[Resolved]  Aviva — Complaint regarding misselling of AVIVA ULIP Policy by ABN AMRO & AVIVA Sales Team

Let's all get together and file a PIL in Supreme court against these cheats. I am willing to lead this fight.
Anil

a brief on how AVIVA & ABN AMRO cheated me and my husband to the tune of 9 lacs.

My name is Shalini Vig Wadhwa and I along with my husband Prateek, hold the below mentioned Policies of Aviva.
Aviva ULIP Pension Policy that was sold to me by ABN AMRO bank employee Mr. Preetipal Singh, accompanied by banc assurance employee Mr. Ajit Singh.
Policy Details: Number – RPG1696773 / Dated: 28/09/2007 of 6 lacs.
I would like to highlight few points in connection with this sale.
1) I took this policy in the year 2007, October, when these guys introduced the company Aviva and its products offering to me.
2) The sales manager from banca visited my office [Preetipal Singh] and told me that I have to pay a single premium and after 5 years I can withdraw the money at minimum 25 % growth. And along with that I will be having risk cover available for the 5 years.
3) They miss sold the product to me as I was unaware of the regular premiums associated with this plan. They assured me that they would invest the 6 lacs given to recover the balance premiums and I should not worry about it at all.
4) Contrary to this I was given verbal assurance that I will get an amount close to 1200, 000 after 5 years of the policy term.
5) To lure me into trap I was offered a single premium and huge risk cover.
6) Strangely, last year my premium amount was due, ABN AMRO employees approached me [Pretipal Singh & Pranjay Dutta] and to my dismay, I was informed that I have to pay regular premium of 6 lacs for the next ten years! All this time no one approached me or informed me on what was happening to my money.
7) I told them that I can’t pay six lacs this year then he said that I can skip this year’s premium and my policy will remain active but on checking with a friend I understood that I have to pay 12 lacs rupee next year if I fail to pay this year’s premium.
I was quite skeptical in going for this product but after continuous perusal and assurances by these guys and follow up call by Aviva sales guys, I finally went for it. I genuinely trusted them and gave them very descent premium. Not once did anyone approach me during the entire year with any feedback on the money paid to Aviva. No statements from anyone on what is the status of this policy. Then the demand for another 6 lacs!
My husband too was lured into the same trap. He was sold the same kind of policy twice within a month!
He has 3 policies of AVIVA – Tune of 3 lacs
· Number – ALL1983685 /Life Long – Unit link dated 28/04/2008
· Number- ASV1997502 – Safe Guard dated 06/05/2008
· Number- LLD2024556 – Lifelong –Unit link dated 27/05/2008
We are really very disappointed with the Aviva and with their wrong & false commitments. Agents being hired to sell policies that end up completing their targets where as people like us suffer.
By doing such things probably they increase their business but at the same time they are breaching the trust of the customers.
We feel this is a very unethical act by both ABN AMRO & Aviav as they first lure the customers by showing the sunny side and once they fall into your trap, only then get to see the flip side of it.
We have been asking them to help resolve this issue ever since last year. The below mentioned mails have been sent and stargaely they have accepted their faults but refuse to return the money unless we continue the policy for 3 years.
Attached are the mails that show how they have just not bothered to resolve this issue till date.

Hi All...

I completely agree with above complaints and i myself is a victim of that. Its a nexus between Insurance company and agents who are paid a huge percentage of premium amount to lure people like us by any means. These people have no ethics and can go to any level in order to make their money. I call this nothing sort of business but cheat and must be punished to maximum extent. Its a crime nothing less than burglary or theft.

I request you all to raise awareness about this cheat business so that no more people like us get into their trap. I am doing my best and following up with irda to find if i can take any legal actions against them.

Let me present some facts about ulip that your insurance agent will never tell you -
1. He will never tell you about the charges applicable on the policy. Will never let you know about total % of your premium that go into investment. If you enquiry about charges, he will probably say that it has similar charges like mutual fund OR probably tell you about one of the many charges applicable on policy.
2. He will never tell you that you should invest in Ulip only if your time horizon is 10 yrs or more.
3. He will probably show you 30% annual return and will say that you can surrender your policy after 3rd year. He/she won't tell you about the refund amount in case you surrender your policy after certain year.


Some facts about ulip -
1. Different insurers have different charge structure. These charges can be as high as 100% in some cases. Some insurers like Birla sun life/ICICI Pru or HDFC etc have high first/second/third year charges and nominal charges after that. But some companies like Aviva OR LIC charge you through out your policy term. In my case, i am paying approx 20% of my premium amount as charges for the past 3 years and they will go on till my policy matures.

Each of above have their implications as paying 20% every year means, if market return is less than 20% in any year...you are not going to gain anything but loosing out your hard earned money. Fortunate for me, market has returned more than 20% so i am still not lost any money.

