Kathorus MAIL received a complaint from a frustrated family from Vosloorus Extension 14 regarding the service they received from Hlebela Funeral Parlour (HFP).
The Shekeshe family lost their loved one who was a beneficiary in July of a funeral plan with HFP, yet apparently, they have been struggling to claim money from the funeral parlour.
They also said they were instead mistreated by the owners of HFP, who later started ignoring their calls when they called to follow up on their claim.
The premium policyholder, Gloria Shekeshe, told Kathorus MAIL they were fortunate that her adopted sister, who died in July, had funeral cover with Avbob, otherwise the family would have no choice but to dig into their pockets to prepare for her send-off.
Shekeshe has been a member of HFP for almost five years.
She said on the day her sister died she called HFP offices, but her calls were not answered or returned.
“I called again after the funeral to tell them I would like to claim the money in accordance with the policy since my sister was already laid to rest,” said Shekeshe.
“When I went to claim the first time I was told my documents are incomplete and the second time they said my documents were not visible. At that time I was not in a rush to get the money because the funeral was over,” she continued.
“When I returned to their office with all required documents, they told me they have to be certified. I went to the SAPS to certify, when I went back to submit they said there was one document missing.
“But what puzzled me was they never requested a bank statement, but I was not stressing about it. I was certain that even if they do not ask for my bank statement they will bring the money directly to my house,” she said.
“I was patient, with the understanding that HFP could be under pressure because of Covid-19. Days turned to weeks and weeks to a month without any progress on my claim.”
She followed up again in August when she called the owner, who did not pick up, before calling his wife, who got annoyed when Shekeshe inquired about the time period before a claim is paid.
“His wife said I will never get my money and that I should stop paying my premium. Now I am confused, I don’t know whether I should pay or not.”
The family still wants to claim the money to help Nkululeko Msimango, the child of their late sister, with her tertiary fees. She is studying business marketing.
“This has affected us badly because when the child’s mother died she was not done paying for the fees. I promised the child that when we receive the claim payout I will pay it. We have not paid it so her results are being held by the school,” she said.
The founder of HFP, Boyboy Hlebela, distanced himself from the allegation of mistreating Shekeshe.
He said Shekeshe was wrong, she was shouting and insulting everyone and not willing to listen.
Hlebela refuted the allegation that the family was told they would never get their money, and that he was not available for the family at their time of need.
“Before the claim, they were told that due to Covid-19 there is a serious problem of paying clients timeously. It was, therefore, going to be paid timeously because of the claim ratio,” he added.
“A claim ratio is what you are paying to the insurer against what you receive. With an insurer you cannot claim a hundred thousand rand while you are paying two hundred thousand.
“We deal with this by forwarding other claims to the next month.
“That is what I was trying to explain to her, but we had a misunderstanding. She was fighting and it is her right because clients expect money in two days when things are in good standing.”
He said all clients were informed even before they claimed that they had a problem with a high rate of claims.
“The complainant is a good client. I have been with her for some time. They claimed several times before and were paid, so they never had a problem until now when we experience Covid-19.
“I understand people are frustrated as they want their money, but there is nothing we can do. If we have a high volume of claims and the only thing the insurance can do is forward the claims to the next month.
“Everyone is going to be paid, I even said they should come to my office to check those who have been paid,” said Hlabela.
Kathorus MAIL spoke to the secretary of South African Funeral Professionals Association, Philly Marutle, to understand how the association supports funeral parlours and their clients in situations of this nature.
According to Marutle, the association does not address such cases as it is an individual matter.
He said there is nothing the organisation can do, the matter should be taken up with the Financial Service Board (FSB).
“The is a government entity which is a watchdog. They look after both the client and the service providers. What I usually do is refer the client to FSB and they would then check what the cause of the problem is,” said Marutle.
“But most of the time the client does not want to listen because they have signed an agreement that in an event of death a certain amount would be paid if the service provider fails to pay it becomes another story,” he added.
He said they are all facing the same challenge as Hlebela.
“On my side, it is only a delay of payments not necessarily that it is going to take months before the payment is made. At the end of the day one does pay whatever he has promised in less than a month,” he said.
He explained that the association has 32 members around Kathorus, and from the 32 members at least an average of five members are affected in a month.
What causes the delays and what is the solution
“Remember, we are in a pandemic. There was an influx of claims, so they only pay one client at a time. That is the cause of the delays,” said Marutle.
“The figures are no longer at that level, things are looking better but we do not have a solution. We have different insurers who offer services in their own way, some may take overnight while others take their time.”
