Taken for a Ride. Review on ICICI Lombard Health Insurance

My recent mail to the customer support team of the company appended below tells of my experience with the company:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

With regard to the the health policy number with ref __________., I submit the following details for your review:

The policy has been taken by me in the names of my wife and Daughter in March 2007. I am a ICICI credit card holder and got a call from one Mr. Subramaniam, (I vaguely remember the name) a marketing executive of the company who wished to sell me the policy. I told him that I am interested in taking a health policy in the names of my wife and daughter, (since I already had a policy for myself alone with Royal Sundaram through Std Chtd. Bank, )

I told him that my wife was undergoing treatment for Breast Cancer at that time (she had undergone the treatment from Feb 2007 to Sept 2007), to which the executive replied that since it would was a pre-existing condition it would be covered automatically after four years. When I got the policy bond I found that the pre-existing condition was not mentioned on it.

Going by the words of the marketing executive I continued the policy and renewed it subsequently in 2009 for another two years. By the Grace of God my wife has recovered and did not need any other treatment except for review checks ups periodically. I wish and pray that I would not have any need for a claim for her in future too with your company or any other insurance company.But when the marketing executive Mr Anjaneyulu called me for renewal this time I put a poser to him that would my wife be now covered for her condition since four years have elapsed, he could not answer with confidence and said he would get back to me after consulting the managers. He subsequently called me and said that different managers are having different opinions about its eligibility. Some have opined that since it was not stated on the bond she would not be eligible. I told him clearly that I had never filled any proposal form and this policy was marketed to me by the company team over telephone and I had stated the facts clearly to the staff on phone at that time but he chose not to put it on paper and said that it would automatically cover after four years. Mr Anjanyulu said he could not help me on this and suggested me to take a new policy now and have it put on the bond as a fresh policy !!!. I refused that option and my policy has not been renewed.

I solemnly affirm on my conscience that I never hid any facts from the the marketing executive who sold this policy to me in the month of March 2007 but he chose not to take that into account for his own reasons and sent me the policy without stating the pre existing condition of my wife. I would like to further state that my wife touchwood is healthy by God's grace today and I do not hold any malafide intention to deceive the company now or never had it any point of time, but I just wanted to bring to your notice the dubious tactics your marketing executive has played on me when he sold the policy, since I did not want to get into a problem on this issue in case of a need to make a claim in future I wanted it stated clearly on the bond this time that since four years have elapsed all the pre existing would be covered, your company managers have chosen to refuse me this eligibility.

I have nothing further to say since all the above facts are self explanatory. I am an honest man and I believe in God for the health of my family more than the support of an insurance company, but I would certainly want you to give a feedback to your marketing teams

to be fair and honest in their dealings with the customers since customers are human beings, they are not products or business opportunities to play around with.

Best Regards,

Thomas D"

On the basis of my above experience I caution the readers to beware of the tactics of the marketing executives of these insurance companies. They are only interested in meeting their sales targets and often use unfair methods for selling their products. To add further to my above experience I would like to tell you that I had not made any claim whatsoever during the four year tenure of the policy.