1) PREAMBLE
I have written this review in a decidedly long ‘EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW’ format, rather than in a ‘NEED TO KNOW’ format, to give MS members a first-hand account of what they should expect, in ONLINE policies, given that there is no agent around for’hand-holding’.
2) INTRODUCTION
My son had occasion to apply for a Rs 50 lacs online term policy of ‘Click 2 Protect Insurance’ of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd.
We both found HDFC Life’s standards deficient in i) forms design ii) policy processing and iii) customer service, notwithstanding the ‘superior’ product ratings given to this product in the print media, and by certain websites.
3) SUMMARY OF EVENTS
Days 1 -10: Online application made by my son, premium paid, KYC and income norms complied.
Day 13: Comprehensive medical tests like HIV, Hepatitis, Nicotine, Sugar and ECG tests undergone.
Day 24: Welcome letter received from HDFC Life, accepting proposal, assuring despatch of the policy shortly.
Days 25- 58: HDFC Life remained comatose.
Day 59: HDFC Life asks for extra(rate up) premium, citing medical conditions, for my healthy 25 year old son, gainfully employed, or for further medical tests at his own expense. Alternatively, HDFC Life offered a refund of premium, without interest. All this, after it unconditionally accepting my son’s proposal!
Day 65: Fresh medical reports submitted by us, contesting rating up and seeking refund of premium.
Day 86: HDFC Life retracts, waives the extra premium, and, after a tortuous wait of 85 days, issues its ‘Five Minutes Online’ policy(as claimed in newspaper ads, the HDFCSL website etc.).
4) DEFICIENCIES
Given below is an illustrative list of deficiencies in customer care(servicing), and systemic deficiencies, encompassing the online proposal form, the form for medical tests, etc. in Click 2 Protect.
A. DEFICIENCIES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
HDFC Life’s responses to our e- mails seeking clarifications on policy status, or requests for refund of premium, between day 25 and day 58, were confined to auto generated mails /personal mails from customer executives, and a phone call, assuring that its team would respond shortly, without in any way, addressing or resolving the issues raised by us.
On logging in to the grievance portal, the complaint did not go through .Our mail to service@hdfclife.com requesting the name of a dedicated executive to whom the grievance could be communicated by post, was not entertained.
Phone lines repeatedly gave the voice mail response that customer executives were busy with other customers.
B. SYSTEMIC DEFICIENCIES
8 major ones are highlighted:
i) HDFC’s online application, a clone of its regular offline application, has certain crucial data fields missing, like the middle names of the proposer and his beneficiary .These fields are not ’visible’ online, while keying in the particulars, but ‘show up’ as blank fields ‘not filled in’, when a printout is taken. These aberrations can, however, be modified by submitting ‘Declaration for Change in Details ’.
ii) Similarly, owing to misalignment of data fields, for a requirement in the form for disclosing pre-existing family illnesses, a ‘yes’ specified in relation to a particular illness in the online proposal form, comes up as ‘yes’, against another illness, not so specified, in the offline printout of the same form, for no fault of the proposer.
iii) The policy bond, when dispatched, comes accompanied with a copy of the printed proposal form, without the changes made by the proposer(see I above), and properly aligning the HDFC Life- spawned misaligned data fields(see ii above). There is a caveat in the policy that prior to claim settlement, HDFC Life needs to be satisfied that the information in the proposal form is correct! Absurdities never cease!
iv) The online application form of HDFC Life, elicits details of hospitalisations and blood tests only within the preceding five years, and excludes pre-employment screening and insurance tests. On the other hand, the 3 page ‘Medical Examination Form’ to be filled in, at the centre for medical tests, requires dates and reasons of ‘any’ hospitalisations and blood tests ‘ever ‘undergone in one’s lifespan. This dichotomy leads to avoidable confusion, as the proposer may, without prior intimation, and in a fasting condition, at the medical centre, only vaguely recollect details of any old investigations.
v) Notwithstanding the ruling in LIC’s favour, HDFC Life needs to deliberate on the principles emerging from the judgement of the Honourable Supreme Court in the case of LIC vs. RajaVasireddy Komalavalli Kamba and Ors(AIR 1984 SC 1014). viz. if ‘acceptance ‘of a proposal is ‘unconditionally’ communicated to the proposer, the insurance contract effectively comes into force. By implication, asking for further requirements, or ‘rating up’ the proposal, would seem to be legally untenable in the instant case(See Day 24&59 in Para 3 above).
vi) The medical centre, where medical tests were scheduled for my son, had no prior intimation of the tests from HDFC Life.
vii) All insurance companies require proposers to state in their application forms particulars of, inter alia,
a) applications which are pending with any life insurance company,
b) applications of any insurance company which
Any delay in processing by an insurance company effectively and unfairly pre-empts an applicant from making a fresh application to another company, in view of non-availability of aforesaid particulars.
viii) Again, God forbid, if during the interregnum, between the submission of a proposal and pending processing, there is an unfortunate demise of the applicant, what happens to his dependants?
5) GOING FORWARD
In my view of the matter, HDFC Life urgently needs to streamline its’ Click 2 Protect’ related operational, O&M, customer interface, and IT modules, before the brand’s credibility and goodwill are eroded.
6) TAILPIECE
The preamble in the grievance redressal guidelines of HDFC Life, as displayed on its website, reads: “We firmly believe that a correct and timely response, even if it differs from the one which the customer is looking forward to, is far better than a delayed and incorrect response, which results in escalations and possible change in stand later on”.
I leave it to the learned readers to judge, whether HDFC Life has lived up to its above preamble in our case.
7) POSTSCRIPT
My experience, and the experience of other consumers on this portal and other portals, would seem to suggest that the insurance sector in India is not yet ready for ONLINE personal products. Online products seem to be introduced on a me-too basis, to keep competition at bay, without any dedicated customer service and without fine-tuning the logistics, (IRDA regulations notwithstanding), so that in the event a customer asks for an ONLINE policy, the insurance company can offer it, as much as the nearest competitor.
If the deficiencies highlighted hereinabove and elsewhere on this portal, had occurred in any other service industry, or a manufacturing industry, after payment in advance, the customers would have blacklisted the service providers /suppliers immediately, and their services discontinued. But not so, in the case of our insurance industry. Here the poor ‘prospect’ frets and fumes, till he becomes a ‘policyholder’ or till he belatedly, with some luck, gets his refund.