience so far, I can't honestly say I'm happy with how this has been handled.

Note: Dad went to restaurant on the 9th of August, hospitalized on the 10th. Insurer only contacted me 10th of September.