HDFC Standard Life Insurance

So, in July last year, the guys from HDFC Standard Life Insurance called me and told me about their pension plan. You know how they can make it sound very attractive and all that crap. I am not going to go into the details of all that.

My dad was telling me that just one insurance policy and a PPF account is not enough. Maybe I should put some amount from my salary somewhere else as well instead of just keeping it in the bank.

I signed up for the Pension Plan. The moment you say yes for the policy, you know how fast things happen. The representatives came home. The application forms were just ready to make the signatures and nominations. I paid the first premium through cheque and then opted for ECS to pay the remaining premiums. I had to sign a blank cheque, cross it. Also sign in two different places, just for matching signatures. Everything happened with ease. In about 2 weeks time, I got the policy papers.

August, September, October, November and December. No problem at all. Every month, HDFC would get a payment from my bank. I would get a copy of the receipt through the mail and I would also check it online once in a while.

In January, I got a call from the call center informing me that HDFC could not take an electronic payment and so I should make an online payment or go to the nearest office and may by cash or cheque. I didnt bother. I had signed up for ECS only to avoid all this headache. Then I got another call 2 weeks later telling me that the ECS payment was not taken because the signatures did not match. I was like - WTF, you morons. You took payment for 5 months using the same signature and suddenly in January the signatures did not match? I asked them the same question and you know about these call center executives. They hardly have any knowledge. The only answer they have is pre-programmed - "Sir, according to our system, the payment could not be processed because the signatures did not match. In order to avoid further delays with respect to your policy, please contact the nearest HDFC Standard Life Office."

So, obviously, you know that these good-for-nothing fellows are not going to be of any help to you. And the funny part is that they also ask you one question towards the end - "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

For which, you have to say "NO THANKS". And the conversation ends there. The ball is in your court. For no mistake of yours. In all this while, the guy who is your policy advisor has no interest whatsoever to take up your case or do anything in that regard. If you want something, you have to call him.

With my wedding coming up, I had better things to do. So, I kept quiet. By this time, I got a letter from HDFC that the policy is lapsed and if I need to renew the policy, I have to call some random toll-free number. All this while, the guys at the top are not bothered at all. All they follow is some senseless protocol. There is no relationship manager or anything of that sort who takes up this case and tries to find out what happened. They just send letters one after the other.

A few days later, one more guy called. He had the same story but he sounded a bit more sensible. He told me that I could make an online payment. I did that. By this time, it was end January. In about a week's time, I got a receipt for the payment I made. February passed and in March second week, I got a call again from HDFC Bombay about my policy. I told them that I made one payment in Jan and will make another payment that week for Feb and March, which I made. I got a call again from someone in Chennai. I told him that I made the payment. Then the Bombay guy called again. I confirmed with him again that the payment was already made but its not reflecting on the site yet.

Then that smart ass fellow says "Please call the toll-free number and lodge a request giving all the details". Again, I was like - idiot, you get all the time to do follow up calls and check whether I have paid, but you cant do a simple help for your customer?

After so much help that they did to the customer, HDFC also did one more thing. After taking payment for 3 months, they sent me a letter yesterday.

It says
"We wish to inform you that we are unable to revive your policy since we have not yet received the information/clarification that we had sought from you vide our earlier letter"

And then some more bulshit in the letter. The letter has also come with a cheque for amount that is like one tenth of whatever I have paid till now.

I called the call-center and told them that I have a letter like this. They know that I have already paid whatever is needed to revive the policy. But all they have to say is "Please visit our nearest branch tomorrow"

I cant believe that a company like HDFC is doing stuff like this. RIDICULOUS. They put ads like "Sar Utha Ke Jiyo" and all that effin crap on every TV channel. Why the **** ??? It makes no sense. Sad part is; I guess I am locked for a very long time on this. The next thing I have to figure out is how to reduce this already "pain in the ass" pension plan to something bearable so that even in the future if i dont get the money, i wont be too worried about it.

Every private company seems to be a blood sucker of the third rate. LIC would have been better I guess. Any comments?