1. DEFINITIONS
Policy Owner | The person indicated as such on the Policy Schedule. This is the person who applied for the policy, who is the owner of the policy and is also responsible for payment of the premium. |
Insured(s) | Includes all the lives insured under the Policy added by the Policy Owner. All Insureds, apart from the Policy Owner, must be family members of the Policy Owner for whom the Policy Owner has insurable interest. All Insured(s) must reside permanently in South Africa. |
Spouse | Means the Spouse of the Policy Owner named in your Policy Schedule and includes a party to a marriage under the Marriage Act, 1961 or civil union partner under the Civil Union Act, 2006; or a spouse according to the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998; or a permanent life partner of the main member who the insured lived with for a period longer than 12 months prior to death and they shared a common household and living expenses. Cover is limited to one nominated spouse. Proof of such union will be requested at claims stage. |
Child(ren) | Means the biological child, stepchild, legally adopted child or grandchild (whose parents are both deceased) of the Policy Owner. A dependent child that attained the age of 18 years shall no longer be covered under this policy, unless enrolled as a full-time student at a registered tertiary institution until a maximum age of 21. We may request proof of dependency at claims stage. In respect of stepchildren we will require the relevant marriage certificate between the biological parent and the stepparent. All listed children are covered at no additional cost to you. A maximum of six children may be added on a policy. A maximum of one claim for a stillborn child (after the 28th week of pregnancy) will be paid over the policy term. |
Extended Family | Includes additional spouses and children, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. All relationships of Extended Family members are defined in terms of biological relatives of the Policy Owner or Spouse. A maximum of six Extended Family members may be added on a policy. |
Beneficiary | Is the person(s) entitled to the proceeds of the death benefits of the Policy Owner. |
Accidental Death | Means death caused solely by injury sustained during an Accident, within 90 days of the Accident, which is not related to any other causes. The death must be caused directly and independently of all other causes by some external and visible means. Please note that any event occurring before Cover Start Date is specifically excluded. |
Cover Start Date | Means the 1st of the month as stated in your Policy Schedule, following receipt and acceptance of the application by the Insurer as well as payment of the premium for the cover selected and it is the day on which cover starts under this policy. |
2. WHAT THIS POLICY COVERS
This policy pays out a tax-free cash lump sum to your beneficiary if you die, and to you (the Policy Owner) if someone else covered on the policy dies. The money may be used for funeral and related expenses.
3. WHO QUALIFIES FOR THIS POLICY?
To be eligible for cover under the policy, the following conditions must be met at the start date:
4. WHEN DOES YOUR POLICY START?
Cover commences on the Cover Start Date subject to successful collection of the first premium.
5. WHEN DOES THE POLICY AND COVER END?
This policy and all cover ends:
6. COVER AMOUNTS
The following cover limits apply:
7. WHAT BENEFITS ARE DUE TO YOU?
7.1 Basic Cover
On approval of a valid claim, the cash benefit as outlined in your policy schedule will be made available as a tax fee cash lump sum and paid into your nominated bank account, which we will request from you as part of the claims process.
7.2 VodaPay Data Rewards
VodaPay Data Rewards provide qualifying Vodacom Funeral Cover Policy Owners, who have selected the benefit, with discounted data of up to 1GB per month. In order to qualify for this benefit, the Policy Owner must:
The data applicable per cover amount is as follows:
Total Cover Required Single Insured Policy (Policy Owner Only) | Total Cover Required Multiple Insureds Policy (Policy Owner + Spouse + Extended Family) |
Applicable Data Benefit |
R20000 to <R30 000 | R20000 (Policy Owner) | 250MB |
R30000 to <R40 000 | R20000 (Policy Owner) + R10000 (Spouse + Extended Family) | 500MB |
R40000 to <R50 000 | R20000 (Policy Owner) + R20000 (Spouse + Extended Family) | 750MB |
R50000+ | R20000 (Policy Owner) + R30000 (Spouse + Extended Family) | 1GB |
Please note that the data reward will only be allocated to the contact number provided on the policy and cannot be exchanged for cash If the data benefit is due to you in any month, it will be automatically allocated on the 15th every month. The data will expire after 14 days once allocated and any unused data benefit will be forfeited. Please visit https://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/terms/competition/funeral-cover-rewards for detailed terms and conditions.
