My Pensioner Mother Failed by Ombudsman for Short Term Insurance

My mother a pensioner has been failed by the Ombudsman for Short Term Insurance!!! While they have taken more than 7months to give some sort of indication of where the case is. Numerous calls to them yield no results, they just tell you the matter is being dealt with and don't give an update or coherent feedback on the case.

My mother has had to make a loan of R90 000 to fix the car the Insurance failed to fix. She did this with a hope that the matter would be resolved quickly and as she had no transport. Now she is burdened and has to pay for the loan on top of all the car expenses and insurance that does not help in time of need.

I called them again this morning 15/01/2019 spoke to the Case Administrator handling the case and when I mention "Hello Peter" I was THREATENED that the case would be closed. The lady told me they are the only office in South Africa and have thousands of cases..... However their Terms Of Reference states something totally different. The Preamble says..."The Ombudsman provides, free of charge, an accessible, informal and speedy dispute resolution process to Policy Holders who have disputes with their Insurers where those disputes fall within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction." There is nothing speedy about this process and if they need more manpower they should get more it is not the problem of insuring public.

This can't be right in South Africa in 2019. This is a simple matter and all info and responses were submitted in months ago. The previous CA Monica who has now left OSTI mentioned that responses were received and matter was awaiting decision. There are no investigations underway or anything that can delay this any further.

In the meantime while customers are inconvenienced the insurance companies keep on collecting premiums when they declined to payout. Who's interest does the Ombudsman represent.