On the 25th March 2013, rainfall in Durban was measured at 99, 3mm, [URL Removed] A day later, my boundary wall started to fall outwards, towards the road. I lodged a claim with Absa telephonically, and was told that a contractor would come to inspect the wall. This intellegent person reported to Absa that the wall was a retaining wall, and therefore needed an engineer to inspect it. (The ground height on either side of the wall differs by 40mm) The engineer agreed that the wall was not retaining soil, but suspected that a broken sewer line may have caused the subsidence in the foundation. A plumber with a camera arrived to check the sewer, and found it to be good.
Absa now tell me, after 7 weeks, that they cannot find any reason for the wall collapsing, so they suspect subsidence, (after the wall has stood for 25 years!) and have rejected the claim. This, depite Absa's insurance website stating that "every kind of natural disaster is covered, including subsidence and landslip"! Maybe they believe that rain is not natural?
Avoid Absa insurance like the plague, and see my other Absa problem next week.
Peter Wood
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