Birla Sun life Insurance which boasts as an arm of Aditya Birla group is an enterprise that gives false hopes and can not be believed at all. I was convinced to take 2 Birla Sun Life Insurance policies by my bankers Citi Bank, Chennai. The Tie clad officer even showed me charts that would entice anyone to get invested with BSLI. I took one in my name and one in my wife's name for a sizable sum paying a hefty premium of nearly 1.50 lacs per year! Each year, when I telephone to ask for the surrender value, it would be much below the paid up premium and I decided to stay on. Even after 7 years plus of servicing the policy with premiums that were paid on dot, the policy failed to assure any prospects of earnings and the surrender value remained much below the paid up premium value. When I wrote a complaint to the company, they deputed a couple of officers and a branch Manager who expressed sorrow at my plight and suggested that I should withdraw from the existing plan as it would never give any positive returns even at the time of maturity! They suggested yet another insurance policy stating that it was specifically introduced for people like me who were lured by the Tie clad officers of Citi bank to whom Birla Sun Life Insurance paid hefty commissions for bringing in customers!!
I decided to surrender the policies and submitted the requisite documents on 22nd November, 2012 before 2pm as suggested. I was at aloss of nearly Rs50,000/- which got wiped off from the principal premium paid not to talk of any interest that I would have earned if I had chosen to keep them in Fixed Deposits with any Bank! Although, BSLI claims and assures that it will settle the surrenders within 2-3 working days, it took nearly 3 weeks for them to send me the cheques. When I wrote a mail stating that I would take up the matter with the Ombudsman, the company thought it wise to settle the amounts and instead of crediting the proceeds directly to the bank, they sent cheques by which they could gain yet another 5 days to part with the funds. Effectively, Birla Sun Life took nearly a month to settle the policy surrenders which is much against the principles of Insurance and justice.
I would caution people to exercise utmost caution before venturing in investments with Birla Sun Life Insurance based upon my own experience. One may stand to loose the principal itself, forget interest or returns!! Bankers are meant for banking and not for selling commercial products bringing down the ethics of banking itself? If any Banker is trying to sell any product other than your banking needs, be assured that you are being taken for a ride and the banker earns commission for making you the Guinea pig!!!
Be Cautious and careful before you buy any Birla Sun Life product
It is indeed a shocking and sorrowful experience of my friend Rajagopal. Apart from the financial loss, I can understand the mental agony that he has undergone. It is really a shameful act on the part of BSLI and who could imagine that a company with Birla Tag would dupe people like this. This incident need to be condemned and people responsible should be brought to justice.
ReplyDeletechandrasekhar