Hi

I represent the brand Marketing team of http://www.Policybazaar.com and can offer you little help and reassurance here.

Policybazaar.com is just a search engine wherein we try and connect you as a customer to the insurer. To do this we display plans on our site and assist you through the buy process just like an agent would do. The only difference here being we allow you to fill up the form at your leisure without pestering you too much.

The proposal form is required to be filled in by you, as the information as filled in the same also forms a part of the claims process in the eventuality of you filing up a claim.

To offer claim assistance service, trust me in Term plan is also difficult for both us and the agents, this is simply because of the reason that Term Plans are long term in nature and post 10 years even we as an intermediary may or may not be present, leave alone the insurance agent.

Buying a term plan is beneficial online as you transact directly with the insurer, the benefit of that is, that you fill up the proposal form yourself, which the insurer actually wants and not just a signed empty proposal form which an agent would fill in basis his wit to reduce the chances of medicals, which as per us should never be the case.

On the amount of insurance you need to purchase, it should about 10 times of your annual income + any liabilities. E.g: if my annual income is say Rs. 8 Lakhs per annum plus i have a home loan of say around Rs. 30 Lacs. Then i should take a term cover of Rs. 1.1 Cr.

To go with policybazaar.com to buy your Bharti Axa Term Plan or not is your personal call as the same plan is also available directly through their site too, with almost no difference in premiums. We are a vertical search engine and our job is to show you the true picture in terms of premiums and returns. If you buy through us we would be most glad to have helped you.

Lastly, Post your purchase online, you do see a little slack in information processing, but please be aware that your work is happening and all policies bought online do get issued within 2 to 3 working weeks.

Hope have been able to resolve your query. Please do feel free to write back.

You should do a survey among your readers as to how many had a decent ( 25-50 lacs )Term Insurance before the onset of cheap online options..In India people always like cheap..Since the online term plans have made term plans cheap..there is a sudden clamour to get one..By the way I don’t sell much insurance and it is not hurting..I started as an IFA 2 yrs back.. after the entry load ban..I am only pained to see that there are still a number of educated illiterates intent on doing direct investments in stocks, Mf and insurance..without fully understanding the risks .. The huge inflows during bull markets and poor inflows during bear markets are enough proof..

Due to my Job profile (By profession I’m a chem. engr. & works in a fertiliser production unit), the underwriters of Aviva, loaded up my prem. but I accepted the same happily.

The only issue if I can say was faced during offline payment of this loaded up prem. at local branch of Aviva.

Till date, I have not faced any issue & ‘m very happy with the over all service standards.

Thanks

Ashal

First of all, thanks a lot to Subra for putting my comment as a post here. Also, thanks to everyone who responded. Got numerous suggestions, and hence was more confident to confront Ms. N on the topic.
My profile: I am a software professional working for HP-ISO, with more than 7 years industry experience. I did my B.E from KREC Surathkal (Now NITK) and M.E. from IISc. I am originally from a village near Mangalore, now live in Bangalore with my husband and a 3 month old baby. Our total annual income is 20+. Both of us were careless about personal finance until marriage, marriage made me serious about financial planning. We got benefited from this blog and jagoinvestor.

There has been some progress with my policy. She came home and collected my documents, and convinced me that her services are essential to me. She told, “Ma’am, you are getting services for this extra premium. If you do it directly, it’ll take 3 months”. I asked, “So you are telling me, system is designed to help you in making some extra bucks?”, “Ma’am, I am not getting any money, that’s going to your policy only. If I do some 1L worth children plan, I get 1k as my commission, here I dont get anything”. “What about not telling me before about this extra premium?”, “Ma’am, I thought call center guys had told you about it. We are not agents, we are employees. Call center books appointment and they are supposed to tell you the details. If you don’t want my services, you can cancel the policy without any penalty. I am not insisting you to take”. But didnt understand why like Jayaraman V wrote above I was getting several calls asking me if I need an appointment. Like Minal and Jayaraman wrote, one person might be providing info to several people and each is trying to catch the fish.

With policybazaar I guess, it depends on your luck. People I spoke to seemed helpful. But their help was not really necessary; as Vijay wrote, it is enough to use them for their comparison chart and not to do the deal. Provide a dummy no in their portal, as of now they dont verify the phone no. Soon verification might start.

I asked this ‘friend of mine’ Ms. N about the policybazaar model of operation, she told that for every policy coming from policybazaar, her company pays it a one time fee of Rs 500. Here the good thing is it is not charged to the customer.

I applied online to bharti axa all by myself and the process is going on very smooth. Same day my husband applied to HDFC without this agent’s help and didnt get any response to his query to call center, “Did not get the proposal/illustration form by mail”. Then my husband wanted to cancel the policy. Called their toll free no and mailed to onlinequery ID. Should wait and see if we get the refund soon. Some of their call center employees have trouble understanding the issue. HDFC is surely not worth the high premium it is charging. I am going to cancel the policy. It is too painful to get reminded of this event every year when I pay the premium. Aviva is 1.5k cheaper than HDFC and as many of you and Subra say, when we disclose everything properly, claim settlement ratio is not relevant in choosing. Customer service becomes far more important.

Some lessons can be learnt only through one’s own mistakes!

Thanks and Regards
Aparna

I am glad people are enlightened today about term Plans.. They have been in existence for so many years thru LIC and also with the Pvt players. It is only after they became CHEAP through online options that ” Enlightened people ” started buying them.. I can take a poll on how many people had a decent Term insurance 5 years back..I am sure not even 5% would have had it..Today Everyone is talking about Term Insurance because the prices have dropped..That is not Financial enlightenment.. That is bargain hunting..
What coolies.. you have a choice to carry your own luggage? I said why dont you go to MRPL or some other refinery and Buy Petol and Diesel directly ..ask them to open outlets and sell petrol/ diesel..why have dealers who take a cut of 1-2% on every litre of fuel sold..why dont people demand this..?Do you have a choice here?

Aviva’s service is much better than LIC or HDFC.