Sold a policy that isn't what you were told? The route depends on one date.
Mis-selling complaints turn on what was represented, what was signed, and when the policy document actually reached you. Here is what the rules give you — and what they don't.
Reviewed by the BimaHaq Insurance Grievance Desk — BimaHaq's in-house insurance-grievance team — specialists in IRDAI grievance redressal, the Insurance Ombudsman process, and policyholder rights in India. · Last reviewed 2026-08-31
Two routes, decided by one date. If the policy document reached you within the last 30 days, you have a free-look right: you can return the policy and ask for the premium back, and a request sent inside that window that the insurer refuses or delays is the kind of complaint the Ombudsman Rules cover — a dispute over premium paid or payable, a policy-servicing grievance, or non-adherence to IRDAI's protection-of-policyholders regulations (IRDAI Protection of Policyholders' Interests Regulations 2024; Insurance Ombudsman Rules, r.13(1)(c), (f) and (i)). If the window has passed, the complaint is about the sale itself: that the policy's terms were misrepresented to you, or that the policy issued is not what the proposal form asked for — both grounds the Ombudsman Rules list expressly (r.13(1)(d) and (g)). What was actually represented is usually proved by the documents the rules require at sale: for a life policy, a benefit illustration signed by you and the seller that forms part of the policy document, and a Customer Information Sheet the insurer must obtain your acknowledgment for. Whether the complaint succeeds is fact-specific — a signature on papers you did not read is not by itself a defence — so build it on what was said and what the papers show.
Why insurers reject on this ground
The insurer's usual answer is that you signed the proposal form, the benefit illustration and the policy acknowledgment, and that the 30-day free-look window in which you could have returned the policy has passed — so, on its reading, you accepted the policy as issued and any complaint about how it was sold is a matter between you and the seller.
When you can challenge it
Start with the date. The free-look period runs from the day the policy document actually reached you — not from the policy date, and not from the day the premium was taken — and it is the insurer's dispatch record that proves when that was; a policy that never arrived, or arrived late, keeps the question open. Inside the window, a written cancellation request must be acted on, and a refusal or a delay is a premium and policy-servicing dispute the Ombudsman Rules cover. Outside it, the complaint is about the sale, and the rules give you a paper trail to test it against: every life policy must be sold with a customised benefit illustration signed by both you and the seller, which then forms part of the policy document, and every policy — life or health — must come with a Customer Information Sheet setting out its type, sum assured, benefits, exclusions and free-look period, for which the insurer must obtain your acknowledgment. If the illustration shows something different from what you were told, or the sheet never came, or the policy issued does not match the proposal form, say so in those words. Be honest with yourself about the harder cases: the Supreme Court holds a proposer generally bound by what they signed (Reliance Life Insurance v. Rekhaben Rathod, 2019), so a complaint built only on 'I was told otherwise' with nothing in writing is a weak one — and surrendering a unit-linked policy inside its five-year lock-in does not release the money, so a surrender is not a shortcut around the complaint.
How to fight this rejection
Fix the date the policy document reached you
Find the courier slip, the email or the app notification that delivered the policy document, and write the date down. The free-look period runs from that day. If you are not sure, ask the insurer in writing for its dispatch and delivery record — that is its record to produce, not yours to guess.
Inside 30 days? Send the free-look cancellation today
Write to the insurer — email plus a dated letter acknowledged at the branch — saying you are exercising the free-look option and asking for the premium back. Keep the proof of sending. A request inside the window that is refused, delayed or short-paid is a premium and policy-servicing dispute the Ombudsman Rules cover (r.13(1)(c), (f) and (i)).
Outside the window? Write down exactly what was represented
Who said what, when, and in what form — a call, a WhatsApp message, a meeting at the bank. Then gather the papers the rules required at sale: the signed benefit illustration, the Customer Information Sheet, the proposal form, any brochure or message the seller used, and the premium receipts.
Compare what you were told with what the papers say
The benefit illustration is the record of the returns and benefits shown to you; the Customer Information Sheet is the record of what the policy is. If either says something different from what you were told, or never came, or was never signed or acknowledged, that is the core of the complaint — put it first, in plain words.
Raise a written grievance with the insurer's GRO
Send a dated grievance to the insurer's Grievance Redressal Officer setting out why the rejection is wrong. The insurer must acknowledge it immediately and resolve it within 14 days.
Escalate to IRDAI on Bima Bharosa
If it isn't resolved in time or the reply is unsatisfactory, register the complaint on IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal.
Take it to the Insurance Ombudsman
Free, and the award binds the insurer. The Ombudsman can award up to ₹50 lakh, and the Council for Insurance Ombudsmen applies that same figure to the claim value at filing — so above it, expect to be refused at intake and take the dispute to the consumer commission instead. File within one year of receiving the insurer's rejection — or, if it never replied, within one year of one month after you sent your representation.
Common questions
Can I cancel a mis-sold policy after the free-look period?
Not as a free-look return — that right runs for 30 days from the day the policy document reached you. After it, the complaint is about the sale: that the policy's terms were misrepresented to you, or that the policy issued does not match the proposal form, both of which the Insurance Ombudsman Rules list as grounds (r.13(1)(d) and (g)). Whether it succeeds depends on proof — what was said, by whom, in what form, and what the documents signed at sale actually show.
I was told I had to buy this policy to release money from another one. Is that mis-selling?
That is a representation about what the policy is for. If it was untrue, it is the kind of complaint the Ombudsman Rules describe — misrepresentation of policy terms and conditions. What decides it is evidence: who said it and in what form, whether the benefit illustration you signed and the Customer Information Sheet you acknowledged say something different, and how soon after learning the truth you complained. Put those facts in writing before anything else.
What is a benefit illustration, and why does it matter?
For a life policy, IRDAI requires the insurer to give you a customised benefit illustration at the point of sale, along with the prospectus, and it must be signed by both you and the seller — after which it forms part of the policy document (Master Circular on Life Insurance Products, 12 June 2024). It is the record of the returns and benefits that were actually shown to you, so it is the first document to compare against what you were told.
The insurer says I signed everything. Does that end the complaint?
It makes it harder, not impossible. The Supreme Court has held that a proposer is generally bound by a signed proposal form even where an agent filled it in (Reliance Life Insurance v. Rekhaben Rathod, 2019). The complaint therefore has to stand on what the required documents show — a benefit illustration that differs from what was said, a Customer Information Sheet that never came or was never acknowledged, a policy that does not match the proposal — or on the facts of the sale itself, such as a form in a language you could not read. A signature alone does not answer those points.
Can I just surrender a unit-linked policy and take the money?
Not inside the lock-in. IRDAI's rules for linked products lock the policy proceeds for five years — nothing is payable to you in that period except on death or another covered event. A surrender inside it does not release the money, which is why a mis-sale is a complaint to make, not a policy to walk away from.
See the full escalation ladder for a rejected claim, or use a free complaint-letter template.
This guide is general information about the insurance-grievance process in India, not legal advice, and figures (timelines, monetary limits, jurisdiction) can change — verify against the official sources linked above before you rely on them.
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