[Resolved]  Tata AIG General Insurance Company — UNETHICAL PRACTICES BY REPRESENTATIVES

To
Shiney Prasad
Senior Vice President – Operations & Systems
TATA-AIG General Insurance Company Limited
Regd: Office : Peninsula Corporate Park
Nicholas Piramal Tower, 9th floor, G.K.Marg
Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013

Ref : MahaRaksha Policy # MRP[protected]
Sub : Unethical methods employed by your representative for renewal of policy and authorization on credit card
For the MahaRaksha policy I was holding for last two years and the premium amount gets charged to my HSBC credit card. This policy expired in Jan 2008.
For the last two annual renewals, your representative contacted me from Mumbai and took approval for renewal. I also authorized TATA-AIG to charge the premium to my HSBC credit card.
After the elapse of the policy in Jan 2008, no one contacted me for renewal. I was also not interested in renewing the policy.
Last month I got a cover with a covering letter stating that the policy is renewed and the premium amount will be charged to my credit card. I was surprised by this and the attached policy belongs to Mr. Mahesh Sharma (Policy no. #MRP[protected]). I have not received my policy till date.
I sent a mail to your customer support to cancel this policy, as this was renewed without my approval.
I was surprised to see the amount getting charged to my HSBC credit card without my authorization.
I advised HSBC to cancel the charged amount and get the policy also cancelled.
Today I got a call from Mr.Javad Hasan and he introduced himself as your representative. He said he has proof of my approval for renewal and also authorization for charging on my HSBC credit card. He also said the policy will be cancelled as desired by me and Rs.99 will be charged towards administrative charges. I said since I have not approved the renewal, the administrative charges are not agreeable to me.
After 3 hours again I got a call from Mr.Javad Hasan and he played a recorded version of the approval for renewal.
I want you to listen to the recorded version of the policy renewal and also the authorization to charge my credit card for the premium amount.
The interesting part of the conversation is the unethical approach employed by your representative :
1. I am the proposer of the policy, my wife and mother are the beneficiaries. Only the proposer has the legal right to renew the policy. There should not be any doubt on this. I was very much available on my mobile, I am not sure why your representative approached my wife for renewal
2. The credit card number read out in the conversation by your representative is in my name. How can your representative ask my wife to authorize the charging of the premium to my card? Even if the sales slip is signed by my wife no bank will accept that.
3. Early Jan ’08 one of your representative talked about a different policy to me,which I turned down. Fearing that I will not approve the renewal of the MahaRaksha policy your representative has approached my wife. This is my reading of what has happened.
4. Please listen to today’s conversation with Mr.Javad Hasan. He needs to be told, how he should talk to a customer. What he played to me as recorded conversation is clear demonstration o[censored]nethical approach employed by your representative. This is equally criminal offence and amounts to cheating.
5. I still have a great regard for TATA group for ethical practices and the value they offer to customers. Above Representatives of yours, spoil your reputation and tarnish the image of your company.
I am also marking a copy of this letter to General Manager Credit Cards –HSBC.
Please arrange for cancellation of the policy and also arrange for 100% reversal of the charges with no administrative charges to my account.
More than deficiency in service to a customer, you have also caused so much of mental agony. I am seriously considering legal means for claiming damages, if the issue is not settled to my satisfaction within one week of receipt of this letter.
Truly yours
R.B.SATISH KUMAR
To General Manager, HSBC – Credit Card Division : For the two renewals of TATA-AIG, I got a call from HSBC to authorize the payment of the premium through my credit card. For the renewal of policy under dispute none of your representative contacted me. So far two EMIs have been charged to my credit card account. Please arrange to reverse them. Any administrative charges, please collect from TATA-AIG.
I also request you to strengthen your authorization process to avoid such fraudulent practices in future.