I had taken a pension plan which I had initiated somewhere in 2003, where the premium was only 12K per annum. However, I started receiving calls from customer service informing me that the policy is not that great and that I should stop that and start something else. I agreed and reached out to the customer service team to stop the policy in the year 2016.
However, the sales person Mr. Sridhar Tripathi advised me not to withdraw as I would be taxed a huge sum and instead asked me to go for ICICI Pru Elite Life II Plan, where the premium is 2 Lacs per annum. I went by their explanation and took the policy. However, later in 2017, I reached out to Shridhar Tripathi to inform him that I will not be able to make further payment and would need to stop as I do not have the funds to make such huge payments. He again convinced me to pay 1 Lac in April 2017 with a promise of giving me decent returns on stopping the payment. He also showed a sample letter of another customer with a similar situation. My mistake, I did not record the the conversation nor did I take anything in written from him. To my surprise nothing was given to me, instead I kept receiving payment reminder and on reaching out to Customer Service they were of no help.
They sent this to me:
Applicable discontinuance charge for the policy year in which the policy is discontinued:
1st year - Lower of 6% of(AP or FV), subject to a maximum of Rs. 6000
2nd year - Lower of 4% of(AP or FV), subject to a maximum of Rs. 5000
3rd year - Lower of 3% of(AP or FV), subject to a maximum of Rs. 4000
4th year - Lower of 2% of(AP or FV), subject to a maximum of Rs. 2000
5th year and onwards - Nil
Also, a speed post with my complaint number. The speed post reached late and came in my absence. Due to this reason I had to go to the post office to collect the speedpost, which just had a complaint number and request to give them time till 15th Nov 2017 to review my concern. The post man came to deliver the letter on 17th Nov 2017 and I collected it on 19th Nov. It was a sheer waste of time and energy.
My humble request and warning to anyone who wants to buy a policy from ICICI Prulife, please think gazillion times before opting for it. I was a loyal customer, but now I feel cheated.