I wish to draw your attention to the nefarious activities of the Bangalore-based Metlife Insurance Company. 1. I took an equity-linked policy from them in November 2008 when the Sensex was trading at 9,000 level and regularly paid my annual premium of Rs 30,000. With my last payment in November 2011, I have invested a total of Rs 1.2 lakh with them. 2. My account was consistently in profit till the end of the lock-in period of three years, but as soon as the lock-in period was over, it suddenly went into loss. In November 2010, when the Sensex was trading at 15K level, my account showed a profit of Rs 30,000. But in November 2011, when the Sensex was trading at above 17K level, it showed a loss of about Rs 5,000! 3. A quick inquiry revealed that it is their usual trick. Decent profit is shown during the lock-in period of three years, but it immediately goes into loss in the fourth year when the policyholder becomes eligible for partial withdrawal/ surrender of the policy. This is the game they have played with every customer I've spoken to. 4. I wanted to make a partial withdrawal and visited their Trivandrum office last month. At the time of issuing the policy, their agent had told me that I could withdraw the full amount except the first premium after three years. But the Trivandrum people told me it was not so. I had to retain "certain charges" along with the first premium. My account was at a loss of Rs 4,000 at that time, so I could withdraw only Rs 60,000 (which is half of the money I had deposited), I was told. 5. I filled in the necessary forms and provided my bank account details and was told that the amount would be deposited in my account within 10 days. A week later I got a call from someone in their head office to inform me that I could withdraw only Rs 50,000. I asked him the reason for it and was told that I had to retain the first premium and "preclosure charges." I asked him how much it would be and he said Rs 25,000! 6. I checked the policy document and it says the "surrender charges" in the fourth year is 70% of the first premium. If that's so, I had to retain only Rs 51,000 and could withdraw Rs 65,000. Then why did he insist that I could withdraw only Rs 50,000? By the way, who gives them the right to rip off 70% of the policyholder's hard-earned money? 7. Their telephone numbers are not mentioned in the policy document or premium receipts. So I got it from the Net and tried to call them up. An answering machine made me key in some 50 digits and told me after 15-20 minutes that "all our customer service executives are busy. Press 1 if you want them to call you back." I pressed 1 and waited... and waited... No call from them! 8. I went to the Trivandrum office again last week and explained the math to them. They said I could indeed withdraw Rs 60,000 and rang up their head office and talked to someone there. The lady at the reception informed me that I would get Rs 60,000 within four days. Today, when I checked my bank account, I found that Rs 58,000 has been credited to my account. Isn't there anyone to make them pay for their crimes?