Kotak Life Insurance Company — Cancel my Kotak Life Policy and give me complete refund (Free look cancellation)

Address:	Head Office-Mumbai
Website:	www.insurance.kotak.com

To
Consumer Complaint Department,
Mr Muralikrishna Cheruvu--Kotak Life Insurance,
Ms Kalparupa Datta--Kotak Life Insurance,
Ms Shradha Chavan--Kotak Life Insurance,
Concerned officials of Kotak Life Insurance Company,
IRDAI Complaint Department

Details:

IRDAI TOKEN NUMBER FOR COMPLAINT REGISTERED ON 10/08/2020:
[protected]Further Escalation done by IRDAI)

NAME: DHRITIMAN SAHA

DATE OF BIRTH : 27th of NOVEMBER, 1981

ADDRESS: A/180 BAGHAJATIN
P.O. REGENT ESTATE
KOLKATA 700092
WEST BENGAL
INDIA

MOBILE NUMBER: [protected]

POLICY NUMBER: 74347689

NAME OF THE INSURANCE COMPANY: KOTAK MAHINDRA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

Sir/Ma'am

This is a complaint against Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance and they are troubling me for the free look cancellation of my policy.

Here is my concern in detail with all my supporting documents and evidences attached.

I had joined Kotak Life as an Agency Partner and my offer letter was issued on 17th of July, 2020.

As per their so called business requirement, I was forced to activate myself by buying a life insurance policy.

During my interview process at Kotak Life, it was told to me that the minimum amount required to activate myself is Rs 25, 000/- and I always wanted to go for the minimum amount. I had cleared the same to them as well that I will be doing the minimum amount if Rs 25, 000/- just in order to activate myself. After that when I was asked to activate myself by purchasing a Kotak Life Insurance Policy, they told me that the minimum amount should be Rs 50, 000 and not Rs 25, 000. I had no option and was forced to pay Rs 50, 000 by getting a gold loan against my mother's gold neckless from Muthoot Finance at an interest of Rs 1, 000 every month. Even the people who hired me in Kotak Life is aware of this fact. This way, I was forced to activate myself.

Just a few days after my joining in Kotak Life as an Agency Partner, I came to know that the minimum policy amount that is required to get activated is actually Rs 25, 000 and not Rs 50, 000. So they lied to me about the minimum amount that is required to get activated. Then I started making my mind to quit this job and cancel my policy within my free look period. But my Policy Document was not delivered to me and so my free look period also did not come into existence at that point of time.

I received my Policy Document only through my registered email address ([protected]@gmail.com) on 30th of July, 2020. After going through the Policy Document, I found that a Rider was also added to my policy without informing me and without my knowledge. So I decided to cancel my policy within my free look period and also discontinue working in Kotak Life Insurance Company and I did the same.

At the same time, during the few days of my working in Kotak Life, I was extremely disappointed and shocked to witness how they are deliberately misguiding people right from their recruitment process by hiding the major facts or distorting the truth to even misselling policies just to achieve their numbers and short term goals in an extremely unethical, dishonest, fraudulent, inhuman and unprofessional manner.

To be very honest with you, I started getting calls from a few newly hired candidate's who were misguided at the time they were hired.
Either they were later asked to pay more for the policy to get activated than what was promised to them at the time of their interview or they were not initimated that they need to clear the IRDAI Exam (IC 38) by paying Rs 1, 200 to Kotak Life Insurance, etc. They got my number from the various WhatsApp groups of Kotak Life that I was added to and they were absolutely furious on Kotak Life. Some of them even wanted to complaint to IRDAI. When I told my management (Senior Agency Partner) about it, one of them told me that it's ok and we won't get too many candidates approaching IRDAI against us and we know how to play with our words to save
ourselves and keep achieving our numbers.

Honestly speaking, they also assured me a fixed salary at the time of my interview but after I got my offer letter and also a few days after my joining, I got to know that my fixed salary is not even one-third of what I was promised during my interview. This is also another way how they intentionally cheat and misguide people by showing such lucrative yet fake salary structure to get their business out of them. Such a big disgrace and absolute shame on you Kotak Life Insurance.

Sir/Ma'am, I have remained a part of a few companies like Infosys, HCL, Dell and TCS where I had the opportunity to get exposed to a lot of good learnings. Also I belong to a family which might not be financially rich but our family has a very strong and good background enriched with humanity, honesty, morals, principles and ethics which has also added a lot to my life. So I literally started suffocating in the work atmosphere of Kotak Life because of the people who create such work atmosphere.

