Discovery(ing) the greedy, grubby side of life assurance

I have learnt, the hard way, that people selling life assurance can never be trusted.

I base this on my sad and recent experiences with Discovery Life.

In 2003 I took out a life policy with Discovery Life, against my mother’s wishes. I checked several times with the agent selling the policy, at the time, that when I was too old to work, the premiums would end, and the benefit would stay as it was, without growing, until my family needed it. I was assured repeatedly that this was so.

So, for 21 years, I paid in every month. Not once in that time did anybody from Discovery contact me. Not once. Read that again. Had anyone from Discovery bothered to contact me, I would have checked with them that the premium would indeed end when I stopped working and the benefit be frozen.

Then, in July 2024, when I was no longer employed because of my age, I contacted Discovery Life. I encountered a staff member who was callous, extremely rude to me and simply disrespectful. Her attitude was: you cannot pay? The policy is closed. She was adamant: whatever the Discovery sales person had said was not binding on Discovery. Thus, in my mind, I had paid Discovery for 21 years under false pretences.

There was a clause in the policy that went halfway to not increasing the payments, but the staff member made no effort to implement that for me. She left me feeling dirty, abused, exploited, scammed and frankly stupid for having paid Discovery for 21 years. I got the sense that Discovery made its extreme profits by selling people policies, knowing full well that when we stopped working, Discovery would discard us, would pocket our money and go off to celebrate. Greedy, grubby Discovery. This is so low-class, so apartheid-like. So lacking in honour. PW Botha would have been delighted with Discovery. By distancing itself from the actions of selling agents and not checking in on me for 21 years, Discovery was party to deception and a lack of integrity.

Discovery acted in a way that was counter to the interests of the people of South Africa. Discovery was unpatriotic, but greedy and grubby. Discover put its profits before the interests of faithful clients like me, even if I paid every month for 21 years.

In 2024, South Africa saw 8.20 million risk policies lapsing. I don’t know enough about the shady world of insurance to knew if this was all policies, or just life policies. Life insurance companies have a 18-20% profit. I bet if life insurance companies checked up on their sales staff, and acted ethically, the profits would be less grotesque.

I appealed to the Ombud for financial services. If dealing with Discovery was like dealing with people without a moral compass, then dealing with the Ombud was a complete waste of time. I dealt with two people. Neither made any attempt to speak to me face-to-face or verbally. Neither made any attempt to set up a meeting between myself and Discovery. In fact, in my opinion, both went out of their way to protect Discovery, and thus allow the company to continue to mislead people like me and undermine the future of South Africa. I doubt if the ombuds staff even read the emails I sent. The second ombuds staff person said I was pursuing the complaint in a dishonest, frivolous, vexatious, abusive and unreasonable manner. Funny that: I paid in the equivalent of R700 000 over 21 years, so that my family could receive a lousy R1.3 million, and I am the one who is dishonest.

I asked the National Consumer Commission to investigate Discovery’s dealings with me, given that I paid in for 21 years without any contact from Discovery. The consumer commission would not investigate, saying such matters were not in their brief. I would have thought that the unchallenged expectation I had for 21 years that the premium would stop and the benefits be frozen did afford me some rights as a consumer to be projected, but still…

I asked the Public Protector to look into how the financial ombud had contemptuously treated me. I still await their deliberation. I am not sure that calling me dishonest, frivolous, vexatious, abusive and unreasonable is what the ombud or any government department should be saying.

I asked the Human Rights Commission to investigate all the policies Discovery has discarded using this business formula, because I do see this as a human rights violation. This is a breach of Section 10 Human Dignity, namely that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected. I am still waiting for the Human Rights Commission to at least acknowledge my complaint. I want to ask the Human Rights Commission to protect the dignity of clients that Discovery so readily and happily abandons, sometimes after decades of loyal paying.

I note that Discovery is 11.55 percent owned by the Public Investment Corporation. This is the body that invests pension funds for central government employees. So, here we have Discovery acting as a front for politically appointed public servants so as to offer the public servants another way to scam money off South Africans, and at least four of the government-linked institutions that are meant to safeguard clients’ interests …do not bother to do so. This kind of government was a factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Here’s hoping.

The future of life insurance policies cannot be left to greedy, grubby Discovery and other similar companies. South Africans need to be protected from Discovery and its ilk. I would like legislation to be introduced that says if a person has paid premiums for 15 years, for example, then their benefit is frozen and is paid out on their death. If that reduces the exorbitant profits of life insurance companies, so be it. The well-being of the people of South Africa is more important than their profits.

I acknowledge that in an era of genocide in Gaza and wanton destruction in Ukraine, my appalling experience with Discovery is but a footnote.

But the message is of importance to the future of South Africa. The message is: company profits and greed, backed by African National Congress indifference to the people, is considered normal behaviour.

Life insurance salespeople are not to be trusted, just as my mother had warned me.