Unfair Debit Practice and Poor Customer Service from Pineapple Insurance

I am very disappointed with how Pineapple Insurance handled a recent issue regarding my monthly premium debit.

From the start of my policy, it was agreed and arranged that my premium would be debited from my account on the 25th of each month, a date I chose to ensure there would always be sufficient funds. However, in September, Pineapple failed to debit my account on the agreed date without giving me any prior notice or warning. Instead, they attempted to debit my account on the 1st of October, when there were no funds available, and then informed me they would be charging an additional R50 penalty for the missed premium.

I immediately contacted them to arrange for the premium to be debited as soon as possible so that my cover would remain active. In that same communication, I also raised three important concerns:

Why was my account not debited on the 25th as per our agreement?

How will Pineapple ensure that my account is debited on the correct date going forward?

Why should I be penalised R50 for something that was not my fault?

Unfortunately, the responses I received were dismissive and failed to address my concerns. I was never given an explanation for the late debit. No effort was made to provide assurance that this would not happen again. And despite my valid objection, Pineapple went ahead and deducted both my premium and the R50 penalty from my account.

They were very quick to point out that the R50 fee is part of the contract I signed—but completely ignored the fact that they failed to hold up their side of the agreement by not debiting my account on the agreed-upon date. That’s not how a fair contract works.

I wasn’t going to escalate this initially, but I believe it’s a matter of principle. Pineapple cannot enforce their policies selectively when it benefits them financially. R50 may seem like a small amount, but in this economy, every cent counts, and if this happens to other customers too, it begins to feel as though Pineapple is using this tactic to collect extra fees unnecessarily.

All I’m asking for is a fair and transparent service. I hope Pineapple will take accountability, provide the explanation I’ve asked for repeatedly, and ensure this does not happen again—not just for me, but for other policyholders as well.