[Resolved]  Car Insurance — Misleading car insurance by Tata AIG

We had insured 10 Indica Xeta cars from TATA AIG at a time. We had a very bad experience on voluntary access terms & total misguide by TATA AIG. In future, no one will refer TATA AIG for car insurance. Inspite of a lot of follow up with Pune branch team, we achieved nothing.

Letter given to Pune branch is given herewith. E mail on: personallines.[protected]@tata-aig.com

Dear Mr. Sujal,

Refer to the visit we had to your office on 04.12.2008 at 12.30 pm and subsequent discussions regarding the policies of our INDICA XETA vehicles registered in Nov 2007.

We are a group of 10 people and we all belong to and are working with TATA Group Company. We had bought INDICA XETA in 2007 with ICICI Lombard insurance. Now after one year at the time of renewal of policy we had received offers from various insurance agencies including TATA AIG. We received an offer from Mr. Mangal Gupta (Mangal.[protected]@TATA-AIG.com) indicating the IDVs and the premium value (copy is handed over to you). Subsequently we had indicated that the premium value indicated was high and were not interested to purchase the policy. Then we were given some special offers from TATA AIG like reduced premium, a holiday package for a couple & 2 children, a free service voucher for Rs 3000, etc. through Mr. ARUN PAL who was the executive for TATA AIG. We asked him for a meeting to discuss the policy and offers in details and accordingly we had a meeting in Chinchwad. Mr. ARUN PAL along with his colleague had visited Chinchwad to explain us the policy, at this time we had asked him that whether there are any hidden cost or charges that we have to pay now or later on while accident claim settlement and what will be the IDV. We were assured that this is a cashless policy and we have to pay nothing extra now (except Rs 500 as claim processing fee i.e standard everywhere) as well as later at the time of claim settlement. During these discussions we were not given any copy of details of the policy after demanding a number of times and we were told that this is a new system wherein the policy will be explained on telephone. We agreed and handed over the cheques to Mr. ARUN PAL on the same day of meeting.

Then we received verification calls from TATA AIG where we were explained about the policy. During these explanations a new clause of voluntary access was told to us that, at the time of claim we have to pay a sum of Rs 5500 and the rest amount will be settled later on as per the terms. We were really surprised and asked the caller about this new clause which was never discussed initially. We were assured by the caller that TATA AIG executive will call us and explain the same. Then we received calls from Ms Geetanjali who told us she was senior to Mr. ARUN PAL (who had gone to his native place Delhi) who explained us the Voluntary access scheme and apologized for Mr. ARUN PAL had not explained the policy in brief. We had asked her to hold our policy till this issue was cleared as we had never asked for a voluntary access to TATA AIG. In the meantime our cheques were deposited in the bank and the policies were dispatched with the VOLUNTARY ACCESS of Rs 5500 to be paid by us (this is indicated in the policy). Then again we called Ms Geetanjali about this clause and she agreed to arrange a meeting. Accordingly a meeting was arranged at Chinchwad where we met Ms Geetanjali with one of her colleagues Mr. Daniel. During this meeting we had made it clear that we don't want the voluntary access and that clause should be deleted from our policies. Ms Geetanjali told us that she was sorry for Mr. ARUN PAL for not explaining the policy correctly before collecting the cheques and told us that we have to pay some additional premium (this amount is much higher than the initial offer given by TATA AIG) in order to reduce the Voluntary access. We regretted to pay the additional amount and asked her to cancel our policy and hand over the cheques of premium amount to us. She had assured us that she would take up this issue with her seniors and confirm us back. Later on she had confirmed on telephone to our Mr. Ramesh Jadhav that the issue of voluntary access was discussed with her seniors and that they had agreed to delete the clause of VOLUNTARY ACCESS from our policies with additional premium.

Now one o[censored]s, Mr. Ramesh Jadhav's vehicle met with an accident and he had to make a claim for insurance, He had confirmed with Ms Geetanjali about the accident and Voluntary Access amount deletion from the policy. Only after confirmation by waiting for 2-3 hrs before registering the claim on call centre. Later on he handed over the cheque of additional premium amount of Rs 1685 to Ms Geetanjali & Mr. Daniel of TATA AIG. He had also asked whether he should wait for new policy number/ documents and he was assured that he can make a claim on the same policy number without any VOLUNTARY ACCESS. But later on he was asked by the service workshop to make the payment of VOLUNTARY ACCESS of Rs 5500. He tried to contact Ms Geetanjali and TATA AIG about this for 4 consecutive days but no one turned up to answer his query and at last he was forced to make the payment of Rs 5500 as VOLUNTARY ACCESS before taking the delivery.

On further inquiry we were told that we had agreed for VOLUNTARY ACCESS during the verification calls (which they say was recorded) and that the policy cannot be changed. Now we would like to mention here that we had received a number of verification calls from TATA AIG after the query was raised and we are really confused with the working mechanism of TATA AIG. On further discussions we were given an official meeting appointment at TATA AIG office in ORION BLDG OPP. ST MIRA's COLLEGE, PUNE on 04.12.2008 at 12.00 pm. As you are aware that we visited above office on 04.12.2008 at 12.15 and we had come all the way from Chinchwad, Talegaon for this meeting, then on contacting Ms Geetanjali about meeting the phone was not picked by Ms Geetanjali but her assistant picked the phone & told us that they are busy and cannot meet us today. Now is this a way to deal with the customers????

Also there are few other issues still pending:

1. Mr Sanjay Gaikwad has not received the policy copies

2. Mr. Mandar Hardikar's policy vehicle number printed is MH14BC6624 instead of MH14BC6628.

3. Mr. Sandeep R Gade's name is printed as Mr. Gade R instead of Mr. Gade S R

4. Also the offer for free repair voucher of Rs 3000 doesn't include any TATA authorized service centre.

5. Engine Number, chassis number are not printed on any of the policies received.

We are really upset with the way things have gone wrong and we request you to take up the issue with some senior officials as we feel this is mal marketing just to capture customers and has spoiled the name of TATA AIG. Initially we had no choice but to take ICICI Lombard policy and being from TATA Group Company this year we had jointly decided to go for TATA AIG Policy. Sorry to say, but due to this poor functionality and a sense of duping we have lost faith in TATA AIG and would definitely reconsider with our decision whether to continue with TATA AIG or search for another better option which is readily available in the market. Also we would think twice before purchasing any policies in future from TATA AIG whether they may be vehicle, life, health care, etc.

We further request you to delete the clause of VOLUNTARY ACCESS from our policies without any extra premium amount and co-operate.

Hope our genuine request will be considered, thanking you in anticipation.

Regards,

Satish Khurase Ramesh Jadhav Illyas Mulla Umesh Jadhav
Mandar Hardikar Sandeep Gade Sanjay Gaikwad Sagar Bhegade
Pramod Bhage Ravindra Deshmukh