[Resolved]  Aviva / HDFC Bank — COMPLAINT AGAINST MIS-SELLING O[censored]LIP POLICIES OF AVIVA & HDFC

Address:

Delhi

Dear Sir/ Madam,
COMPLAINT AGAINST MIS-SELLING O[censored]LIP POLICIES OF AVIVA & HDFC
During the year 2006-07, when these types o[censored]LIPs linked to growth policies were at the nascent stage, I had very little knowledge on such schemes basically belonging to technical background and involved in technical jobs. My office work provided me hardly any time to involve fully in understanding intrinsically the benefits and drawbacks of these schemes.
Mr. Prashant Bansal, known till recently working as Cluster Sales Manager, HDFC Bank in Financial Planning Channel, 9-10 Express Building, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi and earlier employed as an executive of Centurion Bank Of Punjab, (CBOP) approached me at my office and showed the various prospects of luring proposals through these ULIP policies for my investment which according to him would help me double my money in 3 to 4 years time period. By his verbal communication skills he not only influenced me but also many of my office colleagues and subordinates to take various Aviva ULIP policies without explaining the actual scheme, their hidden policy charges, lock- in period, surrendering conditions etc. The following are the policies which he sold to me during this period.
S.No Policy No Date of Issue Annual Premium Name of Policy Holder Relationship
1. LLG1200533/AVIVA 27/01/2006 1,00,000 Ashim K Dutta Self
2. LLG1220502/ AVIVA 17/03/2006 50,000 Snigdha Dutta daughter
3 LLG1237713/ AVIVA 26.05.2006 50,000 Chaitali Dutta wife
4 RSG 1350991/ AVIVA 30.09.2006 1,02,000 Snigdha Dutta daughter
5 LLG 1244252/ AVIVA 31.07.2006 50,000 Chaitali Dutta wife
6 WTG 1407276/ AVIVA 30.12.2006 32,000 Snigdha Dutta daughter
7 RSG142753/ AVIVA 11.01.2007 12,000 Ashim K Dutta self
8 LSP1754113/ AVIVA 11.11.2007 1, 00,000 Ashim K Dutta/Sukriti Dutta Self/daughter
9 ELP1865074/ AVIVA 15.02.2008 50,000 Snigdha Dutta daughter
10 ELP1864907/ AVIVA 15.02.2008 50,000 Chaitali Dutta wife
11 12193956/ HDFC SLIC 18.09.2008 1,00,000 Ashim Kumar Dutta Self
12 12306908/HDFC SLIC 30.10.2008 25,000 Chaitali Dutta wife
13 12295183/HDFC SLIC 26.10.2008 72,000 Chaitali Dutta wife

Being a salaried PSU employee, I trusted him as a bank employee to be my financial advisor and to guide me in managing my financial savings so that I could arrange for a good amount of money required for my elder daughter’s marriage in 4-5 years time. Taking advantage of my trust he misguided me on the policies providing only the brighter picture and hiding the actual scheme which provides various charges and conditions and tenures associated with the policies. Not being a financial man, I could not understand much from the policy documents as well.
Subsequently, after the merger of CBOP with HDFC, he took full advantage of my simplicity and trust and kept selling ULIPs of HDFC deceiving me on the same way as earlier promising lucrative returns. Based on his assurance I took the insurance policies with annual premium of approximately Rs.8 lakhs on the assumption that on redemption of the previous policies I can pay premium for other policies. It was only after 3 years period when I intended to withdraw my money from Aviva policies taken by me, I was informed by the company that the sum deduction at this stage will be more than 60 % of my own premium deposit amount. I was stunned by this information as I was caught in between since I was not in a position to pay my annual premiums of these as well as the new policies sold by him. Also my dream of having a descent amount ready for my daughter’s marriage was shattered. Since then I have been trying to approach him to help me but having sensed that his fraudulent acts have been caught, he started dodging me and in spite of my several efforts he is not responding to my telephone calls and disconnects the call the sooner he hears my voice. His whereabouts and present posting in HDFC is not known to me.
I had lost heavily of my hard earned lifelong earnings, I began running from pillar to post to salvage whatever amount is possible. In this process AVIVA representatives of Noida branch advised me to withdraw money from these high value lifelong policies during the period of high sensex growth stopping other outflows from these funds. Even after all these attempts I am likely to lose around Rs 6 lakhs from the nearly Rs. 10 lakhs invested. The type of mis-selling done can be well understood from the fact that I being a man of around 52 years age at that time, Mr. Prashant Bansal provided me a life guard policy where I was to make a premium payment of another 65 years to get returns from the policy. I had signed the policy documents on good faith while many of the other pages of the policy document Mr. Bansal had forged my signatures. I also came to know from AVIVA representatives that since the premium amounts for these investments were very high, M/s AVIVA had provided various complimentary gifts, high value commissions for selling such lousy ULIP policies to a middle aged man. In view of the above trauma and mental harassment provided to me by Mr. Bansal, I suffered an coronary heart problem and had to undergo treatment at Escorts Hospital, New Delhi. I am still clueless how I shall arrange funds for my daughter’s wedding which is ringing at my doors. By making me lose my life earnings and providing me all the sufferings through cheating and fraud of an innocent customer( probably many more like me) Mr. Prashant Bansal achieved high growth in his career in CBOP and was promoted to higher levels. Following the same practice in HDFC he again got various promotions and became the Cluster Sales Manager by 2009.
I therefore request IRDA to look into this case and shall be grateful for taking up the issue with Insurance Companies and arrange at least to refund the principle amount of my investments. Also since this type of approach is increasingly taking place by banks and financial agencies through such employees, I request IRDA to issue strict regulations so that others also do not become victim like me and lose their lifelong hard earned savings by these fraudulent agents.

Regards,
Ashim Kumar Dutta
Director, CUGL, Kanpur.