I have Involuntary Loss of Employment (ILOE) insurance with ADCB against the outstanding personal loan and proportionate monthly premium was deducted from my bank account for the last four years. The policy assures to pay 10 per cent of the loan outstanding every month or Dh5,000, whichever is less, up to a period of six months or till the policy holder joins for another job, if the insured lost job involuntary. I haven’t received the ILOE policy documents from any authority till today.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, I got fired from my job on September 5, 2021. I was working there for more than 12 years.
I visited ADCB Sharjah main branch on September 14, 2021 and informed them about the job loss and mentioned to the officer about the ILOE insurance holding with the bank. The officer didn’t mention the time frame to submit the required documents to process the insurance claim.
I visited the same ADCB branch again on October 19, met another officer and he told me about the additional documents required and I sent the documents by email the very next day. As advised by him, I submitted the original documents to the bank on October 24, 2021.
Later on following up with the bank I was informed that the claim got rejected as the documents were submitted nine days late. I told the bank that I acknowledged the job loss on time and they didn’t mention the time limit to submit the claim documents nor provided the policy documents for me to be aware about the claim submission. I am still jobless.
I requested the bank to reprocess the claim, but didn’t see any positive result. The bank fully recovered the portion of the gratuity transferred to my account. I highlighted my situation again to the bank. The officer advised me to visit Orient Insurance and make the request there. The bank did not provide any policy copy or policy number.
I visited the Orient Insurance in Dubai Festival City and the officer told me that they didn’t have any policy copy or proof available there. They added that they will not deal with me directly because their business is with the bank only.
I am paying this premium for the last four years and am fully eligible for this claim. The little amount deposited to my account last month was also deducted towards the premium for ILOE insurance. The bank failed to give me the policy documents despite my frequent follow ups.
They couldn’t locate the policy documents till today. The loan outstanding at the time of job loss was approximately Dh37,000. It means I am eligible for Dh3,700 per month for six months as I am still jobless.
I request Gulf News to intervene with ADCB to get me my insurance claim. Thank you for your kind support.
From Mr Noushad Haneefa
Sharjah
The management of ADCB responds: Thank you for your cooperation and communication with us in the endeavor to best serve our customers and resolve their issues. Customer satisfaction is at the very top of our agenda, which is why we have an established Service Quality Unit that is dedicated to handling all customer enquiries and complaints. While we cannot comment on specific customer cases, we do take finding a solution for our customers very seriously and approach every situation with the best interest of the customer in mind.
With reference to Mr Haneefa’s issue, please be advised that our Service Quality Unit has thoroughly investigated the issue and confirmed that the customer had applied for ILOE claim and submitted the required documents on October 24, 2021, however, the Termination Letter was issued on September 5, 2021 hence the claim was rejected by the insurance due to the fact that customer has to apply for a claim within 40 days from date of Termination Letter.
Case has been resent to Orient Insurance on April 5, 2022 for exception, but the Insurance declined as they are unable to support on the late claim. Customer has been informed accordingly and case is closed.
We continually urge all customers to contact our Service Quality Unit 24/7 by phone, email or web, should they need any further clarification regarding their issues. We would like to thank you for bringing this issue to our attention and hence giving us the opportunity to further our servicing to our valued customers.
Mr Haneefa responds: On May 11, I got the contact details of Orient Insurance Company, which is handling this ILOE insurance. They informed me that bank did not submit the claim on October 24 2021. They submitted the claim only on April 05, 2022 after receiving the call from Gulf News.
They simply rejected the claim as the claim submission was after seven months. The insurance company also mentioned that they could reconsider the claim it was submitted in October 2021. This is a serious lapse from the concerned personnel in ADCB.
ADCB responds: Please be advised that the customer was informed on September 14, 2021 to submit the required documents for submitting the claim. It was clearly communicated to him that the claim needs to be registered within one month. All the terms and conditions for policy and claim is mentioned on the Bank’s website, and were informed to customer at the time of policy inception as well as claim submission.
The customer submitted the required documents on October 24, 2021 resulting in delay to raise insurance claim and he was immediately notified that he is not eligible because it has been more than 30 days post termination.
However, the claim was exceptionally logged on the same day without setting any expectations, yet the insurer rejected the exception request.
Now, considering the customer’s situation and based on his request, the Bank has offered a further service gesture to compensate him by waiving the outstanding Dh23,860 and the same was communicated to him. Case is closed now.
Mr Haneefa responds: Gulf News intervention helped to a large extent to resolve this issue. I appreciate the bank’s gesture. Thanks once again for Gulf News’ support.
(Process initiation: March 30. Response from organisation: April 12. Process completion: May 26.)
