SANTAM, INSURANCE "NOT" GOOD AND PROPER!!!!!!

I am with Santam now for around 4 years. I was with Budget Insurance for the past 14 years before changing to Santam. I am a person who never claims, and the only instances I claimed with Budget Insurance was when I was rear-ended with my car once from the back and then when I drove over a stray dog over a national highway; including for a TV that blew due to a power surge in around 2015.

So my nephew is raving for the past 10 years about his EXCELLENT experience with Santam. I decide to change over to experience the SAME EXCELLENCE. Thats when things started going south recently for me.

I put in a claim for a fridge replacement. The Assessor comes out, writes up a report and my claim is declined.

In the same instance I put in a claim for my TV that broke. Low and behold, I (yes me), I must now take the TV to a TV Assessor and get a Report for Santam. When I was with Budget Insurance I called to claim for my TV in 2015 on the Monday and on the Thursday in the same week a dude came to deliver a new TV and set it up for me in the comfort of my home.

This nonsense of driving around for insurance assessment is something totally new to me. I'm not use to this. I must now load an almost 50" TV into my car and drive to 3 assessors to get comparative quotes. What NONSENSE is this? With Budget Insurance I NEVER had such an issue.

I complained to my nephew who referred me to Santam this afternoon and he begged me not to change back to Budget Insurance (which I'm STRONGLY CONSIDERING).

I'm beginning to doubt that if something horrible should happen for which I am insured for, will Santam even assist. This is becoming a worry for me and Im seriously stressing over my insurance cover with Santam. For 4 years they deducted their monthly premiums without fault and which I NEVER skipped a payment. Now, when I want to claim for a SIMPLE replacement of a fridge and TV, Santam is giving me the runaround, OR shall I say the turndowns.

Even the agents at Santam shows no empathy or sympathy. My nephew, the one who referred me to Santam, laid a complained last month after I advised him to, because he was in a car accident and claimed through them and the Agent he spoke to was SO RUDE over the phone. I told him when I was with Budget Insurance and was rear-ended, those agents called me almost everyday to ask me if I was okay and to give me a status on the repairs of my vehicle. Budget Insurance even offered to pay for counseling and for physio for myself, my wife and two daughters who were in the car when I was rear-ended (that's the extent to which my family and I were spoilt insurance-wise).

After 4 years of faithful insurance premium payments monthly, I was denied a claim for a fridge and now I'm given the runaround for the replacement of a TV.

Im now seriously doubting, based on my recent experience after 4 years, that Santam will cover me if something happens for which I AM PAYING TO BE COVERED FOR! With Budget Insurance I didnt even read the T&Cs, or even the contract, as I was confident in my insurer. However, Im finding myself registering online on the Santam website to see EXACTLY what they are covering, as I have currently NO FAITH in Santam's promise of "Insurance, good and proper".

Santam, THIS IS NOT INSURANCE GOOD AND PROPER.............

Dustin Davids (B.Admin, B,.Admin Hons, MPA, MPhil Law, current PhD candidate)