Lippo Life service

On Jan. 13, 2000, I went to the Lippo Life Metropolitan Mal branch in Bekasi and applied for a life insurance policy. I was told that because the sum insured was quite high my application would be subject to a full medical checkup. I attended the medical examination at Rumah Sakit Mitra Keluarga on Jan. 22, 2000, and was given the OK by both doctors.

Following my checkup, I received no further information from Lippo Life until I took the initiative to telephone the Lippo Life agent in the Metropolitan Mal branch. (For the record, I telephoned the agent in the last week of January). The agent informed me that Lippo Life had accepted my policy and that the sum insured was the amount stated on the insurance proposal. No mention was made as to when I would receive the policy document.

At the beginning of February, I again telephoned the agent to check when I would received the policy document. As the agent could not answer my question, I decided to telephone the Lippo Life head office. Upon being transferred to the underwriting department, I was told that my medical results had still not been received from Mitra Keluarga. When I informed the underwriting officer that the agent had already advised me that my policy had been accepted, he asked for my telephone number and told me he would call me back that afternoon.

Surprisingly, the underwriting officer kept his word and phoned in the afternoon, however, he informed me that the sum insured had been reduced, contrary to the previous statement from the agent, because the Lippo chief medical officer considered me to be seven kilos overweight. I was then informed that my policy document would be forwarded shortly by courier to my house address.

On Feb. 25, 2000, I went to the Metropolitan Mal branch to again check on the whereabouts of my policy. The agent could only tell me what I already knew, "that my policy was in the mail". His assistant, upon seeing that I was angry, laughed and quite patronizingly told me to be patient.

Given the pathetic service that I have received from Lippo Life and the fact that I still have not received my policy document, I request that Lippo Life cancel my policy and refund the premium that I paid at the time of application. If issuing a policy document is such a hassle for Lippo Life, I would hate to think what would happen if I ever needed to make a claim.

MARK RIDDETT

Bekasi, West Java