Complaints: Insurance mis-selling tops

Mis-selling of insurance policies and delay in claim settlements top the list of 2,341 complaints lodged by aggrieved customers with the Chandigarh Insurance Ombudsman.

"We have received maximum complaints against insurance companies pertaining to mis-selling of insurance products followed by delay in settlement of claims," an official of Insurance Ombudsman said here.

Out of pending 1,544 complaints with regard to life insurance, about 80 per cent complaints are against private life insurers, he said.

Out of 797 complaints against non-life insurers, 60 per cent of them are against public sector companies, he added.

Chandigarh Insurance Ombudsman has jurisdiction over Punjab, UT Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

"There are maximum cases in which insurance customers have complained that they had been sold policies by saying that it was single premium 'Fixed Deposit' scheme with high returns.

"But to their utter shock, customers found from the policy (document) that they would now have to pay premium for several years, rather than paying once. Such kind of cases fall in the category of mis-selling," official said.

It also came to notice through complaints that customers were deliberately being denied of the 'free look' period option by unscrupulous agents so that customers were left with no other option than continuing with the policy.

"There is a Free Look period of 15 days given by the insurance companies whereby customer can return the policy within 15 days from the date of receipt of insurance policy," official said.

Delay in settlement claims and non-issuance of insurance documents after payment of premium are other types of complaints which were lodged by customers.

In case of non-life insurance complaints, customers had disputes with general insurance companies on the approval of amount of insurance claims.

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