I had taken a Life Insurance policy (Policy no. 111013275963 dt. 7.10.2011) of Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Limited. The two persons who had come to get the form filled and collect the documents and cheque, Mr. Hardeep Singh (Mobile no. 9540012210) and Mr. Ravi Kushwaha (Mobile no. 9711331231) and who were not carrying their visiting cards at the time had advised me that, if for any reason I needed to cancel the policy I could do so within three months from the date of policy and the entire sum paid as premium would be refunded after deducting around Rs. 200 paid as stamp duty by the company. I had asked them if they could show me the draft copy of general terms and conditions which would govern the policy so that I could go through the same before filling the forms. They had replied that the company did not provide it but explained some general points which, on hindsight, suited the company to secure the policy but were incomplete. They even did not want me to fill the form myself, completed it themselves and asked me to just put my signatures. When the policy document reached me, it had a whole lot of clauses that were not made known to me at the time of filling the form. These clauses were unilateral and set by the company and some of those were not acceptable to me. The company agents/representatives had very clearly conveyed to me that I could cancel the policy, for any reason, within 3 months of the date of policy but I did not find any mention of this in the policy document.
As I have to fulfill other financial commitments, I had requested Aegon Religare to cancel the policy and refund the initial premium amount of Rs. 35, 000 which I have already paid after deducting the amount paid by them as stamp duty, vide my email of December 1.
I was in for a rude shock when after delaying the matter for 1 and ½ months, M/s Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Limited, have, vide their letter dtd. January 12 (received by me today, January 16), refused to cancel the policy.
I consider the company’s approach as restrictive and unfair trade practice. I also wish to put on record, my displeasure with the company’s unethical business practices and unprofessional attitude, more so when they are in the insurance business which requires high degree of transparency, honesty and integrity.
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