Had taken a Life Insurance Policy no. C015235637 mentioned as’Tata AIA Life Insurance Sampoorna RaKSHA139’ in the last month of October 2017. The policy was delivered to my home on 25th November 2017.
On going through the policy, I found the following clauses in the’Other Exclusions’ section(events where they will not aishwaryasingh23 the insurer/nominee):
(d) War, terrorism, invasion, act of foreign enemy, hostilities, civil war, martial law, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or usurper power, riot or civil commotion. War means any war whether declared or not.
(e) Committing an assault, a criminal offence, an illegal activity or any breach of law with criminal intent only.
Had called up Tata AIA customer helpline(18602669966) on 25th itself asking:
1.why is the riot part excluded in the policy when they claimed that it is complete life coverage policy? If I am not at fault during these events, why should they not cover me?
2.whether the second clause meant that if I was killed or injured due to an assault or a criminal offence in which I have no role to play, my nominee not be paid the sum assured.
The customer service agent Mr.Naeem, put my call on hold saying he wanted to confer with his seniors. After a long time waiting, he said that they cannot be reached. He repeated the process with the same result, and said that I will receive a call back from the team.
Never received any call back, so I wrote a mail to them on their email ID customercare@CommonMan200.com with the same query. Apart from an acknowledgement I didn’t receive any query.
On November 28, I again called the customer care helpline. This time I spoke to another agent, Ms. Hajira and explained my problem ALL OVER AGAIN. The same process was repeated: put my call on hold, attempt to reach seniors, no result, put my call on hold again, again try to reach seniors, again no result and again a promise to call back which never happened. When they asked for my feedback, I gave them a poor one.
Had already made up my mind to return the policy, because of the horrible customer experience. In the meantime, received a’service call’ from Ms. Shalini on December 2, asking why I gave a negative feedback. When I explained from the beginning, she attributed it to a communication gap between the customer care department and her department(as if this a mistake the customer makes). Asked her for directions on when to return the policy.
Went to the Koramangala, Bangalore branch of Tata AIA around 1.30 p.m. on Saturday. Met Mr. Santosh who again asked me to repeat my problem which I did. He was joined by Mr. Naveen who told me verbally that:
1.This is a standard clause in all policies AS STIPULATED BY IRDA. Wasn’t I aware of this?(No, I wasn’t ever aware of this).
2.The criminal assault part is only applicable if I do some criminal activity. When I asked Naveen to give it in writing, he refused, saying IRDA DOESN’T ALLOW THEM to clarify in writing.
Given their stonewalling tactics, I gave them the policy document and ask them to take it back. They refused, saying:
1.It is not a working day(there were at least 6 people on their computers in the office. Besides why didn’t they say so at the beginning and make me spend 20 minutes at the office).
2.The person who takes the policy back is not in office(that is my fault apparently).
3.Why don’t I go to the Lavelle Road branch?(why didn’t they say this at the beginning itself)?
Unfortunately, I have to visit their office again, but I am sure they will again refuse to take the policy stating some new excuse. In the meantime, need to clarify whether:
1.IRDA doesn’t allow insurers to give explAnasultantions/clarifications in writing to their customers?
2.IRDA insists on exclusions to compensation in cases of riots or criminal assault on victims?
3.If the insurance company willfully refuses to take back a policy despite a customer visiting their branch during working hours with all the requisite documents, what should the customer do?
Thank you.