Double Debit Order taken from Account in December!

I am extremely unhappy regarding the double debit order for my Sanlam Indie Life Insurance Policy taken from my Bank Account on 15 December 2020 - without any prior notice or consultation.

When enquiring about the double debit order, the consultant Aqeedah Gamza said that Sanlam would investigate the matter. The company's response was as follows: "Due to us not receiving feedback regarding details so that a nurse could be sent out to you to do medical tests. Therefore a smokers premium was app**** when the medical requirements expired again in December".

This is ABSOLUTE NONSENSE and PREPOSTEROUS!! I took out the Policy in August 2020, and the Sanlam Indie consultant who spoke to me over the phone when authorising the Policy NEVER said anything about a nurse visit nor did she make any arrangements or give any indication that medical tests are required.

In fact, she explicitly stated that "...as it was still Lockdown Level 4 no medical tests are required as this stage". She certainly DID NOT state that any penalties or so-called "Smoker's Premium" would be imposed if there were no medical tests or nurse visit has not been done before December 2020.

There was NO CONTACT from Sanlam/Sanlam Indie to indicate that nurse visits/medical data was required, nor any correspondence about possible penalties or extra premiums - i.e. we have had NO CONTACT from the company at all since Policy inception date.

It is absolutely abhorring for Sanlam to take a double debit order from a household already under strain because of income loss due to Covid-19 - and it is especially despicable to rob people of their hard-earned money during December, which is a difficult and expensive month as it is.

I demand a FULL REFUND of the UNAUTHORISED and illicit double premium taken from my bank account since there was NO CORRESPONDENCE or contact from Sanlam to indicate that a nurse visit/medical exam was required by a certain date in order to avoid penalties.

Sanlam's excuse of "..."Due to us not receiving feedback regarding details so that a nurse could be sent out to you to do medical tests. Therefore a smokers premium was app**** when the medical requirements expired" is ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE and PATHETIC as they never asked for so-called "feedback", nor did they EVER ask a nurse to visit, nor did they contact me at all regarding this matter.

Their blatant lie is so transparent since my spouse took out the exact same Sanlam Policy at the exact same date (under her own name), and her account was NOT debited twice; nor was any so-called "smoker's premium" levied against her policy - despite the fact that she has also not had any contact/feedback or requests to go for a medical exam/nurse visit.

I.e. how can a "smoker's premium" be charged to one partner of the household and not the other - even though our policies are exactly the same, our inception dates were the same date, and we have the exact same health data (i.e. being non-smokers) as supp**** to the Consultant who executed the Policy inception in August.

This is just another example of a big company bullying ordinary people, as they have now taken more than R4000 off my account, and are making up excuses (BLATANT LIES!) to not give the money back that they took *******ly!

If this is not resolved asap we will report you to the Insurance Ombudsman and all other insurance governing bodies and regulators in South Africa.

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Sanlam Indie <***> Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2020, 14:48 Subject: Re: Conversation with To:

Hi Andre,

We apologise for the delay in our response.

Due to us not receiving feedback regarding details so that a nurse could be sent out to you to do medical tests. Therefore a smokers premium was app**** when the medical requirements expired again in December.

Kindly forward us an address and contact details so we may arrange for Imeds/nurses on wheels to contact you regarding your medical testing.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Chat soon, Aqeedah Gamza Service Delivery Agent | Sanlam Indie

M +***9 A 2nd Floor Tijgerpark 5, Sportica Rd, Bellville, 7530 W sanlamindie.co.za

Ticket: https://sanlamindie.freshdesk.com/helpdesk/tickets/5055

On Thu, 17 Dec at 10:18 AM , ANDRE wrote:

08:55 AM, 16th Dec ANDRÉ

Why was there a double debit of my premium on my account today with no prior notice of the debit?

08:55 AM, 16th Dec Aqeedah

Hi Andre We apologise for the inconvenience caused. We will investigate and get back to you soonest. Chat soon,

10:17 AM, 17th Dec View conversation in Freshchat 5055:919859