No Improvement in HDFC ERGO Policy Renewal User Flow even a year later

12 min readFeb 13, 2023

Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum Barasat N24PGS West Bengal case CC/353/2022 Edaakhil number A22090004397. Submission on 17 Jan 2023.

Even a year later (2022–2023) since it was brought to the notice of HDFC ERGO (2021–2022), about the non-existence of automatic discount calculation in the policy renewal check out user flow, which leads to a lot of complications, and confusion, and waiting over email, nothing has changed. This is the reason the hon’ble district consumer court needs the provision of ‘User Experience and Usability Digital Forensic Investigation’.

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from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: care@hdfcergo.com
cc: Policy Bazaar HDFC ERGO Health Apollo Munich <care@policybazaar.com>
date: Oct 29, 2022, 2:41 PM
subject: Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hello Everyone,

I want to renew my policy 2805203553540502 and want you to add the stay active discount. Although I want to bring to your notice that between 16 Dec 2021 to 17 Feb 2022 my HDFC ERGO app was connected to policy no 2805203553540501 instead of policy no 2805203553540502 due to a complaint raised by me to avail stay active discount for the period 2020–2021 at renewal which hasn’t been automatically subtracted from the total amount at the checkout. I noticed that the stay active data of the first quarter isn’t at parity with my google fit first quarter data due to the fact that in that period the HDFC ERGO app was connected to the previous policy 2805203553540501 in an attempt to retrieve the stay active data of 2020–2021 by the HDFC ERGO development team. Please don’t ask me to send the screenshots of the first quarter from google fit because that will cause a lot of hassle in capturing the screenshots of so many days one by one. So, I’d request the HDFC ERGO backend team to retrieve the data from Google Fit to rectify the calculations of the HDFC ERGO app as shown on Google Fit. My HDFC ERGO app is connected to policy 2805203553540502 and the app is connected to Google Fit properly. PFB.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
M: +91 9738106837
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratulaich
https://paypal.me/ratulaich?locale.x=en_GB

— — — — — Forwarded message — — — — —

From: Grievance Cell <grievance@hdfcergo.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 12:42 PM
Subject: RE:’Service ID=050–225–239'[EXT] Re: Discount on policy renewal for steps covered
To: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>

Dear Ratul,

Greetings from HDFC ERGO general insurance !!

This is in reference to your mail dated 7-Dec-2021 with regards to getting stay active discount on policy renewal.

We have thoroughly reviewed your case in detail with concern team and noted that stay active date is not synced with policy no 2805203553540501.

Further, we would suggest you to uninstall then re-install the HDFC ERGO insurance application and then login with mobile number 9738106837 and connect 2805203553540501 policy with wearable device for syncing step data from wearable device to HEI mobile application. Once the process gets complete and step count synced with application, we will calculate the entitled discount.

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

For any other assistance, you can visit on our Self Help link given below:

https://customersupport.hdfcergo.com/customer-care/customer-support.html

Sincerely,
Sonu Sharma
Grievance Redressal Team
Thanks and Regards,
Officer-Grievance Management team,
HDFC ERGO health insurance
1st Floor, A-100, A Block, Sector 58
Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301

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from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: care@hdfcergo.com
cc: Policy Bazaar HDFC ERGO Health Apollo Munich <care@policybazaar.com>
date: Oct 31, 2022, 1:32 PM
subject: Re: ‘Service ID=061–060–978’ [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hi Everyone,

I’m looking for an update on the issue. Mail communication will be preferred because phone calls disconnect frequently.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
M: +91 9738106837
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratulaich
https://paypal.me/ratulaich?locale.x=en_GB

— — — —

from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: care@hdfcergo.com
cc: care@policybazaar.com
date: Nov 1, 2022, 3:41 PM
subject: Re: ‘Service ID=061–060–978’ [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hi Team HDFC ERGO,

HDFC ERGO Stay Active Google Fit Google Takeout Excel Files between 2021–2022. PFA. Calculate, rectify, and do the needful.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
M: +91 9738106837
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratulaich
https://paypal.me/ratulaich?locale.x=en_GB

