Changed the plan & policy term after payment. Review on HDFC Life Insurance

I learnt a very expensive lesson by losing Rs 25000/ - which I tried to invest in HDFC Life's Sampoorn Samridhi. I had applied for this policy and paid a cheque for the said amount (dated 2-May-2013). The cheque was encashed on 17-May-2013 and since then all communication stopped from their side. I became impatient when I did not receive my policy document even after 1.5 months of cheque encashment. I started enquiring at the end of June. I got my first surprise when I came to know from their customer support that there is a policy in my name, but the corresponding address and phone number are different from mine. I called up the financial consultant who had sold me the policy, he told me that due to a goof up by operation's dept, some other person's contact details have been put against my policy. He also said the policy document could not be delivered due to the error in address. I was told to visit my nearest HDFC Life branch to fill up a form and correct the address.

I was extremely exasperated and disgusted by such callousness. However I went to the nearest branch and did the needful to change my address and phone number. The change was reflected after 1 day and I was able to generate a login id and password for accessing my policy online. I got my second surprise and the rudest shock in this whole affair, when I found that the policy issued to me is not Sampoorn Samridhi, which I applied for, instead it's a completely different policy called "HDFCSL ClassicAssure". The policy I had applied for, had policy term of 5 years. The one issued to me has policy term of 10 years. In short, it's a totally different policy for which I had never applied.

I called up the financial consultant again and did not make any attempt to hide my displeasure. He again went on like a tape recorded voice message... "the operation's department has made a fault and it will be rectified in next 2 weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience". I was completely clueless regarding what I should do next. It was a completely unacceptable situation. I tried to lodge a complaint with their customer service, but I got the same crap about waiting for 2 weeks. There was no way I would have accepted the changed plan and pay premium for 10 years. I am sure a thousand more thing will go wrong with these people during the tenure of the policy and upon maturity.

I have lodged a complaint with IRDA (Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority). I'm waiting for a response from their end. I consider that my Rs 25000/- has been stolen from me by conniving thieves known as HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. I am writing this review so that people who read it do not fall prey to these cheats.

Please be suspicious when you see the following while applying for a policy:

1) The agent asks you not to fill up the long application form and only fill up a short "Customer Information sheet". He/she will just take your signatures in the blank form and will tell you they will fill up the form later from the "Customer Information sheet".

2) Whenever you receive any email from them it's always from gmail, yahoo etc. No one having 'hdfc' mail id will mail you.

I have been conned by these people. Save yourself.

Financial Consultant : Mr. Santanu Chatterjee (financial consultant code:1107305)

Policy serving branch:

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd

26 A, Gariahat Shopping Mall, 1st Floor,

Hindustan Park, Gariahat, Kolkata - 700029

Updates: After a lot of hassles, I finally received my policy document. A copy of the 'Proposal Form' was attached with it. I found that the form number is different from the acknowledgement counterpart which I have with me. Clearly the form was changed and my signature was forged.

As I had already mentioned, in this form the plan, the policy term, address, phone number all were wrong. My office address & medical history were imaginary. Even the name of the financial consultant was unknown to me. I immediately opted for "Cancellation in free-look period" and returned the policy document in the nearest HDFC Life branch. A week has passed but did not hear a word from them.

Final Update: I finally wrote to Ombudsman. The policy has been cancelled and almost the entire sum has been refunded. Nothing can compensate the trouble I had to go through. However, I will never forget the lesson which I learnt the hard way.