Disappointed

I would like to express my sincere disappointment with the level of service I received from Standard Bank Insurance when I wanted to submit a claim for water damage. Despite a friendly consultant on the line every time I phoned, they simply referred me to clause 2.2 on page 10 of my policy document and said that the damage was not covered and I could not submit a claim. The said clause states “If the water is cut off by the municipality for whatever reason and then You leave Your tap open and the water is turned on and this causes Your house to be flooded, there is no cover.” If the paragraph is read with the proper and correct insight, it is clear that the insurer is speaking with the insured directly and advising that if the insured leaves the tap open, there is no cover. I would like to point out that I did not leave the tap open – it was accidentally pushed open when a guest of my tenant pushed an electric braai grill against the tap while the water had been shut off by the municipality for some work to be done. The guest did not notice this and when the water supply was restored while everyone was sleeping, the house was flooded. Although this may sound like simple semantics, it is in my opinion ambiguous and subject to more than one interpretation. In such a case the law favours the party that did not draw up the contract (in this case the insured). What is now clear to me is that Standard Bank does not take any risk – the insurance I pay every month is in fact DISASTER insurance – they only pay out if my house burns down or if there is a hurricane or earthquake or some other natural disaster – they do not cover anything that happened by accident. I caution people to read the fine print of their contracts very carefully in future! What is so disappointing is that I have been a longstanding client of Standard Bank and the claim is in fact very small (two bedroom carpets that need to be replaced). I am afraid that if this is the kind of service I get from Standard Bank when there is a claim, then I am forced to look for another insurance company that still regards its clients as humans and not numbers and will use discretion when a claim is submitted. Even if I am not a big client, I still want to feel that I am an important client. I have always thought (and spoke) very highly of Standard Bank, but now I am not so sure …