DISGUSTING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE!

Sunday, 30 Aug 2020 my built in oven blew! it had flames within in the oven and luckily the door was closed as my 2 year old child was playing just under the oven. This frightened the whole family and fortunately i am somewhat trained as a fire marshall and immediately advised my wife to turn the main power off for the oven and stove.

i call Standard bank insurance on Tuesday / Wednesday the same week and processed an insurance claim where i was specifically advised there will be no excess fee in the event of repair / replacement. I then arranged to have the assessment done the following Saturday 05/09/2020 at 11 AM. I had to take my 64 year old mother on an errand and made it in time home that morning. After rushing my elderly mother to try and ensure that i get the assessors in time i arrived home only to find that NOBODY made an attempt to visit my property.

i called in this current week and i was advised that the claim was processed as a "white appliances"claim. Which proves that after explicitly explaining the stress of the situation as well as the structure of the oven being BUILT IN, the advisor who initially took my call completely failed to listen and has inconvenienced me ONCE AGAIN!

After several phone calls - after advisors call avoiding - i've finally gotten someone that was able to then advise of this white appliance application incorrectly submitted and arranged for a provided to come through 09/09/2020. i advised that the assessors need to come the morning after i dropped my wife off so that i could be at home.

i made arrangements with my work to be at home and after several phone cal;ls YET AGAIN between standard bank insurance and the service provider arguing about who has my details with them to confirm if there will be anyone on site, Standard bank insurance has yet again incorrectly done their job. The service provider explained that they did not have the details for my claim and even if they did they would be able to assist as the electrician is only back from annual leave in the coming week of WC 14/09/2020.

In this time of waiting for the electrician. My water tap was gushing out water in the bathroom and no matter how i tried to close it, it just did not work. I quickly turned off the mains and attempted to remove the washer myself as i did before when this happened to see if there was anything that was preventing the tap from closing. In doing this for some reason my entire connection to the tap underneath my sink came loose.

i decided to rather call to standard bank insurance again (after asking for assistance from a family member who explained they cannot assist) as i believe i would be covered in certain events to arrange for a plumber to quickly attend to the matter as this was FAR BEYOND my scope of understanding regarding any plumbing work.

The plumbers quickly came through to assist and saw that the pipes had been disconnected in my futile attempt to put it back together. He took a look at the job ahead regarding the washer that needed replacing and said its old parts they would not get it anywhere and i should rather process the claim to pay an excess fee of R1200.00. Bottom-line : he was not going to assist.

In kindly asked him to at least as a a favor to me to connect the pipes again and id rather make my way to a hardware for the washer and put it together again myself as i at least know that much. Of which he assisted.

An hour passed and i then decided to attempted at insert the washer as is again and assemble the tap again as to my understanding the main connection was in place again thankfully to the plumber from standard bank insurance. After turning on the tap there was a major leak as the plumber had not correctly put the connections in place.

Not thinking about the number the plumber used to call me. i yet again called standard bank insurance to inform them to send the plumber again to assist with the job after i explained it was a favor he did for me and was not within the scope of the claim however i needed assistance with reconnecting the pipes.

not long after the call, the plumber called me and scold at me asking me why i called standard bank insurance telling them he did something he wasn't supposed to. After explaining my conversation with the advisor to the plumber i went as far out of desperation to ask him to please come back and assist- i'd even pay him seperately if i had to because i had no running water in the house at all due to the leak which would only cause a higher rates bill. the plumber aggressively explained he wants "nothing to do with the job"any longer and told me that he will NOT be coming back and i can call standard bank and complain about this if i wanted to and that i needed to go and pay a private service rather.

in desperation i quickly googled a service provider within my area and they explained they will charge me R550 for a callout aside for anything else that needs to be done. My only money i had left for the month other than petrol money i ahd put aside to get to and from work and possibly use to support my 1.5year old and 3yr old sons and wife i had to use in order to sort my plumbing issue. Which now will total to R1200.00 for the job at hand.

I understand the plumber was not to assist in the first place however he did. and his assistance was appreciated in the time not realising the incomplete work he has done.

after the plumber's debacle i then decided to contact standard bank insurance yet again as i ws expecting someone to be at my property my 11am and was then told it was arranged for before 5PM. YET AGAIN poor standards of listening by standard bank insurance! They advised me to rather make contact with the provider and arrange for an earlier visit.

the provider explained they do not have my information and YET AGAIN had to call standard bank insurance to find out what was going on only then to find out on the call that they NOW HAD submitted the claim information!

i called back to the provider and STILL had no record of my information! and explained later on the call that even if they received my information they would not be able to assist as there is no electrician on site until Monday 14/09/2020.

I CALLED BACK to standard bank insurance to find out why they are lying to me and they quickly reappointed a new provider who was to visit by 5PM same day. WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN!

I need to pick up my wife in the CBD and leave the house by 5.30 to get her from work by 6PM and still no communication and no update on the electrician! I had spent by this time nearly R400.00 in airtime and now a further R1200.00 of money which I do not have just laying spare. The money I am now forced to used to sort oput my plumbing is utilised to ensure my 2 young children and wife is provided for of which now I will not have!

On my way home at 6.50PM the electricians FINALLY called to advise that they will be there as soon as they are done with their current job and only arrived at my home around 8PM that evening which I was SO grateful for considering the customer experience I’ve had so far. At this point all I can wish for is for my life to move on from this nightmare that has inconvenience me so much that I needed to plea for a day off from work during this unprecedented and uncertain times. I had taken a day off from work only for me to spend money on trying to contact s standard bank insurance to get my issues resolved only to find out that there were already SO MANY issues of poor customer service the company provides.

The electricians then advised based on the age of my blown oven and electrical work it is best to rather replace the oven. With a sigh of relief knowing that I wont be taking any further risks with this old oven I had purchased with my house I was then also further explained that it would cost ANOTHER R1200.00 for the excess fee!

I am sorry but with the absolutely disgusting service and experience I’ve had with standard bank insurance I cannot accept this considering all the money, time, effort and inconvenience this experience has costed me! All I want is for my excess to be wavered. And not be shown inconsistencies in standard bank insurance’s process of being told I cant be transferred through to the complaints team after I had been transferred with no ownership and commitment to resolve my query just a day ago on TWO occasions!

I cannot take the stress and anxiety this process is causing me any longer! How do I take this further if I don’t get what is due to me for this disgusting experience!??