Reader's grouse

Reader's grouse
21 Oct, 2007, 0000 hrs IST,

I have a serious complaint regarding a couple of policies that I bought from ICICI Lombard. I got a home policy (20 years) and a content policy (3 years).

The advertising and marketing that the company has been doing assures consumers such as me of an inspection within 24 hours and immediate decision on the claims. However, when I recently made a claim with ICICI Lombard about a broken porch glass, it took four days for the customer service manager from Nashik to come and view the problem.

His excuse was that on the way to my home there were leopards and that had scared him. After that he went through the whole rigmarole of form filling and taking photographs, but since there has not been any response from him. Then I wrote to the MD and HR head at ICICI Lombard headquarters about my plight. Even after a second reminder they did not have the courtesy to reply to my query.

I managed to contact one Mr Gourav Arora in Mumbai, head of customer services and after five days I am still waiting for a reply!

The poor track record of companies when it comes to servicing customers is causing me great concern. Is there any recourse for the consumer? Is there a body dealing with insurance complaints similar to the insurance ombudsman in UK?

Dr C Sudhakar, Nashik, Maharashtra

(This is the first of the column on consumer’s grievances. You can send in your complaints at sundayet2007@indiatimes.com)