Unfair Treatment From Santam Insurance.

I am writing to complaint about how I never got any joy with regards to the process of my motor-key claim that was taken during armed *******.

I was shocked to know that Santam is presented by Assessors that has no clue in what they doing, specially that I was trained by Santam Insurance to become a qualified Assessors by Trade & Paper which I’m grateful for. Motor Assessor named Piet Kekana is the Initial Assessor appointed to settle a small remaining portion of my keys which is replacement of car keys that I’m covered for R10 000 with Excess of R250. But I can assure you that as a qualified Motor-Assessors & currently a Moderator in Motor-Assessing space(Job grade above Assessors), this man has no clue in how to complete Meritz in a claim that relates to two of my claims that are linked to each order(Claim numbers : ***-Car Keys & ***-Items taken).

To cut the long story short :

Valuable Items, Money and Vehicle keys was taken from Me at gun-point (Armed *******). Insurance, Police and Tracker Company were informed right after the incident to assist. Police was at the scene & witnesses as well. Big portion of Claim was for items that was taken and Non-Motor team handled that part of the claim. Non-Motor claim was investigated because Policy is still new and I provided them with everything they needed from the word “Go”. I did cooperate and make sure that they get whatever they needed from me. I was then concerned about Car keys claim because there was nothing happening, I then contacted Nina Zembe(Claims Service Consultant) whom confirmed that just because my Non-Motor claim (***) is being investigated, She cannot appoint Motor Assessor till that investigation is completed. I then informed her that I’m being required to get documentation and I cannot do that because I cannot drive my car since unknown person is having the main ignition key and in any case I’m not in right state of mind to drive due to incident/nor do I have drivers licence which was in the wallet that was taken as well. But anyway since I needed to proof my loss there was nothing I could do, I asked if I can at least get a Rental vehicle so that I can use it for all this run-around they need me to do. Nina advised that I must not worry because Santam process is fast once investigation is done on Non-Motor Section everything will be processed quickly. I did make a plan to get all documentation & information they want, then my claim was processed and finalized even though amount settled is not even half of my ****** items, in which I didn’t have power to even fight it since I lost hope with Santam anyway.

To my surprise when I followed up with Piet Kekane(Motor Assessor) on the progress for claim of cars keys, I was advised that the claim has been referred for investigation. Reason for follow-up was because I need to replace main ignition key & have Mercedes Benz to recode both Spare-Key & New Main Ignition-Key so that no one can start the vehicle even if I use it. Door lock-barrier will have to be ordered from German and I thought may that I can do later since once both spare and new main key are coded no one can start the car even though they can unlock it.

Now my main concern is that yesterday dated 03/05/2021 I used the vehicle to go to Menlyn Shopping Mall to get a Phone(provided to santam) & Electric Cigarette (Invoice provided to Santam) replacement of solen items and as I return to my vehicle it didn’t want to start since the battery was flat, I called Santam SOS and they did assist with jump-stating the car so that I can drive home (Invoice provided to Santam as proof). Take note that this car was not in use for almost 2 weeks now with tracker & other vehicle units such as alarm system and Mercedes Me adapter that safeguard the vehicle. All those components are connected & run on Battery if vehicle is off, all that killed the Cells as advised on Damage Report & replacement invoice provided to Santam. Today I went to Battery Centre and I’ve spent R4600 (Invoice sent to Santam) to replace the Mercedes Benz Battery that was damaged due to my vehicle not being used and the reason for the vehicle not being used was because of Santam poor service that I’m still in shocked for because Santam is labeled as “Leading Insurance Company” that provides “Good & Proper Service” to clients. Now in my case where was all that, why didn’t I get that service?

Now Santam can send 7000 investigators if they want to, they will find me at 0142 Jeff’s Place in Pretoria, Postal Code 0001. Once they done with all the investigation, Santam will have to settle me for My vehicle car keys, My Battery that was damaged due to Santam negligence & the Trauma I went through dealing with this whole process. If Santam is not willing to do so, I will take this matter with Lawyers and still claim all cost from my Policy because Santam is really being unhelpful in a situation where Insurer must play a big role to protect the interest of the Insured.

Should the new battery dies as well since the vehicle is parked in the ba*****t not in use, I will also claim for a second new battery.

All documentation/information has been sent directly to Santam Insurance. That was done so that I can Proof my loss again to Sir Piet Kekana since his the professor in feeling if something is not right, He cannot even elaborate as to why was this claim send for investigation, while the investigation has been done on the other claim that links to this claim. Telling me that it’s the Manager told him to refer to SIU, while I know it’s a lie.

I hate dealing with two face people. He should have asked me on when we spoke on Tuesday dated 04/05/2021, I was going to inform him about the incident and that investigation was already done, He can follow up with Backoffice team/Non-motor team. I called him today and he couldn’t even answer me when I asked him if he did look at the history of the claim but his *********** A$$ couldn’t man up and answer my question. He kept saying “What must I do if I don’t feel right with approving the claim”, I told him it’s his job as an Assessor to investigate me to complete his Meritz then if we don’t come to agreement, He can refer to Investigation team/Higher management.

Insurance is a **** to people of colour and I’ve been hearing lots of people complaint about it. We do not get the same benefits/treatment as other race. I now have experienced that and I can feel the pain of those that has been crying to me when I was assisting with their claims. This is the same reason why large number of people of colour do not insure their items. This kind of behavior must come to an end.