— — — —

from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: care@hdfcergo.com
cc: care@policybazaar.com
date: Nov 1, 2022, 4:29 PM
subject: Re: ‘Service ID=061–060–978’ [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hi Team HDFC ERGO,

HDFC ERGO Stay Active Google Fit Google Takeout Excel Files between 2021–2022. PFB. Calculate, rectify, and do the needful.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/143AmbeP2s06rHpYfgNXpFYmDUJpYEAXD?usp=share_link

Regards,
Ratul Aich
M: +91 9738106837
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratulaich
https://paypal.me/ratulaich?locale.x=en_GB

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from: Grievance Cell <grievance@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
to: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
date: Nov 2, 2022, 4:27 PM
subject: RE:’Service ID=061–060–978' [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more
: Important because it matched one of your importance filters.

Dear Sir/Ma’am,

Greetings from HDFC ERGO General Insurance!

This is with reference to your grievance dated 29 October 2022 with regards to policy number:-2805203553540502000.

As per confirmation received form concern team, we wish to inform you that your are eligible for 0.50% as stay active discount at renewal.

For any other assistance, you can visit on our Self Help link given below:

https://selfhelp.hdfcergo.com

Assuring you of our best services at all times.
Sincerely,
Rishi Gupta
Grievance Redressal Team

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The original premium is 11494/- although looking at the following premium of 12644/- it can be stated that this link doesn’t contain a 0.5% stay active fitness discount and 1150/- has been added for some kind of extra benefits.

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from: HDFC ERGO GENERAL INSURANCE <hdfcergo.service@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: noreply@hdfcergo.com
to: ratulaich@gmail.com
date: Nov 4, 2022, 5:19 PM
subject: Premium payment link for your HDFC ERGO Product Name -Health policy
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more

Dear RATUL AICH,

We thank you for placing your trust and giving us an opportunity for securing your insurance needs.

This is with regards to your HDFC ERGO Health insurance Policy no 2805203553540502000,

We request you to make the payment of Rs. 12644 before 29-NOV-2022.

Please Click Here to make the payment.

We look forward to serving you by providing comprehensive products and prompt servicing.

Regards,
Team HDFC ERGO

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from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
date: Nov 29, 2022, 5:46 PM
subject: Re: ‘Service ID=061–060–978’ [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hi Rishi,

Please send me the discount chart.

30/11/2021 to 27/02/2022 Q1 avg step count 4133.622222
28/02/2022 to 28/05/2022 Q2 avg step count 4552.833333
29/05/2022 to 26/08/2022 Q3 avg step count 4268.644444
27/08/2022 to 25/09/2022 Q4 avg step count 4510.4

Regards,
Ratul Aich
M: +91 9738106837
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratulaich
https://paypal.me/ratulaich?locale.x=en_GB

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Renew date was 29/11/2022 till 12:00 AM. Now, Grace Period is going on. I ported my Policy to some other company to avoid such hassle every year.

— — — —

from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: care@hdfcergo.com,
Policy Bazaar HDFC ERGO Health Apollo Munich <care@policybazaar.com>,
grievance@hdfcergo.com
date: Dec 1, 2022, 11:19 AM
subject: Porting feedback voice copy
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hello Everyone,

I’ve ported my insurance due to poor service, repdiating claim and litigations that make HDFC ERGO a very insecure health insurance policy. PFA voice copy.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
+91 9738106837
https://linkedin.com/in/ratulaich

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from: HDFC ERGO GENERAL INSURANCE <hdfcergo.service@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: noreply@hdfcergo.com
to: ratulaich@gmail.com
date: Dec 1, 2022, 12:40 PM
subject: Premium payment link for your HDFC ERGO Product Name -Health policy
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more

Dear RATUL AICH,

We thank you for placing your trust and giving us an opportunity for securing your insurance needs.

This is with regards to your HDFC ERGO Health insurance Policy no 2805203553540502000,

We request you to make the payment of Rs. 11494 before 02-DEC-2022.

Please Click Here to make the payment.

We look forward to serving you by providing comprehensive products and prompt servicing.

