[Resolved]  ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co — Unreasonable delay of >6 months in refunding cancelled policy premium

Address:

560037

BEWARE OF ICICI LOMBARD - HOME SECURE POLICY & TRICKS OF THEM TO FOOL CONSUMERS I availed a homeloan through ING VYSYA in June 2013, and came along with it was the ICICI Lombard policy, to which I paid a premium of Rs. 400000 (Four Lakhs). I had absolutely no hassle in getting a policy issued and it was a wonderful experience. Now that I cleared my loan in 1.5 yrs, in March 2015, I have been following up with ICICI to cancel my policy and refund the money. The policy has a table according to which I get the % of share My request was processed on 7th April 2015 and the refund I receive is Rs. 28000 (Twenty Eight Thousand). When I enquire to the bank on the amount of refund as I expected atleast 55% refund per their prescribed table, I was told only then that they have cancelled 1 part of the policy and not the mind-secure to which the premium is highest. They conveniently did so and I was not even made aware during issuance of the policy that I had 2 policies, nor did they ask me when cancellation of the policy. I request them to cancel the mind-secure policy and refund the premium and I get a standard list of KYC documents to process which I prompty sent to Mumbai address. After few days of wait, I enquire to only undertsatnd that they need more KYC documents which I sent and again wait for few weeks to get the refund. Surprisingly this time, I still do not get the refund and when I call the call center, they say my address is changed from the time i had submitted the document and hence it will need endorsement and approvals. It is October 2015 now (6 months in the process) when one Mr. Yogesh talks to me from their Mumbai office Priority desk. After 3 weeks of interaction, he confirms address is changed on priority. tells me on 13th October 2015 that the policy is now finally cancelled and refund of Rs. 1.66 Lacs will be processed in 7 days. I again call ICICI Lombard on 20th October 2015 and Yogesh says he will call me byt he EOB day but to vain. Awaiting his call, I finally call him on 21st October 2015 to learn that they are missing my photographs and hence refund cannot be processed. I have now decided to take ICICI Lombard to consumer courts as I have enough evidences of ICICI Lombard failure to address customer need. Some basic questions that I raise - Why in first place the customer is not made aware of these 2 policies, when he had only 1 insurance premium to pay. And why is it that the customer on applying for cancellation is still not told / asked of cancelling both policies. Why is there no checklist when cancelling / closing a policy as they have when issuing a policy. Why is consumer harrassed What more can one do with photographs when all trasactions are online. Like a cancelled cheque, a bank statement, pan card, address proof, identify proof are given, what more would you do with photographs during cancelling the policy. I am wanting to seek help from the consumer courts and lawyers to fight back this bureaucracy as well as deliberate delay from ICICI lombard. Regards Abhijit Hardikar Policy # 4065/HL ING/2664270/00/000