Pineapple lies about excess

Hi all

I've recently been ****** for my cellphone. A Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Purchased for R28 000 at the time of it's launch. I considered to insure with pineapple insurance based on the fact that the excess, (should anything happen) will be deducted from the total payout. I was happy with this and decided to take insurance with pineapple. I specially even used BOLD letters to highlight important parts of the question. The lady in question, her name is Nokothula I have the conversations and emails ready and on hand. Long story short, I sent through all required info, and finally! My claim was approved and I'm good to go. Only to find out that once my claim was approved, I needed to pay an excess of R3500 not to pineapple, but to Phone fast, a company which supplies cellphones to insurance brokers upon further investigation into this company, I learnt that some of the devices coming from phone fast seem to have out of box failures as well as reviews of people's phone's going faulty a few days in.

(These peopled ended up having their phones repaired at a cost of 14 Days, with no loan device):

I believe I was over insured for the device at R25 000. The excess from pineapple is R3500 I can get the same cellphone for R20 000 at a nearby shop, brand new. I have suggested pineapple do a cash in Liu (Cash payment in insurance terms) for R20 000 so I can purchase my cellphone with immediate effect as the phone is used to handle my website and all orders that come through. I have lost out on business an entire week now. I've lost my income for an entire week due to the ******* of my cellphone. And now, I am slapped with the shock of me paying R3500 in excess when I was reassured by pineapple that the excess will be deducted from the payout. So I am rather requesting a payout than for phone fast to handle the claim, as I cannot afford R3500 during the unrest and I don't feel comfortable after the reviews I've read about phone fast.

All I need is R19 900 for a brand new cellphone, what pineapple does with the rest of the money, I do not care, and they can take it for whatever they like. My main concern is, I do not have excess to pay for this claim when I was promised my excess would be deducted.

I urgently await pineapples decision on this and would be more than happy to provide the transcript (Chat or email history) between Nokothula and myself that says excess is deducted on payout.

It's now been an entire week since the ordeal and phonefast will take another further few days to deliver my cellphone (Should I have the R3500 excess) I think the logical thing to do for both parties. Would be to Give me the cash for my cellphone so I can buy it within the hour of it being received. And the excess be deducted from my claim amount which is R25 000. So that I as a customer am not delayed anymore, and I can begin receiving an income during this terrible unrest in South Africa.

If anyone is reading this, what do you think pineapple should do? I also believe they will be saving more money, by rather giving me the settlement than to use phonefast. Please let me know your thoughts if you are a reader.

My question to pineapple insurance is: How do we resolve this issue amicably, as you have told me, excess is deducted and now suddenly upon a claim, the tunes have changed. What do you have to say about this? And should I be approaching the ombudsman regarding this?

If you resolve this in the best interest of the client, I shall remove my review on Hellopeter, Facebook, and google.

Until then I am highly stressed out regarding my income, my cellphone, my business and the masses of customers, friends and family I've lost contact with. I do not have a cellphone and now it is Friday, I will be going another 3 days without a cellphone. PS: the claims consultants name is Kaashifa and she's been absolutely lovely and a pleasure to deal with during this whole claiming procedure and am very happy with her service. However I am disgusted at the unfair change of plans and I need something done about it.