INSURANCE DEPARTMENT FOR FIRE CLAIMS....NO LOVE/PASSION/UNDERSTANDING FOR THE FAMILIES

On 13 June 2019, we as a family went through a very very traumatic experience with our house being on fire, whilst we were trapped inside. my husband sustained 3rd degree wounds to his face, hands and arms. By the grace of God, myself and our 2 daughters were only treated for smoke inhalation. I lodged the claim with the bank on 18 June 2019 - the same day, I met with the Loss adjuster and the insurance boarded our broken windows and doors, etc. so far...great service. then the quotes from 3 different contractors were to be submitted (which the Loss adjuster's office confirmed to us, was submitted) then the wait started....followed up umpteenth times, no one calls back...no response to my e-mails....then a month ago, I received a call from the manager who confirmed the bank made the decision to make a cash settlement via a building fund account which must be set up by the home loan department (so we were penalized for being under insured thus the cash settlement (but NOT into our own accounts, the building fund account). I only asked the manager to respond via e-mail to confirm how long it will take for this account to be set up as we have found a contractor who can begin as soon as the money is released in increments, in this account.

Here are the e-mails:

From: Charmaine Frantz Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 8:01 AM To: '***' Cc: '***'; 'Barrymore Frantz' Subject: RE: CLAIM NR 19/049236 MR B & MRS CG FRANTZ

Good morning Ms Lubambo,

I called your direct number a few minutes ago ***), I assume you are not in the office yet as no one answered.

Kindly respond to the below e-mail as I would like to “believe” there is still a little bit of “hope” left in me that there are still a few hearts left in Standard bank who love what they do, who are passionate to provide excellent client service, who still believe the client means something to their company…… I surely hope you are still one of those hearts.

From: Charmaine Frantz Sent: Friday, September 6, 2019 12:48 PM To: '***' Cc: '***'; 'Barrymore Frantz' Subject: FW: CLAIM NR 19/049236 MR B & MRS CG FRANTZ

Good day Ms Lubambo,

I called a few minutes ago and spoke to Nzwake Munzhedi, who provided the same update my husband was given a week and a half ago – he was told that the building fund account will be set-up within this week – thus we have not called during the week and waited patiently.

Can you please provide us with positive feedback on the progress of our claim. I was told by Felicity (as I mentioned in my e-mail below) that our case will not take long as it was sent to the Home loan department etc…….. up till today….I have not received the e-mail I asked Felicity to respond to and confirm a date to us.

We can understand that the bank don’t want to pay the cash into the client’s bank account for obvious reasons, but if the building fund account is causing further delays to cause a family’s live to return to normal…..what is the real purpose of that??? Is this not about the client? Is this treating the client fairly?? Even if I explain to you how our lives were totally turned upside down since the fire…I bet you a million dollars you will NOT be able to really grasp or understand it. I really don’t know what to say anymore…..this is extremely frustrating!!! I have so much bottled-up emotions… if I type any further, I will have to book myself into a depression clinic.

Please please help us to get this sorted. This is really really frustrating.

From: Charmaine Frantz Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2019 2:31 PM To: '***' Cc: 'Barrymore Frantz' Subject: RE: CLAIM NR 19/049236 MR B & MRS CG FRANTZ

Dear Felicity,

Our telephone conversation of this morning at 08:55 am has reference – thank you for calling.

We discussed the following : you confirmed the request to open the building fund account was sent in last week to the department who sets it up, I wanted to know from you how long this will take… you said today is Tuesday so you can’t say how long it will still take – I asked you how long did the previous cases take as I’m assuming our case is not the first where such an account had to be set up – you confirmed it took long – but our case will not take that long but you will follow up with them via e-mail as they don’t have a telephone number and that the account should be set up by next week – I asked you to please confirm it by responding to my e-mail – which I am still waiting for thus sending you this e-mail where I confirm what we spoke about.

Can you still send an e-mail and possibly commit to a date so that we can inform the contractor? An elaborate e-mail will also be appreciated as we need to discuss with the contractor how the release of payments will work…..

Regards Charmaine

From: Charmaine Frantz Sent: Monday, August 26, 2019 5:33 PM To: '***' Cc: 'Barrymore Frantz' Subject: RE: CLAIM NR 19/049236 MR B & MRS CG FRANTZ

Good day,

Felicity, we are really desperate for answer and it does not seem that the importance of this e-mail is worrying you at all. From a Client Service area’s perspective…….this is definitely NOT service….especially if you take our circumstances in consideration….I left messages for you to call me or my husband back, you did not call. You did not even respond to the e-mail.

Please let me know if we should deal with someone else who has the capacity or should I rather complain about the service on other platforms? I am really not as harsh or “cold” as this e-mail content seems….but I am definitely losing my patience and trust in the bank I have chosen to do my personal business with many years ago. As a customer, I feel left out, uninformed and non-existent. The contractor is waiting on us to give him a date when to start, but we can’t make ANY arrangements/plans/dates until we hear from you…..this is frustrating as we as a family want our lives to return to normal.

From: Charmaine Frantz Sent: Friday, August 23, 2019 12:13 PM To: '***' Cc: 'Barrymore Frantz' Subject: RE: CLAIM NR 19/049236 MR B & MRS CG FRANTZ

Good day Felicity,

I have not received an undeliverable message which state your e-mail address is incorrect, just for our ease of mind – please acknowledge whether you received the e-mail below?

Awaiting your confirmation.

Regards Charmaine

From: Charmaine Frantz Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2019 12:48 PM To: '***' Cc: Barrymore Frantz Subject: CLAIM NR 19/049236 MR B & MRS CG FRANTZ

Good afternoon Felicity,

Trust you are doing well.

With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday at 11:09, you informed me that our claim will be settled in cash via creating a building fund account and from there, funds will be released in increments for jobs done by the contractor. Based on the above information, can you please advise when can we start with the restoration of our house (as we do have a contractor available to commence asap and for obvious reasons, would need to know if the funds will be available when the contractor submits his receipts, etc to continue with the next planned stage of the restoration). The reason why we need a specific date, is merely for the contractor to plan / book himself and his “staff” timeously for this job. In addition to the above reasons stated, we as a family, can’t wait to move back into our house in order for our lives to return to “normal” again.

Your urgent response will be much appreciated.

Warm regards

UP UNTIL TODAY.....I AM WAITING ON A RESPONSE.