2. Mortality Charges depends on the sum insured amount. So, if you have high sum insured amount...your charges will be high. But if your insurance amount is less than there is no use of this policy. You are paying 20% more charges compared to mutual fund for a risk cover that you can probably get with your free credit card (thinking about this, i can laugh on myself as many of my credit cards are giving me more insured amount than my policy)

3. They have fixed Policy Administration Charges. So, depending on your premium amount it can make up to 10 or even 20% of premium. Such of waste of money :(


Some Relief -

At last, On 22nd July 2009 IRDA issued another set of guidelines, which are popularly known as ULIP Guideline II. All existing unit-linked products will have to comply with the revised guidelines from January 1, 2010, and therefore, these products will have to be re-filed by December 31, 2009. Important points this guidelines -
1. For tensure less than 10 yrs, difference between the net yield and the gross yield could not exceed 3 per cent. Within this, the fund management charges are restricted at 135 basis points. For tenure more than 10 yrs, this diff cannot be more than 2.25 %
2. Unit-linked insurance products (Ulips) filed after September 30 2009 will have a lock-in of five years. Good news, there will be no surrender charge from the fifth year of the policy (in case you already burnt your hands, wait till 5 yrs of your policy and keep your friend and family away from these agents)

-Tarun

I completely agree. One of FPA from Aviva has mislead without letting me know the complete details. Their charges are very high when you are going to withdraw or close the account. That FPA told me after 3 years you don't need to pay the premium and can withdraw or close the account with full amount as per the NAV value. I have full case history..

They are fooling us like other such as Charlse Shobraj, Mr. Natwarlal and many others. When these people are behind bar now then why can't Aviva..

It would better if we all file to the Supreme Court to get the judgment.

Irrespective of how good or bad their products are, They care about after sales service service. Never ever invest with them without having every thing written n black & white. Else you are in for a nasty experience. Dont count on your banker as he is going to stand by you till he gets his commission from Aviva ! Those o[censored] having a policy with them, pls take some time and read the Terms & Conditions. There is Lot more in it than what is told verbally..!!

Policy no : LLG1199320
Aviva is cheating customers

my policy premium wuld be auto debited every year. the policy was started in 2005. the first 3 anual premiums were successfully auto debited. on the 4th year there was a problem and the autodebit did not happen. i called up the customer support and they told me that the system scheduler failed and the problem is from aviva's side. i have given a written complaint for the same and again after 3 months i again checked and to my surprise i found that again the premium was not deducted. i again gave them a written complaint and sadly the aviva's sytem scheduler failed. i was frustrated since my policy was in high risk mode. i requested aviva to close my policy an to give my money back. then came the problem.

To my surprise aviva told me that the policy could not be closed. and if i close forecfully i wuld be deducted somewhere around 34, 000. the total premium i have paid is around 50, 000. on closing the policy aviva tells me that they will pay only 16.000.

Someone plz help me in this regard

i have sent around 10 mails and these guys are sending me only pre types messages and are not addressing my complaint at all.

I suggest don't pay anything to them until you continue with their services. What's the guarantee they pay at the time of completion of policy.. No guarantee.. I suggest all the holder to join hand nationally and file a complaint with Supreme Court.

Thing is that they are cheating us openly without letting us know the complete details. They know very well the moment they mentioned everything no one take any policy. The 1 rule is they must informed everything verbally or written be one take any policy.

Let's do now or never shout here.

SORRY FOLKS, THIS IS ANOTHER MIS-SOLD ULIP BUT NOT THROUGH AVIVA BUT BAJAJALLIANZ.
MODERATOR FEEL FREE TO DELETE THIS IF IT IS NOT CONTEXTUAL. THE ONLY REASONS I AM POSTING IT HERE IS TO MAKE ALL OF YOU AWARE OF THE NEXUS BETWEEN THESE PRIVATE BANKS AND THE INSURANCE PROVIDER.

THIS IS A LETTER TO MR S MANJESH ROY, DGM I/C OF COMPLAINTS AT SEBI JUST TO MAKE HIM AWARE THAT THESE THIEVES HAVE SPREAD THEIR NET WIDE.
*******************************************************************************
Dear Mr Manjesh Roy,

Please read this letter if and only when you have the time to spare a few minutes, and hopefully more as a diversion than from any expectation from my part for you to act on it.

I have recently been aware of SEBI's position regarding the ULIPs and am stupefied to know that a parallel organisation like the IRDA are also been given authority to regulate the same. Anyway as non-resident Indians we can only be silent observers.

The purpose of writing to you is to cite an example how rampant is the mis-selling going on by ULIP providers fully aided and abetted by private banks to the unsuspecting public.

