No policy document supp**** for over a year, now claim rejected unfairly

<p>Standard Bank Bond account ********** 21</p> <p>Insurance policy number – unknown</p> <p> </p> <p>We bought our property in August 2015. When we signed the papers at the attorneys office, they advised that Standard Bank had underwritten homeowners insurance and that it would be included in the bond payment. We were told that Standard Bank would be in contact to explain the terms and conditions of the policy. This did not materialise.</p> <p>I have made previous calls to Standard Bank to determine the nature of the policy I am paying for. I have on two previous occasions requested for the policy document to be sent to me, this has still not materialised.</p> <p>In December last year, my lapa fell over during a storm. I did not know at the time that the lapa was actually covered by my insurance policy, and that I could legitimately claim for its repair. I did not know this, because again, I had not seen the policy document to be able to determine what I was covered against.</p> <p>Three weeks ago we had another terrible storm that caused my gate motor to stop working. While calling in that claim, I decided to claim for my lapa as well having been told over the phone that I was covered for R50 000 for the lapa. Yesterday I learnt that my claim for the lapa was being rejected because too much time had lapsed since it fell over, and that it was a problem with maintenance and wear-and-tear that caused the lapa to collapse in the first place.</p> <p>A lapa, to my knowledge, is an external fixed structure. How is anyone supposed to maintain it? Does the structure need to be inspected? What condition should it reasonably be expected to be kept in, such that my insurance policy would cover damages due to inclement weather? I am unduly prejudiced because I am not in possession of a policy document to explain these matters, despite requests for it to be supp**** to me. I don’t understand how my claim for damages to an external structure that has no moving parts, can be denied on the grounds of wear-and-tear. That makes absolutely no sense. It stands outside exposed to the elements every single day – rain, sunshine, hail, wind and lightning. It is SUPPOSED to show wear and tear because of the very nature of its purpose – to protect those sitting underneath! This is bizarre to say the least.</p> <p>With regard to the timing of the claim versus when the incident occurred, I cannot reasonably be held accountable for terms of a policy I have never seen. Standard Bank have no problems debiting my account every month for this policy, yet have at no time engendered to make sure I understood what I am paying for. I see a sum of money going off my account every month, and I don’t even know what the premium for this policy is! It goes off as a lump sum together with the bond repayment. I don’t know what it costs me, neither do I know what I am paying for.</p> <p> </p> <p>When I asked the call centre agent yesterday to put me through to a manager so I could explain this situation, she bluntly told me that their managers do not take calls from clients and that she would send me the rejection letter and where I could send my complaints.</p> <p> </p> <p>Really shoddy service, and *****ed ways of doing business in my opinion!</p> <p> </p>