ICICI, an organisation that I most admired when I was still not their client for their phenomenal growth and the success story they seemed to be writing, which I was wrongly attributing to their professional approach.
I had a chance of being rudely shocked by this very entity not so long ago and that too because of someone whom I had known quite well to the extent that the person was my team member for over two years.
It goes like this: This ex-colleague of mine approaches me one fine day requesting me to take a unit linked policy of ICICI Prudential showing me numbers on an Excel Sheet on how a saving of Rs 12000 per month for 36 months shall result in my getting a few crore rupees at the end of about 15 years. He submitted this sheet saying that although he is not supposed to give it to me but that I being a close friend he is sharing the same with me. Also, as an incentive he offered to also insure me for Rs 30 lacs, give me some cash back from the first premium and also a gold gift, which he was supposed to get as by taking this policy I was helping him achieve his annual target and also facilitate his promotion. He just gave me 3 days to think about it since it was quarter ending and doing it later would not have got him the promotions etc. I told him that I will not be able to manage the portfolio to which he promised that as such there are experts managing the portfolio and he also is managing investments of Rs 1.4cr for his family and he will also manage my portfolio.
Well, I was contemplating doing some saving at the time and I agreed giving him the money and signing the forms, all the rebates, gifts, etc. were to come subsequently.
That was the last I saw of him for many months, when I finally realised that all the promises were false and that I need to even look at what his happening with my portfolio. As thought, my portfolio remained untouched and when the market was rocking, my entire portfolio was lying in least risk where I was not making any money at all.
After a lot of tracking down and hunting people I could finally get throught o someone who claimed to be the boss of this guy and told me that he will bring him along to sort out all problems and that I should not think of taking a legal recourse since I have no evidences.
I stopped paying after one and a half years and threatened to go to consumer forum when finally they both came and this guy who had conned me into it committed to having made some false claims in front of his senior and also that he would repay all what was due, also would look into my portfolio and also send me a password do that I can also personally look into the portfolio and make changes as and when required. Also that he would see that I make the best out of the bull run in the market.
This also happened about 4 months back. No one came back and I called the boss of this guy who regretted the guy having left the job with ICICI and that now he has nothing in his control. Soon after the boss also left teh joba nd now I am again looking for the relevant person to at least find out what happened to my portfolio.
I wrote to the guy who got me into this mess and he wrote back threatening with filing a defamatory suit against me, his boss is sitting in Dubai now and cares less for what happens to guys like me, ICICI has grown too big now to bother about such things and the common man has no recourse but to sit and tolerate all this conning that these insurance guys are doing these days.
I have given a very brief picture of all the suffering and torture I had to go through the hands of this guy and this is to caution all who read this that don’t even trust your family and friends if they are coming from ICICI because they dont ’C’ how they can make someone suffer but only think of ’I’ and how they can make that ’I’ bigger and richer walking over peoples emotions and savings.
This guy is from Ahmedabad and has made many people suffer, his boss claimed that he made similar false promises to his colleagues and other clients.
Make sure before you sign a cheque that you have each and every commitment including the amounts due at the end of the policy given to you in writing and with authentic signs and stamps on such documents.
Or your insurance instead of being a tension remover will become the cause of tension for you.