Danvil/Philippine Prudential Life Updates and Helpful Tips

A couple of months ago, I blogged about my experience with Danvil/Philippine Prudential Life. I know they promised a refund, but I still didn’t feel secure enough. Neither the Sales Manager or the General Manager, both of whom I have spoken with, mentioned anything about providing me with a Letter of Cancellation or a Statement of Account. It’s a good thing that Neri’s blog entry helped me realize that I needed the confirmation from Philippine Prudential Life. Additionally, my credit card company advised that I would need to submit a Dispute Form so that they won’t charge me with the amount. With this knowledge in hand, my parents, my friend and her husband, and I returned to the Family First/Philippine Prudential Life office around the 8th of November to request for a Cancellation Letter, or for a Statement of Account.

It was really difficult to get the to provide us with the required documents. They tried every delaying tactic they could think of, from explaining that a Cancellation Letter wasn’t needed because they already sent the documents to the main office, to asking us to wait for their Sales Manager. My dad and I ended up raising our voices to the person we were talking to, but it was my mom, who mentioned—and really calmly at that—phoning the media, that got them to give us our Statement of Account. And what do we find out? They were able to print a copy of our Statement of Account all the while! It was infuriating!

Anyhow, if anyone else needs advise on how to get your Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Plan canceled, the steps I took might assist you:

1. I went to the Family First/Philippine Prudential Life office (SM Southmall, which is the same place I got the plan) within 24 hours to have my account cancelled
2. Go hardball on them; refuse to listen to any of their reasoning. Take extra measures if required. I even went to the Head of Security to report them before they agreed to cancel my plan.
3. Have your Cancellation Letter signed by the Sales Manager or whoever you have talked to.
4. Ask for a Statement of Account from Philippine Prudential Life. It can be requested at the same place you got the plan. The “status” field in the SoA should be filled with “Canceled upon inception”. From what I’ve read on other blogs, you can get this a few days after the actual date you went to their office to cancel the policy. It does coincide with the time I got the Statement of Account.
5. File a dispute report to your Credit Card Company and attach the Statement of Account and Cancellation Letter. This will ensure that the amount would not be credited to your bill.

I got my refund around December last year. I’m so relieved! I hope more people can get their money back too. Family First/Philippine Prudential Life is a legitimate company, but personally I wouldn’t want to put all my life’s savings in a company that receives such negative reputation.

For those who haven’t been able to cancel the policy within 24 hours, you need to file a letter of complaint to the SEC, making sure that you indicate in your letter how Family First/Philippine Prudential Life’s marketing tactics have violated the Consumer Act of the Philippines. You can also read through the comments on Bob’s blog entry or Noemi’s blog entry about the same topic for more information.

Has anyone been refunded by Family First/Philippine Prudential Life? Feel free to share your experience here!

Danvil/Philippine Prudential Life Refund

Was there ever a time when you felt hypnotized by the convincing sales pitch of a salesperson, that you felt obliged to buy an insurance you couldn’t afford?

That is what happened to me when I had been offered a Life Insurance by Danvil/Philippine Prudential Life. I had been walking around SM Southmall when someone approached me and asked if I had a credit card. I said “not interested” and kept on walking away, but the guy literally went after me and tugged me, saying he just needs to fulfill his quota. As I’m usually the type to easily take pity on people, I agreed and listened to Danvil’s current promotion. Apparently, I could win a car or cash by just listening to them introduce their company to us. Amazing!

What was there to lose, right? So I followed the guy to their office on the third floor, and waited for a while before I had been assigned a saleswoman. And she was really convincing. She even told me about her daughter, being an only mom, and her heartaches. Then she asked me to write down my dreams on one of their forms, which I did, and then suddenly she was explaining about a Life Insurance Policy while relating it to my dreams. Apparently, they use that information so that they are able to attack my weaknesses. I had no idea what led me to sign the application form or had my card swiped. Soon after my card had been swiped, I instantly felt unsettled. Why hadn’t I phoned my parents first? What had gotten into me?

I had been restless all afternoon, and returned to their office on the same day, asking for my plan to be cancelled. The saleswoman said that she couldn’t cancel the plan anymore, because my card had already been swiped. I went home feeling restless, told my parents about it, and, as expected, they had been very unhappy about what I did.

My parents told me that they would accompany me on Saturday to talk to the salesperson, but the next day, I still couldn’t get myself to calm down. I researched on the company on the web and found out about the many complaints against them in several blogs, including that of Diane, who had been featured on The Probe Team’s episode on Danvil. Really nervous now, I returned to SM Southmall with the intention of canceling my plan. Good thing I met someone else who was also intending to cancel hers. We ended up talking about it and me telling her about the scam, and we returned at the same time to the Danvil/Family First/Philippine Prudential Life/Whatever they would be called in the future, to cancel our account.