I must insist at this point again sir, there is no motive from my part to seek any redress from SEBI regarding this incident for our benefit. We are not expecting or hoping for any action from your part. The only hope from us is that this incident will complement the innumerable complaints you must receive on mis-selling o[censored]LIPs and helping you to appreciate how far the net has been spread.

I am cutting and pasting the draft of a letter which I am constantly encouraging my daughter (a very busy Cardiologist in UK) to re-write to a Mr K, the Head of NRI services of a very well known private sector Bank in Kolkata. The other person referred to ( Mr R) who used to be the NRI Relationship officer for the same bank in Kolkata at the time of the incident.

I am sending this email to you in complete confidence because my daughter being the aggrieved one and an adult should take any actions herself, and would not appreciate me entering into any discourse without her full consent, which as you may well guess, I have YET not been able to obtain.
I am sure, if and when she gets the time, she will coin her own letter to the persons concerned in a much more presentable and effective fashion.
I am just concerned that if such incidences are not brought to the notice of people who can change policy, I will be doing a disservice to the community at large.

Sincerely yours

Siddhartha Sen-Chowdhry


***************************************************************************

This is a draft of a letter to Mr K.


Dear Mr K,

This email is sent to you as a request to investigate some apparent irregularities in a Unit linked Life insurance policy sold by by your employee Mr R to my daughter Dr. xxxxxxx .

This life insurance policy (No. XXXXXXX, ) from the insurer ##### apparently came into effect from xx/yy/08 with the the deduction of the first premium of Rs 1.25 lacs. Since then a further premium of Rs 1.25 lacs had also been deducted in 2009. We presume the next premium will be due in October of this year.

Up till now we do not know what are the details of this policy.

On a late afternoon just before the first deduction date of xx/yy/2008, Mr R visited my daughter at my mother-in-law's house in Shyambazar, Kolkata, where she, with my wife were on the final day of their short visit from UK. Both my daughter and wife were about to sit down to have their last lunch together with her grandma since they would be returning to UK very early next morning. There was, by all accounts, a signing of papers brought in by Mr R, by my daughter, the underlying purpose (as energetically insisted and highlighted by Mr R) was to allow the eventual repatriation of her NRO funds to UK through the use of this instrument.

After returning to UK, my wife and daughter rang Mr R to inquire about the details of the package which they could review. Mr R replied that the papers had been sent to the Shyambazar address. When asked why, since all records of my daughter's details were only registered to her UK address, Mr R literally begged for forgiveness for this transgression . Never did it occur to him to volunteer that a copy of the same dossier be forwarded to her registered UK address to remedy the situation. But more about that later.

My daughter is a Cardiologist in UK and her clinical and research activities have been so intense that she has not been yet able to visit india with her mum to visit her grandma since her last visit in 2008. Her grandma is also so frail and advanced in years that she is unable to locate which document she could redirect to her in UK even if she had the manpower resources, which she does not.

Under the prevailing laws existing in all civilised countries, the selling of an insurance policy is followed by a cooling-off period in the region of around 15 days. In the case of India we believe that the term used is FREE-LOOK.

It is now clear that by having the policy document including any fine print sent to an inoperative and inappropriate address, the opportunity for the customer to examine the details and exercise his or her options as laid down in law, can be pre-empted. Of course the remoteness of the customer from either the documents or the agent helps, together with the dubious perception that a renowned bank (like yours) will never willingly do any harm to its customers.

The reasons are now obvious as to why and how Mr R managed to obviate any opportunity of my daughter visiting the terms and conditions of the policy. The matter gets more serious when my daughter vehemently denies authorising any deduction of an amount of Rs 1, 25, 000/-. The figure which had stuck in her mind was Rs 25, 000/-.

Due to my contacts in India, I have had the privilege of obtaining information about the nexus of Insurance Companies and Private Sector banks in India. To that extent, I have at my disposal 'strictly confidential' clauses marked for internal use only ( between Insurance Companies and Banks) the details of some of which are never embodied into the policy document. It will not be difficult for me to get such specific clauses for this particular policy at all and compare it to the policy documents once we have it in hand.

The purpose of my writing to you is to request you the following:

1. To send to my daughter's registered address in UK, a copy of the full dossier (policy document, terms and conditions) by secure 'signed for' mail method. We are insisting that such an action is initiated by you within the next few days so that we are in receipt of the same in UK within the next fourteen days.

2. To also include in the same dossier, each and every photocopy of documents (including debit mandate showing amounts ) which was apparently signed by my daughter.

Once we obtain these documents (day of delivery will be known to you), we will examine the contents of the same and decide whether the selling of the policy had been appropriate or not. A period of FREE-LOOK can then start. At this time we do not want to pre-empt the findings of our examination which may (or may not) affect the validity of the contract and all past and future policy premium debits.

