ABSA building insurance, what a joke!
If you’re like me and just got Absa’s building insurance with your Absa home loan, because, well, it was easy, I’d advise you to think again!
It all started on a windy autumn day when the fascia board on my roof blew off, nearly falling on my poor neighbour’s Uno (which surely would have flattened it :)) On my neighbour’s advice, I decided to claim from my building insurance. So, Tuesday morning 10 AM, I decide to brave the Absa call center and submit my claim…
20 minutes of annoying hold music later and I’m put through to an operator - I submit the claim and they tell me its been forwarded to the Cape Town division, great. Knowing how these things go, I make a note of the Cape Town office’s number and end the call.
By Wednesday afternoon I still hadn’t heard back from those lazy Capetonians, so I decide to do some leg work with my fingers and call them up - “no sir, we’ll submit your claim to a contractor immediately”. “So why haven’t you?” - I wanted to ask. So I wait in vain with a couple of days of rainy weather threatening to destroy my house even further.
Friday afternoon I get a call from the contractor who assured me in a very Afrikaans accent that Absa takes their insurance very seriousness and he wants to come have a look, right now! After insisting that I’m at work and won’t be able to open up for him, he’s so adamant that I just let him be - hope he has good eyes!
The weekend comes and goes and before I know it, it’s Wednesday again. Give them a call - “No, the person who is dealing with your claim is on leave, I’ll follow up and call you back”. Great.
Friday afternoon arives, and yet again I phone. Now, by this time I’ve had enough of their shoddy service and I was planning on switching to Santam the moment the claim is settled. So to my suprise (or maybe not) they refuse to fix the roof - they claim the workmanship on the fascia board is bad because the builder used nails instead of screws. Hmmm. OK, very irate now. I phone up my good buddy Dann at Santam - apparently they need a specific clause in their policy that specifies that nails used on the facia board is considered bad workmanship, otherwise they have to pay up…
So several phone calls later I’m able to get my hands on the policy wording… I quote from section B: Specific Exceptions: “3. defects in design or construction” - Sounds pretty broad and subjective to me.
So I phone some builders, a structural engineer, the Master Builder’s association and the overwhelming opinion is that nails are more frequently used than screws and doesn’t constitute bad workmanship.
Finally, after several emails, phone calls, and weeks later, the claim is reassessed and a contractor is assigned to fix the roof, success! Of course, not wanting to end up in the same situation again I ask him what they use to attach the Fascia boards… NAILS!! They use F#$%#%@ nails!
In conclusion, it doesn’t pay to be an optimist - insurance companies will and do find any excuse not to pay out a claim leaving it up to the consumer to prove their case. I guess most people just give up and with the amount of trouble I went through with this claim, maybe that would have been the saner option!
I’ll be cancelling my insurance with Absa the moment the roof is fixed and start looking for another bank to finance my home loan.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I had almost the same experince with my Sewarge line that had collapsed due to the roots of a tree.
amazing
August 20th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Well Standard Bank not any better!
August 20th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Each bank has their own problems, I don’t think one is better than the other.
January 5th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
I have not had a single communication from ABSA home insurance, not even informing me of premium increases. I don’t even have a copy of a policy and don’t know what my policy number is. As for getting hold of anyone to speak to at the insurance customer ‘care’ centre - what a joke! I CAN’T claim for these reasons, ironically, nor can I cancel!
February 28th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
JOY RICHARDS
FEB.28/02/11
Burst water pipe in roof.Tried all day to get through to Customer Services -what a joke,raised blood pressure after 20 calls and still no joy. Oh well try again tomorrow who knows maybe I’ll get lucky, just can’t bear that annoying music and “will put you through to the first available agent” which just doesn’t happen.Something is seriously wrong.
March 16th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
The reason why I found this website is becaue I am trying to find a number where i can phone absa. Geyser burst about a month ago, was fixed a week later. The assessor also said that the ceiling had to be replaced … i am not trying to get hold of Absa for the past 2 weeks. the number they called from to set up visit by plumber and to inform m e of the excess, seems problematic. every time i phone (when i remember over two weeks) the same recorded voice tells me the message box is full.
Can anyone please give me a number where i can speak to a human being?
Surely this must be a matter for the consumer ombud. They have numbers where one can contact them to buy iinsurance,m but nothing to claim!
March 16th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Hi Sarah,
It has been a while, but the numbers I used to contact them were as follows:
Original insurance department number phoned: 0860 100 876
Number to direct line of reception: 011 288 2600
Cape town insurance branch: 021 440 4539 / 70 / 77
Hope these still exist!
March 16th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Thanks Neil, I found their number via Telkom after doing my little vomit earlier
I got through to 021 4404577 and spoke to a human being who found my claim number (that they sent) to be wrong - unable to trace the claim. She will call me back at some point …
January 6th, 2012 at 10:38 am
Hi all,
I am having the experiance of a lifetime in 2009 my geyser burst damage to the ceilings. I called in so they replaced the geyser without the release valve thar was for my own pocket when we got to the damaged ceilings here comes the contractors 4 african men when he started talking I could smell the previous night’s booz the first thing he asked me is why is your house so high as we stay close to the magalies copy the front part off the house is elevated I then decided that they was NOT going to fix anything in my house so I sent them away after a big argument, as they left I walked them out they came with a small 1300 Bakkie the driver got in and the rest started pushing the Bakkie was glad to see them go. Now comes my big problem the roof thrus (I think that is what you call it) snaped with a bang so we fixed a homemade support put it under the still damaged ceiling to support the roof it is standing in the middle of my bedroom on bricks and a Jack. The roof thrus that snapped is the one carrying the geyser so can you imagine what wil happen if the geyser comes tumbling down. After much frustration many options cutt of about 4 times on 3rd of Jan 2012 I reached a person Nomfulu she gave me a Ref number 2092354 and said they wil attend to the matter urgently It is now Friday 6 Jan and not a word from them if the geyser decides to come down which can happen any time and fall on one of my family members WHAT THEN Absa home owners is the most pathetic lot I have ever seen Please excuse my spelling as I am afrikaans speaking but I just wanted to share my Grosse experiance with sombody Have a nice day everybody and good luck in the new year for all home owners at the big A LOL
Regards
Suzette
January 22nd, 2012 at 6:31 pm
I would like to know, our roof is leaking and rains into the ceiling are we entitled to claim,can anyone tell me