Regards,
Team HDFC ERGO
This is an electronically auto generated mail. Please do not reply to the same.

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from: Care@HDFCERGO <care@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: care@hdfcergo.com
to: “RATULAICH@GMAIL.COM” <RATULAICH@gmail.com>
date: Dec 1, 2022, 12:50 PM
subject: RE:’Service ID=062–327–312' [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Greetings from HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

We wish to inform you that below are the premium details as per your request.

Plan Name: Optima Restore
Sum Insured: 5,00,000
Tier: Tier 2
Sum Insured Type: Individual
Policy Term: 1 Year
Family Composition; 1 Adult
Premium Excl. GST 9741/-
GST @ 18% 1753/-
Premium Incl. GST 11494/-

You shall receive the premium link shortly to your registered e-mail address and mobile number, please click on the link and make the payment.

While making the payment, please clear your browser history. Also, kindly see that all other tabs are closed and your network connectivity is strong.

Please do not reply to this email as post receipt of the payment, you shall receive the soft copy on your registered email Id within 3 to 4 working days subject to Underwriting decision.

Wishing you good health and happiness!
Thanks & Regards
Dinesh Saini
Customer Experience Management Team

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from: Grievance Cell <grievance@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
to: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
date: Dec 1, 2022, 4:51 PM
subject: RE:’Service ID=062–327–312' [EXT]Renewal 2022–2023 HDFC ERGO Stay Active Discount Complaint
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more
: Important because it matched one of your importance filters.

Dear Sir/Ma’am,

Greetings from HDFC ERGO General Insurance!

This is with reference to your grievance dated 01 December 2022 with regards to policy number:-2805203553540502000.

As per confirmation received form our concern team, we wish to inform you that your are eligible for 0.5% stay active discount at renewal.

Premium quotation with Unlimited Restore Benefit and with 0.5% stay active discount is:

We have shared the payment link for the captioned renewal premium.

For any other assistance, you can visit on our Self Help link given below:

https://selfhelp.hdfcergo.com

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

Sincerely,
Rishi Gupta
Grievance Redressal Team

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from: Grievance Cell <grievance@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
to: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
date: Dec 1, 2022, 5:13 PM
subject: RE:’Service ID=062–370–864' [EXT]Porting feedback voice copy
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more
: Important because it matched one of your importance filters.

Dear Sir/Ma’am,

We apologize for the inconvenience cause to you.

This is with reference to your e-mail dated December 01, 2022 regarding claim number RR-FC21–12734614.

We regret to inform you that, mention claim has been repudiated due to for below reason.

The submitted claim is for health check-up benefit and the criteria defined for this benefit in the policy is not fulfilled. Hence we regret to inform you that your claim is repudiated.

Please find the attached repudiation letter for your ready reference.

Basis the confirmation provided by you over the call recording shared through your email dated December 01, 2022 we understand that you do not wish to renew the caption policy.

For any other assistance, you may visit our Self-Help link: https://selfhelp.hdfcergo.com

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

Regards,
Preeti Mhetre
Grievance Redressal Team

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from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: care@hdfcergo.com,
Policy Bazaar HDFC ERGO Health Apollo Munich <care@policybazaar.com>,
grievance@hdfcergo.com
cc: Insurance Bimalokpal Ombudsman <bimalokpal.kolkata@cioins.co.in>
date: Dec 5, 2022, 4:03 PM
subject: Re: Porting feedback voice copy
mailed-by: gmail.com

Feedback HDFC ERGO porting,

Insurance Ombudsman Complaint Number — KOL-H-018–2122–0878 and Insurance Ombudsman Award Number — IO/KOL/A/HI/0036/2022–2023. IRDAI complain no 08–22–008408. Consumer Court Reference number A22090004397 case no CC/353/2022.

