Salome Diphoko-Marokoane (65) from Vosloorus shared her frustration after her 37 years of investing with Old Mutual yielded negative results.
According to Diphoko-Marokoane, she took a voluntary group life assurance and endowment plan with Old Mutual in 1984 and added another investment plan in 1990, but to date, she has never received a cent from her investments.
She said she contributed R30.55 since she signed up in 1984 and she was expecting approximately R50 000 from the investment plan, while her additional plan was expected to pay out approximately R11 000.
Unfortunately, things turned sour when she was told her investment does not exist.
“I think it was the beginning of 2017 when I wanted to surrender the policy, but I was told to wait for the maturity date. And mind you, they would just check on their computers and tell me the maturity date without giving me any proof of inquiry,” said Diphoko-Marokoane.
“But by then, I did not have my policy document with me, I relied on the printouts I got from Old Mutual on my request.”
She explained the printouts indicated that the maturity date was August 31, 2021.
“My problem started when I went to surrender my policy at the Chris Hani branch on September 1. One of the consultants told me the policy doesn’t exist before instructing me to phone their office in Cape Town,” she said.
“When I phoned their Cape Town office, I was answered by an automated telephonic machine.
“What surprised me was that the premiums also stopped on August 31, when I requested a new printout on September 1.
“I took out my frustrations on the Old Mutual Facebook page. The page admin replied, telling me the policy was surrendered in January 2002. I asked for proof but they failed to provide it.”
She said when she asked about the premiums she continued to pay from February 2002, she was told there is no trace of those premiums or payments.
“I sent them proof of payments and my email address as requested. I was promised someone will communicate with me by email before the end of this week, but to date, this issue has not been resolved,” said Diphoko-Marokoane.
According to Old Mutual representative Dumezulu Shiburi, Old Mutual can confirm that Diphoko-Marokoane was a client and held several policies with them.
“We have liaised directly with Morokoane to resolve this matter. However, due to customer confidentiality, we cannot disclose any further details,” said Shiburi.
