Old Mutual? Nothing mutual about it, just pure inefficiency!

Due to financial challenges I am experiencing I submitted a surrender form of my life policy on 18 November 2020 to Eunice Phillips at the Old Mutual Retail Centre in Alberton. On the day I was even advised that the payout would be even sooner because I opened an Old Mutual/Bidvest account. When I did not receive an acknowledgment of receipt/reference number for the submission, I went into the branch to enquire on the 24th of November. Eunice Phillips was on her week off, and I could not be assisted. I could not wait for her to come back on the Monday as this was an urgent matter. On 25 November I then enquired with the Head Office Customer Care Centre, Loshire Adams, who is the lady that had sent me the form. She responded promptly that she could not trace the submission. She then escalated the matter to the branch. I received a call from the "manager" Kabelo Sebiloane. He asked me to come to the branch the following day and promised that he would make sure that my matter was attended, by sending a new form, this while stressing that he was the manager and Eunice reported to him. When I got to the office he had changed his mind and he told me that he had spoken to Eunice over the phone and she had assured him that she had submitted the form to Head Office. On Monday, 30 November, having still not received anything, and not having received the promised feedback from Kabelo, I went back to the branch. Eunice was there and she informed that she made follow ups with Head Office, but she was not getting through and she told me how inefficient Head Office she was as was sitting with many claims that were unpaid. She assured me that she would call me back with feedback. The following day on 1 December, I received a call from Sebiloane who was asking me irrelevant questions about part of full surrender, he ended up asking me to come to the branch again which I did. When I got there, he informed me that Eunice had "re-submitted" the form and she showed me a reference number PFASCR***5 and CEB***. I insisted that she phone in my presence to follow up. She did and was told the turnaround time was 7 working days (so today I should have received the payout). She had informed me that I should watch out for an sms to approve the transaction when they were processing my claim. Nothing to date. On 3 December when I could not get hold of her I requested assistance from another employee of Old Mutual. She promptly got a response from this PFA Regional Service Centre who then responded to Eunice Phillips that it would take 10 working days to process. She never gave me that feedback even though I told her that I am aware of it. I had already communicated to her that I would now refer the matter to Hello Peter, and she took issue with it and stopped talking to me, as she did not respond to my emails of 2 and 4 December 2020. She ignored my emails requesting her and her manager's details who they apparently escalated my matter to. This week she is again week off and I keep getting different communication about the turn around times. Yesterday I called the branch to request the details of their managers and this information was refused and Sebiloane called me back and promised to follow up. He came back with another turn around time which is supposedly 7 days from 3 December and promised that I should received my payout on Friday. I asked if I could get that in writing and he said no. As mentioned here and to them, I have financial problems. Had it not been for that I would not have surrendered the policy. Old Mutual is acting in direct contradiction of that knowledge and are plunging me in worst debt and risking that my properties be repossessed with this continuous inefficiency and non-professionalism. What is the actual processing time for this as I have been told many differing stories? The full 15 working days since my submission has passed, it is almost a month to the expected date of 17 December promised by Kabelo. I have no confidence in a manager who cannot hold his subordinates to account. I believe that my claim was not submitted on the 18th and they are busy covering up for one another. This is evident in that despite my many requests to Eunice to give me proof of submission on the 18th, she has not done that. Even the "manager" did not know to ask such an obvious question until I asked him to. Finally, is my claim being processes, really? When will it be paid exactly, if it will. I have to know because I have to inform people that I have committed to that I will not meet my undertaking., and have to continue borrowing monies for food until He knows when at this rate. Trying to call the Customer number will no doubt give one a heart attack. I tried but because I still want to live, I have abandoned even the thought.