Buying a financial product
Believe me, buying a financial product is as traumatic as sitting with a doctor and discussing a report saying you have some killing illness.
I am connected to many CXOs in the financial services industry and there is perhaps not one brokerage firm that has not offered its services to me. Among other accounts I have a broking account with Icici Direct. I have requested for a login password infinite number of times and have not got it.
Now take the case of buying a more complicated product like life insurance. There are many methods of buying it:
– Go online do some research and buy the cheapest Term insurance
-Go to a company of your choice leave your details on the net, the representative will come and sell you a Unit Linked Plan.
-Go to a bank and say insur….and the relationship manager will be in your house before you reach home
-Mention loudly the word insurance in a group of 5 people, there will be 6 people calling on you offering some ULIP promising you 36% returns. Are you wondering who is the 6th? He is your building’s security guard who asked those 5 people where they were going…and realised that there was a business opportunity!
Which method to choose…should be another post na?
aditya
hahahha subra
you know the kill!!!
building watch men as sales person for ULIP!!!!!!
Ashish
🙂 lolzzz. good one.
Sonny
Subraji, I dont know what issue you have with icici direct but i have a brokerage account wiyh them for over 5 years now without issues. Apart from being comparatively expensive, i have denied their free rm service and do not have any insurance products.
Khushnood Viccaji
Check out http://iinvestor.com/olmawards.aspx
BEST E-BROKER: Winner – ICICI Direct.com
So, apparently the best e-broker doesn’t have a mechanism to service a simple request like sending a login password !
On the same page, the second-BEST LIFE INSURER is
Runner Up – HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co.
They have been able to NOT send me a periodic statement of account of my ULIP policies by email (unfortunately, I wasn’t reading the Subramoney blog when I bought the policies!).
In spite of umpteen emails and follow-up phone calls, by me and my RM, the emails don’t come. I now check it online, once in a while.
The point is, even the BEST organisations have a certain percentage of sc***-up incidents, which they can’t seem to resolve.
Khushnood Viccaji
Sorry, did I forget to mention that “ICICI Direct.com presents Outlook Money Awards 2011” ??? !!!
LOL… ROTFL…
M S PANJWANI
@Subra:
Ha Ha Ha…..aaj aapne hum sab koh hasa diya…kabhi rulate ho,kabhi hasate ho…esee ka naam Subra hai..
@Khushnood Viccaji:
Awards are fixed..can be bought and sold…it’s business..it’s commerce…do not believe in them.
Venkatesh. S
“Are you wondering who is the 6th? He is your building’s security guard who asked those 5 people where they were going…and realised that there was a business opportunity!” Absolutely hilarious but at the same quite reflective of what is happening in the insurance / financial services industry in India. Everyone who is someone seems to be an insurance agent/financial advisor!!
I have decided I have to meet you Subra at least once before I die and I mean it!!
Anand
It’s actually like this:
icicidirect.com along with SBI home loans present the Outlook money awards 2011….
best online broker: icicidirect
best home loan provide: SBI
Nothing can be more hilarious than this….
Khushnood Viccaji
@Panjwani: That was precisely why I wrote it as a separate comment 🙂
@Anand: Didn’t notice the SBI bit, since I connected Subra’s blog remark with the OLM awards straight away !
Yes, it’s really hilarious…
Awards for the sponsors, of the sponsors, by the sponsors ! LOL…
Khushnood Viccaji
@Subra, one thought about getting your ICICI Direct login password.
Have you tried closing the account ? They just *might* wake up when they see a ‘customer’ wanting to do that !
Unless you’ve already tried that and it didn’t work 😉
Jitendra
Subra,
Totaly rocking post….
“-Go to a bank and say insur….and the relationship manager will be in your house before you reach home” This takes away cake..
Sonny
Subraji,
Just found out that you could generate password online with ICICIDirect if you still want to activate the account. Just go to “Customer Service” (I know they are of no service) and there is a link for “Generate Password Online”.
I hope you are getting your GRID in the emails. If not, you might just be well off with them.