Increase in funeral policy complaints

One of the reasons consumers are unhappy about funeral cover is that, although insurers promise to pay out claims within 24 or 48 hours, this doesn’t always happen in practice. Georgina Crouth reports on this and other issues arising from the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance’s latest annual report.

THERE was nothing dramatic about the release of the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance ’s annual report this week.

Besides heartfelt homages to two beloved staff members the office lost in the past financial year, the ombudsman, Judge Ron McLaren, said 2017/18 was characterised by slow and steady improvement.

“We managed to close 3 371 full cases (3 324 in 2016) of the 4 336 we considered during the year, despite the challenges with adjudicative staff numbers due to illness and death. It required a concerted effort on our part to maintain our performance standards,” Judge McLaren said.

His office recovered more than R190 million for complainants, saw a slight increase in chargeable complaints from 5 284 to 5 435, finalised 85% of complaints within six months and resolved

29% wholly or partially in favour of complainants – in line with international standards.

The office received a slightly higher number of written requests for assistance (10 768 compared with 9 871 in 2016), and case fees increased by only 1.5% in 2017 – 6.75% lower than the estimated fees for the year.

Most of the complaints (47.67%) were about claims denied by insurers, followed by poor service.

Judge McLaren noted:

“Statistics, while (offering) important insights to the year in review, only tell half the story, and sometimes the detail and attention given in each case is worth talking about.”

Deputy ombudsman Jennifer Preiss told Personal Finance that funeral policy complaints have risen over the past few years.

“A lot of these policies are not sold through an intermediary, who is able to intervene in a complaint