Hurry up & Wait, we trying to get out of it...

Such an experience that i have no idea where to start but here it goes, quite a lengthy read.

So 7 months and 18 days ago as the we had just welcomed the year 2020 and the first day of it we had a lovely storm that brought on the most amazing lightning.

So like most of us i had to be at work which was rather far away. With being far away from home naturally i followed the exact same procedure that was followed the first time i had to claim. I was made to have my items assessed and damage reports created for what was wrong with the items. Please bare in mind that when i signed up with Santam i disclosed the fact that i live in an extremely active lightning belt and i cannot be without insurance. I was reassured all was fine. I wasted the last few days of my leave over the festive season to get all items assessed and forwarded the damage reports through. So my experience starts as follows: The first person who was "assigned" my claim didnt even bother to contact me, only after i made contact i was told that a new person had been assigned my claim. Never the less, contact was finally made and i submitted all of my documents. I was later phoned by Adrian who told me that he will be coming through to my property to asses my goods - By this point i was already back at work (busiest time due to route planning, costings etc). I explained that i was very uncomfortable with having strangers come to my house when i was not able to be there due to the fact that our neighbors had been involved in ********** acts of crime where the ********* over power delivery men etc to gain entry to the property. My partner who was heavily pregnant as well as my sibling who was also pregnant were the only 2 females at home - alone. So the more i had to explain myself, the more convinced i was that no one was entering my property without me being there. I requested that i speak to a manager as i am now extremely uncomfortable with this and i simply will not be able to cover over 400km distance in a quick enough time if i needed to get back. Claudette was the manager that i spoke to, it simply did not matter how many times i explained myself over email or the phone i got the same default response. I am extremely irritated at the fact that Santam feels zero regard for the safety concerns of their clients but never the less. I then get an email which i am assuming was not supposed to come to me stating the fact that i am lying. Please also bare in mind that this whole time there are over 4 other people cc'd into this mail that responded zero amount of times. I missed the birth of my son because i was working, i explained this as well. Now imagine my pregnant partner and my pregnant sibling living out of cooler boxes for coming up to 3 months. I explained that i only had the 7th of march available to me for the first time off. Again Zero communication received after that. Never the less, my off day came and went and only after i made mention that this is what happened, Tahira then contacts me, i explain everything again to her, expressing my concerns. Now please understand that due to the way work is demanding i still have items needing to be collected from salvage from my previous claim - the salvage team gave up trying to arrange a time with me as my work hours are not as flexible as one would hope. I explained ALL of this. Now only under lockdown, after i made contact with them again stating that i was going to take my stuff to a s**** yard to get money to replace my items, i started getting calls from another collections place that needed to assess the damage.

It has now been over 1 month since my items were collected and i am still waiting for feedback. Adrian is the only person that has bothered to inform me about what is happening and even now more than a week later and no follow up.

My items have been standing outside and in dusty warehouse for over 7 months, i have had to pay money in to have some of my equipment replaced and sorted out through the store i originally purchased them from but due to the fact that they were older than 1 year i now had to pay to have them fixed, so i decided against paying my premium until i have had my issues resolved. I have had such a run around story with the people i am dealing with, i am almost waiting for there to be some astronomical excuse as to why things have taken so long or even worse - any reason to not pay out my claim. I have truly lost all my personality with Santam and the lack of communication from their side. I am also disgusted that as a paying customer they were not even remotely ready to assist me and meet me half way due to the concerns expressed by me relating to security. Not even after i reversed my debit order did anyone contact me to ask what the reasoning is or if everything was alright.

This has been the worst experience through Santam after i was recommended to use them by my one broker as they are supposedly always "ready to assist".... This is true when it suites them.

I have threatened to put it all over social media and now i am done. Here it is, this will be available on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as i believe everyone should be able to make an informed decision especially when it comes down to the safety of the clients family.

This would of been an entirely different story if this process was followed from the very very very first time but after explicitly expressing my safety concerns and even less was done from Santams side to meet me half way, i have absolutely nothing nice to say.

I want this process done so that i can find an alternative insurer to assist me and the needs that i have.

I am also still waiting for my call recordings as right in the beginning i stated that i need an insurance company that understands me as i do not have time to chase around after them, i also stated that i am in an area with severe lightning so i need to make sure that i am covered 100%, i also increased my power surge protection as Eskom is forever turning the power on and off in the area which causes damage to the appliances and equipment. To this day i still have not received any recordings as i keep on telling them that this is something i made very very apparent. So instead i get messed around and sent on all sorts of stories after i said in the beginning that i do not care for this. My premium was also "loaded" due to the fact that i had previously claimed for lightning damages with a previous insurer - i did not even argue with the increase as i like to be transparent. Turns out listening to the clients needs is also not a strong point of theirs.

Oh yes please i have to add one more thing in... The company that did my damage reports was forced to shut its doors 2 weeks into Lock-down. I was only asked for more information regarding the company i used towards the end of April into the beginning of May. Thus meaning it was over 3 months before they "attempted" to assist in another way, but seeing as the company no longer operates it will be a little difficult to get a hold of them and confirm what was needing to be confirmed more than 6 & a half months after date of damage. No one has manned up to this claim and just assisted, everything has been done DRAGGING feet and moving from party to party.

Anyways i am done now. I hope everyone that is considering Santam as an insurer has chance to read through my review especially if they are worried about the safety of their families at home.