Due to the reasons as stated above, I quit Kotak Life in a few days and applied for the Free Look Cancelation of my policy within my free look period.

Therefore I contacted the customer care department of Kotak Life Insurance Company and sent email to [protected]@kotak.com on 10th and again on 11th of Aug, 2020 from my registered email address ([protected]@gmail.com) attaching all the relevant and required documents (Filled up Free Look Cancellation form, Policy Document, My cancelled cheque and my ID Card's photo copy-Self Attested) as I was instructed by the Customer Care Dept Executive and I asked them to cancel my policy immediately. I again called their Customer Care Dept immediately on the same day (11/08/2020) after sending the cancellation email to verify if they have received my email with all the documents attached and they checked and confirmed that they have received my email from my registered email address with all the required documents attached. They also assured me that they have received the cancellation request well within the free look period of 15 days. I was also told that I my policy will get cancelled and i will get my money back within 7-10 working days based on the free look cancelation.

My free look period was from 30/07/2020 to 13/08/2020 and they received the cancellation request with all the necessary documents on 10/08/2020 as well as on 11/08/2020 from my side which was very well
within my free look period.

I have been in touch with the customer care department every day till now through long phone calls and lengthy emails.

I have each and every phone call recorded in my mobile that I had with the customer care department which proves that they had received the free look cancellation request from me well within my free look period
based on the conversations along with their assurance that the request will get resolved and I will get my refund within 7-10 working days.

I also have the emails sent to them in my sent folder which also proves that my cancellation emails with the required documents were sent well within my free look period.

Also to tell you that I had paid for this policy on 17/07/2020 providing all the documents that they asked for when I was not even an
employee of Kotak Life officially. Nothing was explained to me about the policy except the plan name when I was forced to make the payment on 17/07/2020. But the policy was issued on 28/07/2020 and I received the policy document on my registered email address on 30/07/2020. In between 17/07/2020 and 28/07/2020 I kept receiving several emails and text messages from Kotak Life asking me to submit my documents for the policy that I had already submitted on or before 17/07/2020. But my documents were kept on hold by the employee of Kotak Life who did this policy for me as my Employee ID was not yet generated (as I had just joined Kotak Life). Afterwards, when my employee ID got generated in Kotak Life my policy documents were processed and the same was
registered under my employee code. Then, I received my policy document through email on 30/07/2020.

Also, no proposal form was sent to me for this policy document so I never had any chance to manually, digitally or physically fill up and sign on any proposal form.

I am also wasting all my time, energy and effort as they are transferring this case between their different departments when
everything is completely crystal clear based on the documents that I have provided to them. This way, they are also consuming the interest from the money that I paid and even declining my justified free look cancelation.

I was even assured call backs from Kotak Life Grievance Cell by the customer care dept but they never called me back but just sent me an email asking for more time.

When it comes to selling policies, they can run behind innumerable people dying to speak to them in order to convince them through their cunning words and try their level best to sell their policies but when it comes to a serious level service that is required after selling their policy, the will just keep hiding and never show up, trying to avoid providing their service and not even addressing to the customer's concerns/grievances in a justified way. This can not be defined as a business but can be termed as gambling, fraud, cheating and malpractice.

I had also registered a complaint in IRDAI about this. IRDAI registered my complaint and provided me with a token number which is
[protected] which has been further escalated by them after Kotak Life declined my justified free look cancelation in their first attempt.

On 20/08/2020, I received an email from Kotak Life Insurance that they will not do the Free Look Cancellation as they have received the cancellation request after my Free Look Period which is supposed to be till 13/08/2020. But I have mentioned above that I placed my free look cancellation request on 10/08/2020 and again on 11/08/2020 and I have replied back to their email saying the same thing. Kotak Life is utterly lying about the date on which I had sent the documents to
cancel my policy. They just want to stop my free look cancellation by giving me all such false reasons and are adopting extremely dishonest, unethical, fraudulent and unprofessional means in order to achieve it.

The points mentioned in their email for declining my free look cancelation are:

1. Your policy number 74347689 was issued on 28/07/2020 and on the basis of the proposal application duly signed by you.

2. Soft copy of PD was sent at the registered email ID on 30/07/2020.

3. Policy term and premium paying term has been mentioned on the policy document and proposal form.

4. Relevant SMS has been sent to you on your registered mobile number

5. We understand that the policy has been self sourced

6. First complaint has been received on 13th August 2020 which is outside the free look period

And my justified opinion about the above mentioned points based on each point are:

1. Yes the policy 74347689 was issued on 28/07/2020 but no proposal application was sent to me. So firstly, I never had any chance to fill up and sign on any proposal application physically, manually or digitally. If anyone else does so on my behalf, it's a criminal offence for him as well as for Kotak Life.
Secondly, even if any customer does so, it doesn't mean that he/she can not cancel the policy within the free look period. The customer has every right to cancel the policy within the free look period after going through the policy document in details.

