REJECTED INSURANCE CLAIM

Standard Bank Insurance, it would appear, is a customer-unfriendly institution which constantly seeks ways to decline claims, irrespective of their merit. Although it is the industry’s right to exercise due diligence, this does not mean it should go out of its way to find a reason to decline a claim.

I worked for the Standard Bank Group for 43 years and am proud of it, but this latest incident just shames me. My wife and I have lived in our current house for over twenty years and we have happily paid our home insurance every month in the knowledge that we are covered in case of damage to our property, being an Act of God or otherwise not intentionally inflicted.

Standard Bank Insurance seemed only too happy to accept our premiums all these years and especially since any claims made in that time were insignificant.

Yet when the ceiling in our lounge collapsed recently, one would assume from age and 25-year-old building practices, and the claim was made to Standard Bank Insurance, they reneged on their primary business model. Instead, they re**** mainly on the rationale that the rhino ceiling was wrongly installed.

That might be said of any house more than twenty years old and is a flimsy retort!

We might also ask of Standard Bank Insurance - when you first took on the insurance of this house, did you send an inspector out to determine any flaws which may preclude future claims? If you did not, then how can you now rely on historical context to reject the claim? Your rejection is flawed and disingenuous.

We have copied the ombud in our reply to Standard Bank and would appreciate the ombud's point of view but nevertheless, the trust bond with Standard Bank Insurance has now been broken and we will obviously now move our business to another broker for whom we have had good referrals.