Unfortunately, the renewal checkout flow has not been modified to display the stay active fitness discounts details and apply it automatically even though the same concern has been raised 1 year back during the renewal of the policy with the Customer Care and Technical team. It seems HDFC ERGO has deliberately created a deceptive checkout flow (UX dark patterns) by complicating the design such that users/customers/policyholders avoid going through the lengthy process of claiming the discount by email, waiting for calculation by the backend team of HDFC ERGO and finally receiving the discounted link for renewal as a lot of the users hurriedly renews their policy in the last couple of days which could be taken advantage to pocket the 8% of policy premium by HDFC ERGO that is an extremely good surplus profit made by the company.

Listen at 3.14 min. PFA voice call recording.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
+91 9738106837
https://linkedin.com/in/ratulaich

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from: Grievance Cell <grievance@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
to: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
date: Dec 5, 2022, 5:08 PM
subject: RE:’Service ID=062–831–579' [EXT]Re: Porting feedback voice copy
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more
: Important because it matched one of your importance filters.

Dear Sir/Ma’am,

Greetings from HDFC ERGO General Insurance!

This is with reference to your grievance dated 05 December 2022 with regards to policy number:-2805203553540502.

We have listen the call recording shared by you, wherein you have requested for the renewal premium with unlimited restore benefits and stay active discount.

However we have already share the requested details on 1st December 2022 with reference number:-62327312 as mentioned below.

As per confirmation received form our concern team, we wish to inform you that your are eligible for 0.5% stay active discount at renewal.

Premium quotation with Unlimited Restore Benefit and with 0.5% stay active discount is:

Kindly share your consent towards the mentioned premium, so that we can share the payment link to you.

For any other assistance, you can visit on our Self Help link given below:

https://selfhelp.hdfcergo.com

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

Sincerely,
Rishi Gupta
Grievance Redressal Team

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from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
date: Dec 5, 2022, 6:28 PM
subject: Re: ‘Service ID=062–831–579’ [EXT]Re: Porting feedback voice copy
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hello Team HDFC ERGO,

This is correct. I’ve received the email on 1st of December but the email doesn’t contain a checkout link with 0.5% discount applied. So the email is worthless.

General check out flow doesn’t apply the 0.5% discount to the yearly premium automatically and even if it apply the discount, there is no way to identify because the applied discount is nowhere displayed in the general checkout flow.

It means few more steps are required where HDFC ERGO expects me to first check if the discount has been applied in general check out flow after receiving the confirmation email, then close the general check out process, then reply to the below email to ask for the link with applied discount on premium, then wait for another day to receive the link, then finally renew the policy through the link. Don’t you think this is a deliberate attempt to discourage (8%) users/policyholders from availing stay active fitness discount? Show this email to your User Experience and Usability team to find out their reaction on the whole process. Tell them that the customer has ported to another insurance company after facing the same problem for two consecutive years and a ‘UX digital forensic investigation request’ lawsuit which is going on for a year.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
+91 9738106837
https://linkedin.com/in/ratulaich

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from: Grievance Cell <grievance@hdfcergo.com>
reply-to: grievance@hdfcergo.com
to: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
date: Dec 7, 2022, 6:26 PM
subject: RE:’Service ID=062–831–539' [EXT]Re: Porting feedback voice copy
mailed-by: hdfcergo.com
signed-by: hdfcergo.com
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more
: Important because it matched one of your importance filters.

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to your grievance dated 05 December 2022 with regards to policy number:-2805203553540502.

We wish to inform you that mentioned renewal premium is including the stay active discount.

Further, you can treat this mail as confirmation on stay active discount.

Premium quotation with Unlimited Restore Benefit and with 0.5% stay active discount is:

Kindly share your consent towards the mentioned premium, so that we can share the payment link to you.

For any other assistance, you can visit on our Self Help link given below:

https://selfhelp.hdfcergo.com.

Assuring you of our best services at all times.

Regards,
Swarupa Auti
Grievance Redressal Team

First in the series is Judicial Investigation Friendly Digital Systems, Judibility. (Link)

Previous in the series is Collection of Key Email Conversations with HDFC ERGO in The Case Judibility. (Link)

Next in the series is the Department of Consumer Affairs urges online platforms to refrain from adopting ‘dark patterns’ harming consumer interest. (Link)

No Improvement in HDFC ERGO Policy Renewal User Flow even a year later

Written by Ratul Aich