2. Yes, I agree on this part that the Soft Copy of the PD was sent to me on 30/07/2020 but I had to call the customer care and check on
this. They did not inform me about the PD being emailed to me at it was in my Spam Folder. This way, they might have tried to escape my Free Look Period.

3. Yes I agree that policy term and premium paying term has been mentioned on the policy document. But no proposal form. As I mentioned before, I never saw any proposal form. Also it has got nothing to do with my free look cancelation.

4. Relevant SMS has been sent to you on your registered mobile number----- What is meant by RELEVANT SMS here? Please be specific. Once again it has got nothing to do with my free look period. Also, I received no such SMS from Kotak Life stating that I am not eligible for my Free Look Period or Free Look Cancelation.

5. I can't make out what is exactly meant by self sourced here. But I am under the impression that it got registered under my Agent Code. But how does it really matter? As I mentioned before, I was forced to pay for this policy on 17/07/2020 when I was not even an employee of Kotak Life and nothing was explained to me about this product when I
made the payment. The issuance of this policy was kept on hold till my Employee Code got generated and after it got generated, the policy was issued and registered under my Employee Code. Was it in my hands or am I responsible for anything here? It's not that since the policy got registered under my agent code, I personally registered the policy under my agent code and was aware of what the policy was all about and chose to purchase it at my own desire. As I told before, I was forced to make the payment for the policy on 17/07/2020 when I was not even an employee of Kotak Life and nothing was explained to me about the policy when I made the payment successfully on 17/07/2020. Where was my agent code that time? I was not even an employee of Kotak life at that point of time. And it has got nothing to do with my Free Look Cancelation as well.

6. TOTAL LIE and the most important point for the free look cancelation. I also explained before thoroughly that I placed my free look cancelation request with all the supporting and necessary documents as advised by the Customer Care Dept on 10th and as well on
11th of Aug, 2020 which was well within my free look period till 13/08/2020. I even checked with the customer care Dept on 11/08/2020 and they confirmed that they have received my free look cancelation request along with all the documents reqd the same day within a minute or two and they also confirmed that it was sent well within my free
look period, so I won't have to worry about the free look cancelation.
Also to repeat, I have each and every telephonic conversation recorded in my phone which can also prove that they received it well within my free look period.

And also one more thing. My free look period was valid till 13/08/2020 (30/07/2020 to 13/08/2020) as confirmed by customer care Dept as well. So even if they received my free look cancelation request on 13/08/2020 as they are saying now according to their point number 6, which is actually not true in this case, then also I have the right for the free look cancelation. As my free look was valid till
13/08/2020. Right?

They are just trying to stop my justified free look cancelation stating such bogus, illogical, unjustified and funny reasons.

Also to inform you that I have already registered a complaint in IRDAI for the issue of my justified free look cancelation which is further escalated by IRDAI. In this regards, I even contacted Mr Suresh Mathur (Executive Director - IRDAI). I explained my issue to him and he advised me to get inform T.S. Naik in
IRDAI as well. So I have also communicated with Suresh Mathur and T.S. Naik through email looping in Kotak Life (Muralikrishna Cheruvu, clientservicedesk and grievance cell) and explained the situation to them attaching all my supporting documents and evidences except for my recorded telephonic converations with the customer care Dept.

Kindly help me out with my Free Look Policy Cancellation and my complete refund from Kotak Life Insurance Company.

Please find the following documents attached for your reference and investigation purpose:

1. The Payment Receipt to see when I was forced to purchase this policy (17/07/2020)

2. Screen shot of the email on 17/07/2020 that I received from Kotak Life Insurance immediately after I was made to pay for my policy and get myself activated to see whom I had purchased the policy from (Kaushik Nandy -- Employee of Kotak Life)

3. Screen shot of my email that I had sent on 11/08/2020 (within my free look period) to see when I had placed my policy cancellation
request

4. Screen shot of the email from Kotak Life Insurance for the Policy Document that I had received on 30/07/2020 to see when I had received the Policy Document

5. My Policy Document to see when the policy was issued.

6. Screen shot of the email that I received from Kotak Life on 20/08/2020 declining my Free Look Cancellation.

Sir/Ma'am your kind attention, co operation and intervention is really required for me and I am really look forward for the same.

Regards

Dhritiman Saha
(Mobile Number [protected])