We have been cheated by the AVIVA and ABN AMRO representatives by false statements and going by the company’s brand name, we believed them.
The product SAVE GUARD policy of AVIVA had been miss sold by the ABNAMRO representative to us, we were told that only 3 premiums are to be paid and after that the money can be withdrawn from the policy i.e locking period is 3 years and no surrender charges applicable after that.
We had put in our hard earned money with the same view that we will withdraw after 3 yrs. We genuinely trusted the company name. The policy documents were received by my father as we had already traveled out of country at that time. As the policy had been explained in detail to us by AVIVA representative (though a false one), we trusted the same. However, we had not expected that these kind of false statements would be used by a big company like AVIVA.
Now when we have requested the company to discontinue the policy, we have been told that there are heavy surrender charges to be paid (around 30%). Nobody from the customer service tells clearly what would be the charges. We feel this is a very unethical act by both ABN AMRO & Aviva as they try to lure the customers by showing the sunny side and not telling the full story. We are really very disappointed with the Aviva and ABNAMRO and with their wrong & false commitments.
Agents being hired to sell policies lie to increase the business but at the same time they are breaching the trust of the customers. And the companies (Aviva and ABNAMRO) should take the responsibility for the misguidance provided by your agents.
Also I have seen similar feedback from others on this forum where people have been sold the AVIVA policies on cheap tactics like that done with us. I have also read many reviews of Aviva not acknowledging the premiums already paid and hence lapsing the policy. Had been AVIVA so transparent in its statements and transactions, there would not have been so many complaints similar to mine reported against the company. While a company has to do business in India, it should know that In Indian context trust plays an important role.
Companies like AVIVA and ABN AMRO whose focus is self business and not customer satisfaction should not be allowed to do business in India by the Indian regulatory bodies like IRDA. AVIVA cannot forever deny the unethical acts of its representatives by putting the blame on the customers and should take responsibility for the same.
I would request everybody with the similar complaints to please come together on this forum and raise the issues to AVIVA in a group. We can together write to the CEO and other higher authorities so that they are made aware of the way the company is performing unethical acts in India by giving false statements to people and taking away their hard earned money. Please write back in case you have faced similar problem with AVIVA