HDFC Bank — Non payment of policy surrender amount - extortion in the name of policy

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra, 122002

I had sent my complaint to hdfc life on 21.01.2016 and it was addressed to director customer service.instead of the director hearing to customer complaint, a junior replied back on 28.01.2016. the reply is a reiteration of falsities, concocted statements and concealing of facts.

This complaint is once again being addressed to director customer service, expecting a prompt action on the complaint.

The justifications by hdfc life are vehemently denied and the pointwise reply is as follows:

1. your comment "we would like to inform you that in the event of regular premiums not being paid before the expiry of the grace period, after 3 years of regular premiums have been paid, the policy will be made paid-up.
The sum assured for the main benefit will be reduced while the cover on rider benefits will cease with immediate effect."

Kindly be noted that for the policy 00273933 in all 12 years of policy since 2003 all premiums have been paid before due date.in nov 2015 the customer approached hdfc life branch in sec 15, gurgaon for knowing the surrender value of the policy. the request was given on 17.11.2015 and i have a record for the same. the surrender value was deliberately and with malafide intentions not provided to customer through phone or sms or e mail for more than a month. hdfc life was waiting for the next premium date to pass by.
Evidence of malafide actions on part of hdfc life are the multiple sms sent to me after i asked for surrender quote and all such sms threatened me of submitting premium. no mention was given on the surrender value. if hdfc life is no prompt in asking premiums by sms and phone calls, then the same speed could have been shown on surrender value in nov 2015.

It is the hdfc life who has made the policy paid up and not the customer. extortion and harassment of customers cannot be more evident than in the present case of not refunding customer's hard earned money.

2. your comment "reversionary bonuses attaching at the date of the policy is made paid-up will remain as attached but the paid-up policy will become non-participating thereafter i. e., no further bonus will be attached.
We wish to inform you that the policyholder can surrender the paid-up policy at any point of time.
We confirm that the guaranteed surrender value of your policy, as specified in the policy document, is 50% of the premiums paid, excluding the first years premium, rider premiums and extra premiums. beyond this, any additional surrender value that is paid out is at the discretion of the company."

It is very clearly stated in my mail dated 21.01.2016 that the policy was sold to me in 2003 by your agent assuring of constant stable returns greater than the market linked policies. name of agent is available in your records. the agent never advised of complete loss of premiums in case of surrender during the course of 27 years. had he stated so, no sane individual would have invested his hard earned money into extortionist policies. i as a customer have full right to withdraw my money at any point of time. i had asked for net value of running policy 00273933 in the year 2014 so as to determine how much shall be the amount paid back in case of termination of policy. the statement by hdfc life is with me (sent on mail to me in feb 2014). the net value as on 31 march 2013 is given as rs 12, 08, 542. note that hdfc life has one policy in case of promising customers of showing good value and another policy of paying peanuts in case customer surrenders the policy.

Your comment on bonus not payable is another attempt of cheating, extortion, and customer harassment. your monopolistic trade practices are not sustainable and have no standing in any legal battle.

3. your comment "an insurance contract is designed for a long - term savings and is not designed for short - term investment. if a policy is surrendered in a short term then surrender benefit payable might be less than the premiums paid into the policy."

12 years is a sufficient long term for giving chance to a insurance company to mend its ways. the customer has not approached hdfc life for withdrawal within 2~3 years of inception of policy. if is 12 years the company cannot pay basis interest and market based returns, then the customer is not at fault in withdrawing the money invested.

Herein the amount due to be paid by hdfc life to me is again reiterated as follows:

The premium paid per year of rs 36220/- starting from 2003 till 2014 is in all 12 premiums totaling to rs 4, 34, 640/-

The reversionary bonus upto year 2015 is rs 2, 48, 542/-.

The total of above is rs 6, 83, 182/-.

Any payment delay beyond 3 months from the date of demand placed on 17.11.2015 shall call for interest chargeable @ 15% per annum.
Additionally causing mental agony, deliberate harassment with an intent to cheat and extort money shall call for penalty to the tune of 10 times of sum assured plus the interest @ 15% per annum chargeable for delay of such payment.

The matter of deliberate holding back surrender value and of not refunding customer's investment has been put up to irda as well


The matter was escalated to level 1 and level 2 on 10 feb 2016.instead of getting any resolution from hdfc senior management, i am still getting lame excuses from service deptt. the staff at service section is paid only to repeat tutored statements without any customer concern.

Its been 4 months since i have been asking for refund of rs 6.5 lacs due to me.


Speed post letter sent to hdfc life mumbai office on 12.04.2016 which is received by hdfc life on 15.04.2016.