MAILBOX: Insurers who did wrong have no shame, despite changes in the law. Please help.

Every now and then, an email lands in my inbox that stops me cold. Jenny Dugmore’s story is a heartbreaking reminder of the "legacy" products that continue to haunt so many South African retirees—financial instruments sold decades ago with fine print that only reveals its teeth when you are most vulnerable. From the destruction of her retirement annuity during the Fedsure/Investec era to a life insurance policy where premiums have skyrocketed from R30 to nearly R10,000 a month, Jenny feels trapped by a system she believes was designed to bleed her dry. She has tried the Ombudsman twice, to no avail. I know the BizNews tribe includes some of the sharpest, most ethical financial minds in the country. I am appealing to you today: Is there a way out for Jenny? Is there a regulatory angle or a restructuring option she has missed? If you have the expertise to guide her where the official channels have failed, please get in touch. Let’s see if we can help her find some justice. - Alec Hogg.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..From Jenny Dugmore My sense of despair about companies whose objective is only to take as much as they can while deceiving the public as far as they can is reaching a point of desperation.Many years ago (40 odd), I consulted an insurance broker at Norwich Life because I had changed jobs to a company that didn’t offer company life insurance, and I wanted to maintain my investment in my future retirement. He advised me to transfer the lump sum into a retirement annuity, which I would then continue paying into. He also persuaded me to take out a life insurance policy on my husband for a benefit of R300k. I paid for some years, and annually, when I received an increase, I would call the call centre and ask them to increase the monthly amount.I never received any acknowledgement or any indication of where my investment was. After some time, I learned that Norwich had been sold to Fedsure and that Fedsure was in the process of being acquired by Investec. I tried calling Fedsure to get a picture of where my investment was, and could not get an answer. After months of frustration, I eventually contacted a director who promised to look into it and sent me a printout showing a value lower than my original lump-sum investment. Shocked, I tried to call him back, but he had disappeared, and Investec was involved in a public wrangle with Fedsure. From what I understand, they elected to take the investment profit from the fund to alleviate their loss. When I tried to query why my value was so low, I was fobbed off and told it was my own fault and that I should have read the fine print, which apparently said that the salesperson could take the commission for the lifetime of the policy every time I increased the amount - effectively reducing my value every year. Not once did anyone tell me this - they just kept on taking the money.At this point, I cannot see any logic in paying any further into what appeared to be a complete disaster, and Investec was in a wrangle and selling to Capital Alliance. I stopped paying and lost everything. They paid me out a paltry amount of less than what I had invested. I reported them to the ombudsman, who said they had a right to do what they did. I continued paying the life insurance policy, which then transferred from Capital Alliance to Liberty Life.Five years ago, I received a call from Liberty Life regarding my husband’s life insurance policy, the payout value of which has increased from R300k to R550k in 30 years, so less than double, but the premium has increased from R30 odd to over R6000 per month. I write to complain and am told that the associated risk has increased due to his age, then 80. I wrote to management and complained, and was told it was due to the policy wording, which says they have the right to review the policy and the risk and increase it as they will.I accused them of taking advantage, which they certainly did, and they refused to budge. What is my option - cancel the policy or continue? I certainly can’t take out an alternate policy for him at that age! I continued paying, but only after reporting this to the ombudsman and being told that they have a right.I was called again last week and told that they are now increasing his policy to R9500 per month for R900k benefit. I can reduce the benefit and keep on paying R6300 per month, or I can pay the higher amount. They have taken my retirement away, and now they are trying to take the last little benefit they pretended to offer. I have reported them twice to the ombudsman, who I understand is actually in the big insurer's pockets. Nothing comes of it. Yes, I might have been naive to trust their broker, and yes, I might have been stupid to trust their call centre agent, but why are they not accountable? Where is their sense of ethics, and at least an attempt to try to be fair in their treatment of me? It’s non-existent. I sit here, writing this letter, crying in frustration and despair at the incredible unfairness of these people and their sole objective being to screw whatever they can from me and how many other old people who have no way to argue against these criminals, and that’s the only way one can describe what has happened to me. Their intent was never anything other than to deceive and take what they could. The small print is no longer allowed, but because it was in those days, it’s too bad for me.Advise me, please, Alec - is there anything at all I can do about this?

MAILBOX: Insurers who did wrong have no shame, despite changes in the law. Please help.

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