The mysterious case of non-refund of the travel insurance amount upon cancellation of policy despite it nearing an entire year since policy purchase.
Strange are the workings of the visa office! They want the tickets to and back from the visiting country, and so also the travel insurance to go along, and not to forget that thick bundle of documents before they even consider your request for a visiting visa. Consulates have their policies and applicants have to adhere to their requirements. No complaints about it! They truly have their country’s interest before them, and they’ll do their best to safeguard their country’s interests.
This grievance is not with regard to any particular country’s consulate, it is with regard to a travel insurance company that benefits when patrons choose to travel.
When you make a visa application, despite being in the dark whether the consulate will approve your visa application, you still need to buy travel insurance as part of the documentation.
This is where our association with Bajaj Allianz began! I purchased travel insurance for my mother who was moving a visa application to visit me. It was at a time when the pandemic was showing signs of waning, and travel between countries was soon picking up. However the pandemic made a stronger comeback, and the consulate changed their travel rules. My mom’s visa was denied.
We promptly approached Bajaj Allianz requesting cancellation of the travel policy and thereby requesting them to refund us the amount that was due to us.
This was not the first time that we have purchased travel insurance and cancelled it. We had purchased travel insurance from HDFC Ergo the previous time around, and we promptly received our refund when the cancellation of the policy was initiated. The refund was completed in the shortest possible time.
Bajaj Allianz is not happy in refunding the cancelled policy amount, we believe. Because that’s what our experience has taught us.
When we purchased the policy, this was their tone - they were the epitome of customer success, or so it appeared:
On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 1:34 PM donotreply@bajajallianz.co.in wrote:
Call Us 1800-209-5858
Greetings,
We’re very excited you’re here.
We have issued your policy No. 12-9910-0000528172-00 .
Caringly Yours,
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
Stay Connected and help us to improve
It was time to cancel the travel insurance, and so we wrote:
Date: Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 10:07 PM
Subject: Cancellation of Travel: Policy Generated, number:12-9910-0000528172-00
To: customercare@bajajallianz.co.in
Hello Team,
I would like to cancel the Travel Insurance Policy 12-9910-0000528172-00 issued under name.
VFS office did not accept my Poland VISA application, hence I will not be able to travel
Kindly let me know if any further information is required?
Kind Regards,
This was just the start of a never ending chain of mails that followed. They had even sent us the escalation matrix of personnel we need to contact to address grievances if any, and so forth. If you contact the people on the escalation matrix the silence was simply mind-numbing. We even called their office a couple of times.
We’ve been asked to send bank statements of a certain period to prove that no refund was received. They said the transfer was made. But, our bank statements never reflected that. We did each and everything that was asked of us by Bajaj Allianz’s personnel. Despite this, there was no respite to our grievance, and to date our refund has not been received.
Is this customer support by any standard? If Bajaj Allianz is this hell-bent in not returning us back the cancelled policy amount, what would be the state of a customer who makes a claim for insurance money when stuck in a foreign country and needs money to pay for a hospital expense or something.
If you go by our experience, that person will rot in that country awaiting relief from Bajaj Allianz. We strongly believe that the people at Bajaj Allianz just want to pocket the money while people purchase travel policies, and then forget the rest of their commitments including making a simple refund of a cancelled policy, which is rightfully due to the policy purchaser.
Is it best to keep away from making a purchase of a travel policy from Bajaj Allianz when you travel?
Our experience says, YES! Keep away from these good-for-nothings!