Claim

Good day,

I am not very happy how Santam handled my complaint about a claim. The response I received I feel like they just wanted to dismiss my complaint and close it. I have been with this company since 2012, and i think now it's time for me to cancel or end my relationship with the company. Below is the complaint i sent to Santam, and i also responded to express my dissatisfaction, and i never received a response. Santam service standard has really declined as compared to the early years that i started a relationship with them. It is very sad that it has come to this .

On 19 September 2025, I reported to the insurance and lodged a claim to have a suspected leak detected and fixed. This came as a result of the water that I suspected to be coming from interconnected bathrooms in my house. This started when I discovered that the skirting in my bedroom had mould. Upon removing it to avert it spreading to the wooden floor in my bedroom, it revealed that the wall behind it was moist. Days later some water showed on the wall edge. I then reported it to the insurance (Santam). Santam dispatched a plumbing company to check what could be the cause of a leak. Their report indicated that there was no leak on the wall in the bathrooms and therefore that they believed the showers were not well maintained and not well sealed on the water irrigation hole. Therefore, the claim was closed, and we found the plumber to come and seal both showers properly, however the problem continued. I then contacted Santam again to advise that I am still experiencing the same problem, and they dispatched the same company to check again, because we had thought that maybe they might have missed the leak, It so happened that when the two gentlemen who sent by the company were about to leave the premises, my husband arrived. The white individual informed my husband that they did not detect any leak and further that such a problem might have been a result of earth rotation which may have had an impact on the pipes in the shower drainage. Consequently, we called our own plumber whom we informed about the leak detector assessment report, and therefore that he should check and seal the irrigation holes of both the showers. Such was carried out, however the water continued to leak to a point that it started to spoil the wooden floor in my bedroom. I once again informed the Santam. An assessor was dispatched to come and assess the damage. His report was also that there was no pipe leakage. As the problem persisted, we called the plumber again. On 15 February 2025, the plumber came and started digging both the showers to get to the drainage pipes in those showers. No leakage was discovered. Given then no leakage was revealed in the pipes, the plumber advised that to avoid breaking the entire surface looking for a possible leak in the drainage pipe rather we insert a new drainage pipe to connect the showers anew. The plumber did all that on 15 and 16 February 2025. Unfortunately, the water continued to leak and come out from somewhere in the showers. It would be stuck in the corners of the walls behind the showers. On 22 February 2025, the plumber came again to see how the water continued to come out. Recalling that we had informed the plumber that the insurance and its leak detector and assessor had indicated that there was no leakage in the pipes and therefore that the issue was lack of maintenance in the showers hence the plumber had to work on the showers, and further recalling that the plumber had worked on the shower and did not find any fault, he (plumber) then had to recheck the newly installed irrigation holes by reopening those parts only, found no fault again and went on to chip the tiles on the main bedroom shower breaking to hall from the showerhead to the shower mixer to establish if any leak could be on the wall. Nothing was discovered. On 08 March 2025, the plumber had to come again as the problem had not been sorted out. At that stage the bedroom walls behind the showers had mould. Paint on the bedroom side of the shower on the other bathroom had already cracked. Upon noticing the cracked paint, the plumber opted to check the pipes on the wall by digging the wall. After removing the tiles in the shower (not the main bathroom shower), the plumber discovered that the wall was very wet. He then went forth to dig the wall then water started to show coming from the wall. In digging further to reach the copper pipes, the water leak on the pipe started to show more as it oozed out. It became very clear to us there was a leak in the wall and that the water came from the leak. This therefore means that the leak detector and/or the person/s who carried out leak detecting did not do a proper job. This is so because they had said there was no leak after they had checked the wall using their detectors. This has been the most frustrating process for us. The insurance informed us that they will not cover the if the problem was not linked to pipe leak. Therefore, they only settled for the damage on the flooring. We have attached videos to show where the leak was coming from. Kind Regards M P Sedupane Contact No :***