Complaint filed August 18th; No response from BSLI. Review on Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance

Update Nov 2 2012

I now know why companies like BSLI get away with murder when they turn a blind eye to fraudulent practices of their agents and officers while enticing customers through deceit, misinformation and outright lies. In my case the practice included a forged signature of mine in the actual policy document that was discovered too late by me.

Fraudulent enrollment,  even criminal practices are not covered in the terms of reference governing the functioning of the Insurance Ombudsman and therefore the only remedy left for the victims is perhaps the consumer court.

Essentially, the Insurance Ombudsman is concerned only with disputes relating to claims as is evident from the RPG Rules 1998, excerpted below:

1. Power of Ombudsman :-

(1) The Ombudsman may receive and consider :-

(a) Complaints under rule 13;

(b) Any partial or total repudiation of claims by an insurer;

(c) Any dispute in regard to premium paid or payable in terms of the policy;

(d) Any dispute on the legal construction of the policies in so far as such disputes relate to claims;

(e) Delay in settlement of claims;

(f) Non-issue of any insurance document to customers after receipt of premium.

(2) The Ombudsman shall act as counsellor and mediator in matters, which are within his terms of reference and, if requested to do so in writing by mutual agreement by the insured person and insurance company.

(3) The Ombudsman’s decision whether the complaint is fit and proper for being considered by it or not shall be final.

I had preferred a complaint with the Ombudsman, Hyderabad and within a week of my filing the complaint,  I got a response saying that since the subject of my complaint was refund of the premium paid consequent to fraud and forgery,  he had no jurisdiction over the matter.

It is evident now why BSLI did not even care to respond to my grievance filed on their website. Customer gullibility is what these worthless , deceitful companies  prey upon and perhaps even encourage their staff to be on the look out for. I was a victim of that tactics by Subhash S Nair of BSLI.   there are hundreds of such Nairs lurking around.  We need to spread the awareness so that companies like BSLI do not get to run their posh airconditioned offices with stolen money without fear of having to pay for their frauds and crimes.

Nov 2, 2012

A follow up to the post below:  I filed a complaint on 18th August and except for an automated acknowledgement,  I have not heard from BSLI.   Yesterday I followed up with a complaint registered with the Ombudsman in Hyderabad.

Sep 3 2012:

Having had a depressing experience with BSLI,  I will be happy if a few would be investors for BSLI or similar other insurance companies, at least benefit from my experience and stay away from sweet talking fraudsters.   I am available on 09845545626 if you want to hear me out. I paid Rs.100000/- each in 2010 and 2011 and had even paid the 3rd cheque in their office at Indiranagar, Bangalore. Before I realised that every time I parted with a cheque,  I was not only losing money instantly (of the order of 20%) ,  but no one in their office could tell me for sure when and whether I could recover at least my principal, forget about returns.

The officers in Indiranagar candidly conceded that the policy I enrolled in was not meant for me or my wife (just a few months short of 60 at enrollment) and one of them agreed with  me that the signature appearing in the policy statement on page #30,  a IRDA mandated table of minimum and expected returns on the policy, was forged (the table was mandated to be shown to me before enrollment but was never shown by the agent,  in this case Mr.Sukumaran S Nair).

Yes,  they all act honest after you and I have been conned and defrauded,  but not before at the time of solicitation when you could have saved your money. As for long term returns,  the less said the better.  One of the officers said I could expect even 300% return but for that I would have had to stay enrolled for 10 years and what is more pay Rs.100000/- every year.

I have now surrendered the policy and BSLI will generously pay me Rs.1, 14, 000/- in Sep 2013.  They have to pay nothing for the frauds committed on me including the forgery of my signature but can conveniently hide behind their rules and a signature I have put in the application due to some past misfortune of mine.

Please stay away if your money hard earned:  they care two hoots for you once you are caught in their clutches:  you can get out only on their terms!

Dr.Ravichandran