DAY LIGHT ******* - CLAIM 573987

<p>My mother (a pensioner) has been insured with Standard Bank for the longest time as she also banks with them. On the 20th of December 2016, the tree inside her property in Mthatha, EC caught fire due to lightening that struck it. That day saw a huge ugly storm in the small town. The fire brigade arrived on time and put the blaze out. She then requested her insurance to assist to remove the tree. She was instructed by Standard Bank to find a tree feller as they did not have contacts that part of the world, she did this and upon submission of the invoice which showed R6000, she was informed that they can only pay R480 because according to them, this is how much such a service costs. I am no tree feller but I know that R480 is definitely not how much it costs to remove a tree that big (over 20 years old). </p> <p> </p> <p>My question is simple, if Standard Bank had known that they have a limit to how much they can pay, why did they not communicate this upfront? Even if so, it was their responsibility to send their own service provider which they use for such services. They did not request 3 quotes, they said she must get it done and they will reimburse her. </p> <p> </p> <p>My biggest issue with this is the fact that I then had to intervene on her behalf and contacted Standard Bank insurance myself (on email) requesting that they look into this as it has impacted my mother in a very negative way. She had to pay the service provider R6000, he had done his job, only to recover R480 even after she had provided a valid invoice to the insurance. I was referred to a lady by the name of Ezelda who is supposed to be a manager of the claims division as the call centre agent indicated that he could not overrride such decisions. Ezelda du Plessis (Digicall) has never given my issue the time of day as she never repsonded despite the numerour follow ups. </p> <p> </p> <p>I want the amount reimbursed to my mother and thereafter I will seek an alternative insurance company for her because this is just ridiculous! Standard Bank gives poor service to poor people in disadvantaged communities because they know these people do not know any better.</p>