I bought a aviva saveguard (Balanced) policy in 2006. Today in 2009 after paying 3 annual premiums, when my fourth premium is due I find that this is the worst performing product.
Even going by the original illustration given by the company, this product is not even giving a 6% return on paper. & on top of that if I go for a early redemption today , aviva is going to deduct a load of charges as "surrender charges".
After paying Rs. 72000 in premiums, My fund value is Rs. 64000/- & if I withdraw today I get only Rs 54000/. This another Rs 10, 000 deductions as surrender charges. Please note that I opted for a low risk "balanced" fund. I thank my stars that I did not went for their much promised "Growth" fund. The scenario is much worst in that case.
On talking to aviva people, even they are admitting that this is a bad product & I should take the loss today & withdraw my money. They moreover say that in this product a huge commision was given to the refering agent so all blame lies with the agent who sold you a bad product. I do not agree with aviva here that they can pass on the blame here to somebody else with me being the only one who has taken a big loss.
I feel cheated because I did not even took a high risk option & this was sold as a low risk product. Aviva should have told me clearly about the huge charges they deduct every year in much more detail than what they did in fine print. I suggest that its better to stick to the likes of LIC.
It maybe a hassle to deal with them but atleast they do not deduct such obnoxiouly high charges. Today aviva is openly admitting that their product is not even giving a 6 % return & the reason I can figure out for the same is that they simply cannot because they are deducting huge amounts as charges thus pulling down the fund value. Bad choice = aviva = ULIP.