Om Shanti, Shanti....

I had an account with the ICICI bank. Every time I would go to their Branch, I would come back fuming at their amazing level of inefficiency. So preferring peace of mind to scoring a point, I closed my account and all my dealings with that Bank.

Well almost, as I continued taking ICICI-Lombard travel insurance whenever I went abroad. As the travels went off well, so ther was never any occassion to deal with that Bank. Till recently.

Last month I went on a somewhat ambitious travelling plan to undertake a long Trans-Siberian train journey. As in the past, I took the ICICI-Lombard travel Insurance.

But this time my luck ran out and my passport was stolen at St. petersburg, Russia. I could not proceed further and had to return back to India. Since my travel insurance policy covered "loss of a passport", I sent the relevant documentation to the Insurer. They just refused to acknowledge half a dozen emails and pretended that they had not received my documents sent by Speed Post. It is only when I threatened to take the matter to the IRDA that they acknowledged my mail and asked for further documentation.

In the end, after umpteen emails, this morning, I had a ray of hope when I receved an email from them informing me happily that my claim had been approved. That improved my mood. Till I got another mail from them asking on which address should they send the cheque for USD 12.20. Yes that is the amount they were going to offer to me for loss of passport.

I kept my cool and I have just sent them a mail:


"I regret that I am unable to accept this generosity.

Please give this amount of US dollars 12.20 to ICICI-Lombard Staff Welfare Association.

Of course I will never have any dealings with ICICI-Lombard for the rest of my life and this is what I will advise my friends and well-wishers also....KJS Chatrath"