Mr K, I am expecting you to treat this letter seriously. If you decide not to respond appropriately within the suggested time frame, you can be assured that the matter will be referred to not only at the highest level in your organisation, but also to law to institute a F.I.R.. Please do keep in mind that by having some privileged sources of information, I will, at the very least, be able to direct this matter to the most appropriate authorities.

Yours etc.

*************************

Dear Mr Manjesh Roy, I wish you all in SEBI to continue the good work in putting a stop to these practices in general. My daughter is appalled to hear of the huge initial loading (~45 thousand) already deducted and the extreme exit penalty clauses applying to her policy, all of which she was not aware of. I only have come to know about this confidentially from a very senior officer of that Insurance Company, and that also very recently.

Aviva is a BIG FRAUD COMPANY & CHEATER. manager of private & prestigious bank promoted me this policy trusting her i took 10 policies. i went abroad n after coming i saw the booklet which they have sent. i was made after going thru it. thought of surrendering cos the picture shown while taking the policy was different n later they turned. i was continously following aviva to know my fund value. the fund value had never gone up above the invested amount. they told me that the 3 years is the locking period n after that you can withdrawl, so i invested the money for 3 years. after 3 years i told them i want to close the policy, after talking to them the fund value was still less than the invested amount. further they told me the initial 56% & cummulative charges 19% will be deducted from the amount along with the basic charges (ie administrative 56/- per month & motality cost 21/- per month. )
i asked them if they have invested our money in the market so now the market is growing so the fund value should increase, the person replied ya then why the fund value is less then the invested premium amount. then he said the calculation of fund value is done on the basis of age. further i asked him about the fund value of my cousine her fund value was less than mine i asked him why so he replied cos of age.
me n my cousin are of same year ( difference of 1month) hardly matters.
i asked from my elder cousin who is elder to me by 7 years his fundvalue was only more than 2k & surrender value they told me 30k deduction from my fund value ie hardly 22% of my invested amount. the 2nd cousin who is elder to me by 3 years his fund value was less than 3k than me .
further i told him that im holding 10 policies n at the end of 3rd year you are not able to give me the priniciple amt leave the interest then i dont find worth being with aviva.
I told him that u people are fooling the customers. this is all fraud you are doing as im getting gains from other private companies n more over ur calculations are not proper & i feel you are not investing our amount properly. continously im following with aviva since two year & i was told that my fund value was always less than my invested amount. Lot of assurance are given by them before taking their product once sold they are not bothered at all.

He told me that i will get call from aviva in next 4 hrs for the calculation n how they can help us with these policies. just waiting for the calls since 7 days.
i feel instead of investing into these private companies i feel that LIC is the best. all these companies have hiden charges & what all.

i have been miss sold an Aviva Ulip of 4 lakhs premium via ABN AMRO - absolute
crooks .

I have tried my best to revoke the policy but to no avail.

austin

AVIVA — Refund

This is regarding My policy no. SAG2609517 (Om Prakash Gupta).
and my complaint against Aviva company.

My complaint number is as below IN IRADA
175/ALIC/comp dated 14th August 2010.

Well I can't say much bad/wrong thing about ABN AMRO/ RBS bank as they have been mostly good to me and their suggestion too has mostly been financially benefical to me.

But when it comes to Mr. Preetipal Singh, what I can say today on 24th January 2011 is that he was among the biggest liars I have ever met.
Reasons:
i) I was sold the AVIVA insurance same as mentioned in above complaint without giving any single details. so it was a kind of MISUSE OF TRUST.

ii) After having paid 3 lakhs rupees in 3years, I could come to know only today that AVIVA Charges 20% amount of investment in first year of investment.
Which was never informed to me. SO again MISUSE OF TRUST.

So if at all someone meets Pretipal Singh who is now working with Standard Charter Bank, beware.

SS

That Pretipal Singh is rather a CROOK than a liar is clear from above posts.

I wish Preetipal Singh gets his due in due course.

They are the really froad for my policy rsg1328499. i have paid 1, 10, 000.00 and after 4 years they have only paid me 78000.00. They have to pay me extra but they have deducated my amount.

AVIVA — pf

Dear Sir,


My Name is varun gupta
sir my pf no is KN/BN34272/99867 AND EMP CODE 069940

PLZ PF IS REFUND


thanks

varun gupta

my mobile no is [protected]

I totally diagree with this...People before investing should think and consult from other other sources and then invest.

AVIVA — ULIP Policy

Never ever Invest in AVIVA, if you any excess Amt you better burnt it rather investing it in AVIVA
because the surrender charges are very high & sales representatives are also not educated about the policy terms & conditions.