Don't use Outsurance unless you're 100% certain you'll never need to claim

I've been a client of OutSurance since 2015. Apart from an incident last year when our vehicle got broken into at our residence, I haven't had to claim at all. So last week my wife was driving with our car when there happened an accident right in front of her. She had no option, but to hit the brakes to avoid the accident in front of her. This caused a motorcyclist behind her to lose control of his motorcycle and inevitably the bike slammed into our car.

Now, the first thing that seems obvious to me, is the fact that my wife isn't at all to blame for the accident. A metro police officer was on the scene of the accident to take all four vehicles' drivers' statements. We got a case number.

First thing I did the next morning, was to phone my insurance to notify them of the incident. I spoke to Katlego initially. Once we got to the part where she asked me to describe what happened in the accident, I asked her to phone my wife as she would be able to provide a more accurate statement. Katlego did so, but couldn't reach my wife initially, so she phoned me again to give me a number on which my wife can reach her. Once my wife phoned the number, Kershwin Solomons answered the call and would not forward the call to Katlego as my wife requested. Instead he insisted that he would handle the claim. So he took the statement and then proceeded to make arrangements with my wife with regards to where the car must go for assessment, panelbeater preference, excess amount to be paid, etc.

I sent Kershwin a mail explaining my confusion as to why we could not continue to work with Katlego. Further to this I requested that any arrangements with regards to the repair of our vehicle, excess amounts, etc. should be discussed with me directly as I am the policy holder. The purpose of their discussion with my wife, was solely to get her statement of the accident. Nothing else. I also asked why we had to still pay an excess amount as I was under the impression that it would be a third party claim Our physical address on their system also differed from the one on my policy schedule (the correct one). Finally I wanted to know if we needed to open a case at the police station, bearing in mind that a metro police officer took the statements on the scene.

After getting no reply from Kershwin for three hours, I phoned him. He told me that he was actually in the process of responding to the mail. So we proceeded to discuss my mail over the phone. He vaguely explained the excess amount as them only proceeding with the third party claim once the vehicle is repaired. The excess would then be refundable if the claim is successful, but this can take up to six months. Everything still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I just let that argument slide. Further he insisted that we should open a case regardless of the case opened my the metro police officer. So we left work early to go sit in a queue at the police station for two hours only to find out that we can't open a case if one is already open. Complete waste of time, but we got an affidavit regardless.

So yesterday we left work early again to be at our 4pm appointment at Renew-It Edenvale as per Kershwin's arrangements. They assisted us quite efficiently . They assured us that everything was in order and explained the excess amount payable at the panelbeaters again as well as warning us that our Outbonus would be lost. We left, thinking that the ball is now properly on the roll.

However, this morning I received a mail from Kershwin claiming that he tried to contact me on my old cellphone number but failed to reach me. Once again Outsurance did not update my details when I phoned them to do so, so my old details are floating somewhere on their system. I tried to phone him back on the number in his mail, but got through to another lady who told me that Kershwin was busy on another line. She asked for my claim number after which she told me that Kershwin was looking for me to confirm my previous insurer's details. I was immediately annoyed, because this means that our claim is delayed. I asked why this is now necessary, because this isn't my first claim from Outsurance. The lady got rude and said that every claim is different and said that I should get my previous insurer's details ready before phoning back, then she just hung up. Phenomenal customer service to say the least...

When I phoned back again on the same number, I reached another gentleman once again. And again I was told that Kershwin is busy on another line. So I asked the gentleman to please make sure he updates my cellphone number. Then I mailed Kershwin to tell him that it's impossible to get hold of him and requested that he phones me back at his earliest convenience. He only responded to say that my details have been updated and that he tried to contact my "daughter" (not wife) but is corresponding with her per email now. Seeing that Kershwin clearly ignores my instructions to deal with me directly, along with the fact that he doesn't even bother to fami****ize himself with the people involved, I would like to have the claim handled by someone more competent and who actually wants to help me.

Finally, when I got a quote from Outsurance in 2015 and requested to be insured by them. All the questions (previous insurer, policy number with that insurer, reason for leaving that insurer, previous claims) were already asked and answered. It also wasn't a concern when I claimed last year to get my window fixed and ****** laptop replaced that was ****** when the car was broken into. Nor does this concern Outsurance when they take my money every month. Now, when I need them to back me in an accident that wasn't our fault, I'm being treated as a ********. I hope my frustration can be understood.