Hi!!
This is to bring to your notice the unfair trade practices played by major Insurance Company.
I had taken an Insurance policy with details as below:
Policy No.: 10707528
Life Assured: Swarnpreet Singh
Plan Description: Unit Linked Pension
Payment Type: Direct Debit
Frequency: Monthly
Premium Amount: 5000/- (Five Thousand Only)
Since the starting, the HDFC had problem taking payment and I had to run every time for making my premium payments. Everything was going fine till December'2007. In the month of Jan' the premium amount was not debited from my Bank Account and the reason given to me was insufficient funds whereas there were enough funds to make the debit.
Anyhow, I received a call on the 21st Jan' 08 on the same from Mr. Pankaj Kapoor # 9999500308, 9990052969 stating that since the payment was not cleared through the direct debit, could it be possible for me to make a cheque payment? I happily accepted the same and on the 25th Jan' 08 an executive named Mr. Aamir Khan # 09971066819, Employee ID # 8211176545, visited my premises for the payment of the lapse premium.
On his visit, he was not carrying a receipt book and on contrary he asked for two cheques for Rs.5000/-. When asked, he said that since the payment for Jan' 08 was not cleared, the payment for Feb' 08 would not be debited since it as a closed Direct DEBIT account and I would again need to sign the Direct Debit Form for revival of the Direct Debit Facility. On this, I gave him two cheques with details as below:
a. Cheque No.: 055622 dated 25.01.2008 amounting 5000/- for SBI Bank, Sushant Lok, Gurgaon
b. Cheque No.: 055623 dated 20.02.2008 amounting 5000/- for SBI Bank, Sushant Lok, Gurgaon.
Now, since he was not carrying a receipt book, I made him sign on the photocopy of the cheques as a receiving. I also showed him the bank statement for the month of Jan' 08 and made him look into the
availability of funds and asked him the reason why the debit was not cleared. On this he replied, that sometimes the Direct Debit facility has a malfunctioning and is not cleared.
After this I went on an official project for 2 months to Dheradun.
On my return, there were two letters from the HDFC Insurance with details as below:
Letter Dated: 25th Jan' 08
Details: The letter clearly stated that instead of initiating a debit of 5000/- they initiated a debit of 10, 000/, which was not the amount they were supposed to DEBIT and thus the same was not cleared due to insufficient funds. And further they wanted me to make the payment.
Letter Dated: 19th Feb'08
Details: It was a revival quotation, stating revival charges of 250/- for revival for the lapsed policy plus my premium being unpaid for the month of Jan & Feb'08.
On receiving the above letters, I contacted the customer care and asked for the cheques, which were given as per the details above. The customer care replied that they have not received any cheques till date and they did not have any entry for the same. This annoyed me and I requested them for the closure of my policy on which they replied that the same could not be done before three years and also when I asked about the amount I would receive after three years, they replied that since it is a lapsed
policy they would make appropriate deductions and then return the money.
After all this, I made a written compalint to them as per the above and the reply recived to the same is below:
((On 6/12/08, Response Insurance wrote:
Dear Mr. Singh,
Thank you for choosing HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. as your life insurer.
We deeply apologize for the delay in responding to your email.
With regard to your email, we would like to inform you that as per the confirmation from the concerned department we have sent the direct debit request for Rs.5000 only and we have received a failure due to insufficient funds. Hence we request you to kindly contact your bank for further information.
With regard to your email, we would like to inform you that as per the confirmation from the concerned department we have sent the direct debit request for Rs.5000 only and we have received a failure due to insufficient funds. Hence we request you to kindly contact your bank for further information.
With regard to the cheques we regret to inform you that we have not received the said cheques. We request you to kindly check your bank account whether they have been cleared and if cleared to which account.
The unit linked pension policy cannot be surrendered before three years. This as per the product feature which is mentioned in the policy document that has been sent to you. Since the policy is in lapsed state, all the units are deallocated and the fund value less surrender charges are held with us and will not be paid back. If the policy is not revived within 2 years from the date of lapse or 3 years from the date of inception whichever is later the amount held with us will be refunded.
We hope the above clarifies your concern.
Please feel free to write to us for further clarifications.
We assure you the best of our services always.
Warm Regards,
Ravi Sharma
Customer Service Officer.))
Further my reply to the above is below:
{{Dear Mr. Sharma,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your mail as I was not in town & was inaccessible to mails.
Your statement stating that INR 5000/- was only debited is entirely wrong as I have already checked with my Bankers and I have also received a letter from your organization stating that INR 10, 000 was debited and I have adequate proof, proving the same.
Thus, there is no point discussing the same and exchanging mails.
As far as cheques are concerned, no whereabouts about the same is known till date and I have already given a stop payment letter to my Bank.
Further, I have spoken to my attorney and if no response is received within 15 days of this email, I would have to file a legal suit against your organization and I would not be responsible for further actions.
Thus, taking this as my last email on the subject matter, reconsider giving my money back.
Awaiting your early revert on the same.
Regards,
S.P Singh
#91-9958875566}}
After the above mail I have not recived a single reply from them even after several reminder.
Now, my questions are:
a. Why did they debit 10, 000/- when they were supposed to debit 5000/- only?
b. Why the same was not informed to me even if they did?
c. Where are my cheques gone? They have clue on the same!! I really have to get my bank statement again and check maybe the said person has cleared it in his account!!
d. Where do I stand at fault in the above transactions, which were not cleared? Why should I face so much of mental trauma because of their faults?
e. Above all, if I want to close the policy, why should I wait for three years for my money?
f. Even after three years, they would not return my full money!! Why should I not get my entire money back?
g. Why should I face loss for which I am not at fault?
Please look into this and help me get out of this mental agony.
Regards,
S.P Singh
#99688-75566
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