Santam *****ing from the little people

<p>On the 25 November 2016 my husband was involved in a accident on Jan smuts highway, on his way home from work,he was driving along a two way road when a white Toyota hilux NT53207 came out the parking of the side of the road and smashed into my Hyundai getz ND408511. Immediately the driver came out saying sorry and addmitted he didn't see me. Then we moved aside of the road to take each others details he wrote and signed saying the accident was entirely his fault and he said it was a company van and insurance (Santam) will sort out my car. He called me and said he sorry he smashed into my car but insurance will fix everything and then we contacted the owner of the company bushveld firewood MARCEL DU PREEZE as he is the owner to advise of the accident.<br />Marcel then told me not to worry his insurance will fix my car. I got 2 quotes,<br />The 1st quote was 48000 rands and the 2nd quote given advised that the car was uneconomical to fix basically a write off because the damages is higher than the book value of the car. This was devastating to me as this was the first car that I owned and only thing of value that I have.<br />Marcel then gave my husband a claim number on 14 December 2016 and told me to call the legal department to sort out my car.</p> <p>When I contacted the legal department on 17 December 2016. I spoke to Jessica who then gave me another number to call and speak to Zama Nene. I called and asked for Zama Nene but was passed around from person to person and finally got upset with the 6th person I spoke to. She took down my details and advised that Welcome Mo***eng is handling my case and there are details outstanding. She advised he is not in and will call me back when he is. On the 22nd of December 2017 I contacted Welcome and he then he explained that there are documents outstanding and emailed me the documents I needed to collect.</p> <p>I had at the time a 6 week old baby at home so it took me a bit of time to get the documents together. On the 6th of January 2017 I emailed Welcome with all documents and photos he requested. On 10 January 2017 Welcome emailed me saying "We confirm that we have received feedback from our Digital Assessors. <br />The claim has now been allocated to Julia Mogase her e-mail ********** On 10 January 2017 I emailed Julia M and advised her of my contact details. On 17 January I email her again asking for progress on this case however did not get any response.</p> <p>After receiving no response my husband then contacted Julia on 20 January 2017. Julia advised my husband that she will speak to the broker and get back to him. She advised she will send the email with the amount Santam is paying on Saturday or Monday. Julia sent me an email with the final outcome stating that Santam will settle the claim with R12254,59 only. I called her later that day to explain to me how this was possible and asked he how does this put me in the same position that I was before the accident occurred, she advised that I will never be in the same position because it's responsibility that all drivers be vigilant and it wasn't entirely the fault of the person that knocked into me. Yet he admitted he was wrong and wrote a statement saying it was his fault, His vehicle was fixed but mine wasn't. Julia was rude and didnt want to answer my questions and advised that everything is written on the email and that I must seek legal aid. I advised her that I will be contacting the ombudsman, she said thats okay and I can go ahead with that. My husband called her the next day as he also had alot of questions, she advised there is nothing that she can do as that is the amount Santam is offering and he can get a lawyer and fight it if he wants to. Santam has given us 30 days to respond. Is this fair that a big insurance company and a business man put myself and my husband in this position and take away the little that we have? Santam is not a trustworthy name obviously and are being unfair and selfish. All I want is to be put in the same position I was before. Once again it's the little man against the big corporations who pretend they are doing good business but ***** the little we have.</p> <p> </p>