Unable to reach anyone for months and now told too late to claim!

In October a sewage pipe blocked and raw sewage oozed into my drive. I tried to unblock the pipe without success. I tried to call Standard Bank with whom I have have a Home Owners Comprehensive policy (HLC ********** 23) and was unable to reach anyone. Because of the nature of the problem I contacted plumbers and had the pipe unblocked and a collapsed section repaired. Since then I have tried almost daily to reach Standard Bank Insurance to find out how to submit the claim. I have for many hours had the phone next to me as I've listed to their message "we are currently experiencing high call volume, you call will be attended to". In mid December I went on leave and went to my branch on 3 occasions to see if they could intervene or provide me with an email address as the call centre is beyond impossible. Earlier this week I sent a dissatisfied email from the website and was surprised when I got a response asking for my policy details and ID. Today I received a phone call from the claims department who told me they were only responsible to clean water pipe claims and put me through to someone called Jay. Jay tried to put me back to claims saying he worked in Home Assist which was not the appropriate place to lodge a claim. I begged Jay to help as this process has taken so long and I need help. Jay spoke to his supervisor and has just told me I cannot claim as 1) I did not get permission first and 2) too much time has passed since the repair was done. Go figure. Is this how Standard Bank manage their customers? I am beyond frustrated, furious, etc.