7.3 Value Added Benefits:
If value added benefits have been activated, the following value-added benefits will be made available on notification of a claim:
Please note that the value-added benefits are non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash.
8. WHAT DO YOU PAY?
The total premium, as stated in this policy agreement, includes all the premiums for all the persons covered under this policy. Premiums are payable monthly on your selected date via debit order.
You can also make Pay@ or EasyPay payments on the VodaPay App or at participating stores and outlets, any time prior to your premium collection day.
We have the right to change premiums for any reason, including changes relating to legislation or other rules applicable to this Policy, or if Vodacom feels that these are no longer sufficient. We will let you know in writing 31 days in advance of any changes to your premium and you will be afforded an opportunity to select alternatives to mitigate the impact of the change in premiums.
THESE ARE IMPORTANT POINTS FOR YOU TO REMEMBER:
9. WAITING PERIODS
Persons covered under this policy have a six-month waiting period for death as a result of natural cause and twelve months waiting period for death by suicide. No waiting period applies for Accidental Death or for Children added within 3 months of their birth. The waiting period for each person covered starts from their cover start date and recommences for any part of cover that is increased on the date that the increase in cover commences.
This waiting period applies to all benefits under this policy.
Waiting periods already served with FSCA registered insurers will be waived for all Policy Owners subject to the Policy Owner providing proof of previous funeral cover as well as policy cancellation documents not older than 31 days from the cover start date. Policies cancelled by your previous insurer i.e. not initiated by you, will not be eligible for the waiver. This includes, but is not limited to, cancellation or lapse as a result of unpaid premiums.
The waiver will apply to the same main benefit amount that all the lives were covered for with the previous insurer Ancillary benefits will not be considered. Additional cover taken with Vodacom Life will be subject to normal waiting periods. To apply to for the waiver, the Policy Owner should submit the following documents to Vodacom Life:
10. EXCLUSIONS
We will not pay any benefit if death arises directly or indirectly from any of the items listed below:
11. CESSIONS
This cover may not be ceded or transferred to a third party as security for a debt or for any other reason.
12. CLAIMS
In order to register a claim, you will be required to call Vodacom Life, in order to report and notify us of a death claim. A validation process will be initiated and a check will be conducted against the following criteria:
The claimant must have the following information available when they contact us:
We will advise what documents we need in order to process the claim. Generally, we require the following documentation:
All information provided is at the claimant’s own cost. We reserve the right to request any additional information or documentation required to validate the claim.
It’s important that we are informed about the event that leads to the claim within 180 days of it happening. The claim may be declined if we are not informed in time. We will usually pay out a valid claim within 48 hours of verifying all required claim documents as deemed necessary by the insurer Should you or your beneficiaries wish to dispute a claim decision, they have to do so within 180 days of receiving a formal communication about the outcome of the claim. You and your beneficiaries must submit the reasons for the dispute in writing for it to be re-assessed. If they would like to institute legal proceedings, it must be done within 180 days of receiving a formal communication of the claim outcome.
It is your responsibility to make sure that we always have up-to-date contact information for you and your beneficiaries. If we become aware that there are payouts due to be made under this policy agreement, we will always first try to contact your beneficiaries at the last contact details provided to us. If we are not able to make contact, we have to take reasonable steps to find the beneficiaries. In order to do this, we may have to appoint external tracing agents and this agreement permits us to give the tracing agents access to personal information. Please also note that a tracing and management fee may be deducted from the payout amount. We will pay interest, if applicable.
If any claim under this policy involves fraud, misrepresentation or false information, the policy agreement may be cancelled. In this case, no payouts will be made and no premiums will be refunded.
13. UNDERWRITER AND ADMINISTRATOR
This product is underwritten by Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, a licensed life insurer.
