Be alert always : Online insurance premium payment, You may lose your money for a minor fault !

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www.i-secureconsulting.in : Financial Planner

Dated : 14th Jun,2013

PNB Metlife online premium payment does no verification of the policy number with date of birth, mobile and email address. 

One policyholder made a mistake in keying in the policy number. 

Amazingly, PNB Metlife refunded the premium to the wrong policyholder and is washing its hands off!

PNB Metlife’s reply to the policyholder  “We would like reiterate that the user is responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of the instructions provided to Metlife and/or service provider and the same shall be considered to be sufficient to operate the payment gateway. Metlife have no liability or obligation to independently verify the instructions or the authenticity of any transaction.”

The questions that arise in this case are:

01. Why does PNB Metlife online premium payment ask for the date of birth, email and mobile number when it is not cross-checked with the policy number for which the payment is made? Even if it is accepted, can they not know that details entered do not match and then alert the bank account holder at some later time?

02. How did the wrong policyholder come to know that someone has made premium payment towards his policy?

03. If he somehow came to know about it, did he ask for a refund? If so, how is it possible that PNB Metlife gave full refund of Rs25,000 by cheque? Does any life insurance policy give back the full premium paid at anytime?

04. Why did PNB MetLife refund the Rs25,000 to the wrong person and not to the bank account from where the money originated?

05. Did the wrong policyholder commit a fraud by asking for a refund knowing that someone else had made premium payment by mistake?

06. Did he get an SMS alert or email when Rs25,000 premium was paid towards his policy.

07. How will PNB Metlife account the refund with its database of policyholders? The exact amount of Rs25,000 may not be what was due from the wrong policyholder. That should have also alerted PNB Metlife before they even thought of making any refund. How will the refund be accounted for against a wrong person?

08. Why did PNB Metlife take such a long time to find out what really happened? Why did PNB Metlife take over two months to tell Ms Kapoor that they refunded her premium payment to wrong policyholder? Does this represent usual customer service delays?

09. Is it good customer service to tell your policyholder to go and retrieve your the moneyyou lost from someone else?

10. Was the wrong policyholder a PNB agent and if so, was a there a collusion between PNB Metlife staff and the wrong policyholder?

You can read full article at : http://www.moneylife.in/article/pnb-metlife-online-premium-payment-you-may-lose-your-money-for-a-minor-fault/32536.html