My newfound friend was able to cancel hers, but I had been told that I would not be able to have my money refunded if I canceled mine. Frustrated, I left and chatted a bit more with my friend, who suggested that we file a complaint against the misleading tactics of the Danvil salespeople to the SM Security Administrations office. We wrote a letter stating our complaint, and referenced several lines from the Constitution, before heading to the SM Security Administrations office.

And you know what we learned from the Head of Security? Apparently, you are allowed to cancel your account with Danvil within 24 hours, with full refund! The Danvil/Philippine Prudential Life salespeople, and their manager, deliberately withheld that information from me on purpose, even if I had expressed intention several times that I wanted to cancel the plan.

It was a good thing we decided to head to the Administrations office, then, or else I would not have known of that particular Company Policy. The Head of Security requested for the Sales Manager to head to their office, and she immediately said that they were able to cancel my plan on that day.

I wrote a letter confirming my cancellation of the account, and the Sales Manager counter-signed it. She then gave me a photocopy of my letter and gave her mobile and office number so that I could check on the refund, which was going to be credited to my MasterCard. The processing time is 30-45 days.

I am now waiting to see if they would really return my money in full. If they refuse, I would have to seek other means to get them to give me a full refund.

Update: I got my refund! More information on my latest entry about Danvil/Family First/Philippine Prudential Life.

Has anyone had, or know of someone who had, a similar experience? Had you been able to have your payment refunded in full?

Batshit Insane – In ur Internets, Spreadin teh Crazy

The internet is a world-wide, state-of-the art communications system, allowing people from all over the world to converse and exchange information, provided that they have the appropriate connection and software.

It also makes as much sense as Jim Carey on a coffee-rush due to a Grande Double Espresso Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks, dancing in a green and purple suit while belting out a song about vegetables and mushroom soup.

Take it from an internet-addicted city girl from a third-world country in Asia, a.k.a. the Philippines: The internet is a hub for craziness. Pseuicide, shock sites, Rick Roll, bad grammar: you name it, the internet’s got it.

Let’s start off with Pseuicide. Pseuicide is a highly effective way of gaining attention without actually dying. The most important part of pseuicide, of course, is the confession, because this is where the greatest amount of attention is gained. She (pseuicide is rare in males) must confess that she didn’t really die. The world is cruel, and she wanted to prove to herself that not all people are heartless bastards. Some may express hatred, some may point and mock, but she who has risen from the dead knows better. She has gotten her answer, and she has emerged triumphant.

Also popular in the internet are memes. One of the more famous memes is Rickrolling, which is done by posting a link of something interesting, as bait for curious surfers to click on the link. These curious little beings are then directed to a cheesy 80’s video of Rick Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” with claw-one’s-eyes-out worthy dance moves. People who have fallen into the trap are said to have been “Rickrolled”.

Unlike pseuicide, Rickrolling is the good kind of crazy, because people do it for the lulz, which means for laughs, for the non-internet language savvy.

Bad grammar is also prevalent in the internet, and may cause insanity to all those silly Grammar Nazi’s out there. One of the more amusing uses for bad grammar can be found on the website icanhascheezburger.com, home of the famous LOLcats. A LOLcat, or cat macros, is a photograph of a cat combined with a caption written in bad spelling and grammar, a.k.a. lolspeak. Why they have chosen a cat instead of a chicken or cow will forever remain a mystery.

The prototype of this LOLcat is the hungry, cheeseburger-loving cat, asking: “I can has cheezburger?” It’s fat and cuddly and has wide eyes that makes people just want to feed it despite the horrible spelling and grammar. Since the emergence of this image, more and more cat macros have been created, and spread rapidly through the internet. It must be popular because it’s cute.

These cat macros are generally used in photo sharing boards or internet forums. They have also been proven to be effective weaponry when spamming a Pseuicide’s confession post.

This article won’t delve into shock pictures. Some things are better left undiscovered, lest you would want your faith in God be put to the ultimate test.

There are many more things to be unearthed, and the examples above are just the tip of the iceberg. The internet feeds a person’s curiosity, engages one in hours and hours of surfing and browsing, and to think that infinite knowledge is accessible just by the click of one’s mouse button is an amazing thought that could not have been possible just a few years ago.

Just be careful to stay away from the crazy, or at least take it in good stride.

Are there any internet phenomena you know of? When or how are they most often used?