Dear Sir,
I wanted to bring to your notice the kind of problems which I have been facing from ICICI bank and IL&FS Milestone fund 1 people.
All this started in Nov-07, at that time there is this person from ICICI called Subhankar Majumder who used to take care of my salary account. I used to tell him to let me know if there are any good investment opportunities in the market and he had introduced me to 2 real estate fund (1) ILNFS Milestone Fund 1 and (2) Peninsular Realty Fund, he had assured me that this is a good fund for Rs.10 Lakhs each and insisted me to invest into it, for which I had told him that the investment would be big (20 Lakhs) and I would not be able to meet it, for this he told me that if I am not able to pay after the 1st or 2nd or 3rd drawdown, then I can ask for refund as there would be a corpus fund from which the company (Milestone) would be paying up people who are not able to invest (but there would be a fine).
I had accepted and invested in both the funds. The initial payment for Milestone was 3 lakhs which I paid and the rest was in installments.
In April because of the share market and real estate crash that I had to go though a major loss, which led to a lot of financial mess. During this period I was not able to make the next payments for milestone and wanted to contact Subhankar and let him know that I am not able to make the payments and wanted the refund, but to my surprise he had left the organization and it took me a couple of weeks before I could get in touch with the Shveta Malhan.
Once I got in touch with Shevta Malhan, I had to tell the whole story and all she had to say is sorry for the wrong information but I am try to get a refund. The thing went on from July to Nov-8008.
In Nov-08 I had to escalate it to Soumen Chatterjee and again had to tell him my problem and he told me he will take care of it and asked me to speak to him in a few days, but when I got back to him Dec or Jan-09 he had left the organization. Now I was stuck again and this time when I spoke to Shevta, she put me onto Siddhartha and Komal Parek.
Now I had to again for the 3rd time speak to him and tell him my problem and said sorry again and accepted the mistake done by Sudhankar and told me that withdrawal is not a possibility. At this stage I told them about my problem and he assured me that they will do something for me.
I kept waiting and waiting and waiting from Komal or Siddhartha but no one called but, out of frustration when I called them only answer I get is ‘Sorry we tried but nothing happened’. When I asked them to give me the number of Milestone people they gave me some number which does not work and I kept trying a trying, but all in vain.
Then in Sep to Oct 09 I had to send out a letter to Ved Prakash Arya of Milestone and told him the problem and the reason for my withdrawal (Lost a lot of money and I had to pay for my housing loan). At this time I got a call from Ashish Karwa and he told me that he will arrange a buyer and told me to get in touch with him after a few days. I told him this is very important.
After a few days and weeks I called him up and he never picked up. I called him up atleast 50 to 60 times and also sent him 5 to 10 messages but all in vain. He never got back to my calls or messages or emails. I got fed up and called the board line to speak to Ved Prakash Arya but again this time they gave me the number of Sumit Sumani.
When I called up Sumit Sumani, he blatantly told me refund is not possible even after tell him my situation and the financial mess I am in.
Then again I had to source out Mr. Ved Prakash Arya’s number and this time I called him up to speak to him. When I called him up he put me onto this guy called Apaar and told me he will take care of the whole situation.
Now Apaar after listening to the whole thing first told me refund is not possible, but he also told me that he will find me a buyer and asked me to wait for a few days. I keep waiting and in the meantime, my father had a heart attack and I called Apaar and told him the problem again and told him that the money was very important to me as my father is in the hospital; he told me that he will speak to the buyer and get back. I wait for a day and again call him up and this time Apaar gives me the number of the buyer and asks me to talk to him.
I speak to the buyer and he tells me that he is waiting for some calculation from Apaar and tells me to tell Apaar to send him an email. I do the same thing.
Next day I get a call from the buyer and he tells me that he needs some clarification about the refund. He tells me that he is trying to get in touch with Apaar and also asked me to tell Apaar to send him the response to the email he sent. I call up Apaar to tell the same and he picks up the call and tells me that he will call back. I wait for a couple of hours and send him a message I don’t get a response and when I give a call in the evening to ask him if he got the message and to tell him about the email. He tells me that he was in a meeting and if I keep continuing to call him he will be forced to ignore my calls.
He in the course of conversation also tells me that refund is only possible if the investor is deceased. This statement way made in such a way that this is the only option I had.
Even today I have not received any information on the refund.
I had to run from pillar to post for the amount I have invested. I was given wrong information; due to this I took this step on investing in something which is as bad as Milestone. Bothe ICICI and Milestone and not bothered about the investors concern and only mothered about the money they make.
I would like to know the steps how to file a case against Milestone and ICICI bank and get my refund.
Thanks,
G.N.Srinivas
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