How to contact us:
This product is administered by O’keeffe & Swartz BPO (Pty) Ltd, an authorized financial services provider (FSP no: 35478), for which they receive fees.
14. COMPLAINTS
Vodacom provides a complaint resolution process which aims to address any dissatisfaction you may have with your policy. You can contact our Complaints Department on 082 178 00 or [email protected].
Should you be dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right to contact the Ombudsman for Long-Term Insurance by writing to: Ombudsman for Long Term Insurance, Private Bag X45, Claremont, 7735 or email [email protected].
For complaints about our services, you can contact the FAIS Ombudsman by writing to: PO Box 74571, Lynwood Ridge,
0040 or email [email protected].
15. COMPLIANCE
The Compliance Department can be contacted by calling our Customer Care Centre on 082 178 00.
16. CANCELLATION AND COOLING OFF PERIOD
If you decide to cancel the policy agreement within the cooling-off period of 30 days after receiving this policy agreement, we will refund any premiums already made under this policy agreement. The cooling-off period only applies if a claim has not been submitted or if no cover amounts have been paid out to you or your beneficiary.
You can cancel this policy agreement at any time by sending us a cancellation request in writing or by calling us
The agreement will come to an end on the last day of the calendar month for which you have already made your payment and no cover will be provided after that date. In such an event no premiums will be refunded to you.
We may cancel this Policy or place it on hold with immediate effect, refuse process any transaction or act on your instruction and we may take any other action that we consider necessary to comply with the law and prevent or stop undesirable or criminal activity.
17. CONTINUATION OPTION
In the event of your death, your spouse can take out a new policy with us. If your spouse takes out a new policy within three months after your death, we will carry the waiting periods and exclusions for each person covered under this policy over to your spouse’s new policy.
Furthermore, since children are only covered up to the age of 18, there is an option for a child to purchase their own policy at standard rates, with no additional waiting period. Cover for children will end on the birthday month of the child’s 18th birthday.
18. FORCE MAJEURE
Force Majeure refers to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, such as an act of God, acts of the State or Government, exceptional weather conditions, total national electricity failures, war or war-like activities or serious delays in public transport that may prevent us from carrying out our obligations under this agreement. In the event of a force majeure this agreement will be suspended until we can deliver on our obligations. We will, if possible, notify you of the suspension and the estimated duration of the suspension. We will not be liable for any damages caused as a result of the suspension.
19. CONFIDENTIALITY AND SHARING OF INFORMATION
By taking out this policy, you hereby authorize Vodacom Life to obtain personal information from you, and when required, from an independent third party, which may be needed to assess the risks to which the policy agreement relates or for the purposes of entering into or performing in terms of a policy agreement, and or to assess claims in respect of contracts to which this policy agreement relates Please refer to our privacy notice for a description of how we process your personal information.
As agreed, personal information will be stored, processed and used only by our partners. This may include the exchange of information regarding the payment history of the person who is responsible payment of the premiums.
Please note that for risk management purposes we may exchange claim information with other insurers. Where you provided personal information of a third party, for example, your beneficiaries, you confirm that you have provided the information with due permission.
20. PRIVACY NOTICE
This Privacy notice applies to the use of, purchase or other interaction with Vodacom funeral cover. Unless context dictates otherwise, the Vodacom Privacy Statement on https://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/terms/privacy-policy shall also apply to all interactions with Vodacom Funeral Cover, regarding any collection, use or other processing of personal information.
VIA Loyalty and Benefit Terms and Conditions
A – ABOUT THE SMARTPHONE LOYALTY BENEFIT
Member’s cover amount; o Be an active Vodacom contract subscriber;
B – VODACOM LEGAL ADVICE LINE
C – PROCEDURE FOR REDEEMING THE SMARTPHONE BENEFIT
D – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
E – FURTHER BENEFITS
VLA wishes to show its appreciation to its Members by adding more loyalty benefits to this program from time to time Vodacom may also amend the type of benefits available under this program and will provide its Members with reasonable prior written notice in event of any such change.