Ed Earns

After a week of submitting my documents to a Danvil branch in SM, I wanted to make sure that the request of cancellation and refund for the endowment plan was being processed. I was already in Cebu so I didn’t want to waste any minutes of calling long-distance.

When I talked to one of their reps over the phone, I was told that the request wasn’t processed because they still need the Official Receipt (original copy) of the transaction which was with me in Cebu. I was a bit upset considering that it was a waste of 7 days already and counting. However, I told them that I’ll just mail it to them since I wasn’t in Manila anymore.

So I went ahead and went to an LBC branch and paid 80 bucks to send the OR to their branch and make sure it was being filed. I also saved a copy of the OR for myself for my reference.

Afterwards, I called a couple of days after I sent the letter to make sure it was received. When I called again, that’s when the 30-45 business days would take effect.

Good thing I really called because true enough something was still needed to process the request and it wouldn’t have been done so if not for that follow up. I would’ve waited 30-45 business days and still not get the money back because they needed the original receipt of the transaction. That would have been a total bummer.

I got my second payout from Adsense!

About $103, and I earned it in a span of 3-4 months I believe which is just a quarter of the time I was able to spend in order to come up with this amount compared to my first adsense payout.

Still, this is already big enough an amount considering that I only have personal blogs to help me out that doesn’t have that much high traffic. I’m still glad that I was able to withdraw some money through Western Union because of this.

To find out how I was able to withdraw it, you can check out my first adsense withrawal by clicking on this link.

Adsense Withdrawal Thru Western Union

I wish I could just apply for a legitimate plan with some Stable Interest so that I won’t have to bother with finding out if the company is a scam or not. I’ve been already been taken advantage before and I don’t want it to happen again. But of course it’s hard since people really make a fool out of you so long as others can see that they can benefit something from it. It’s just sad that the crab mentality is getting worse. Anyway, I guess I’ll just have to stick to banks since they’re the most okay for now.

Below is my letter for cancellation and refund when I went to SM North Edsa the day I enrolled for a policy in Danvil Plans Inc. the previous day at SM Megamall.

I wrote this impromptu which was quite draining since I didn’t have a draft paper and I immediately wrote it then and there. But I’m happy that I was able to write this within 24 hours after I successfully applied for one of their plans.

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October 31, 2008

To whom this may concern,

I, Ed******** , would like to cancel the Danvil Plan with policy number PPL****** that I applied for yesterday, October 30, 2008.  In line with this, I would request for my initial deposit of P6, 650.00 (P5, 000.00 taken from my BPI Savings Account, and P1, 650.00 through cash) to be fully refunded. The reason for this cancellation and refund is because I’ve discussed this matter with my immediate family and thought this through. Because I am unable to comply with the said agreement that I applied for, it would be wiser for me to invest my money to a business that I plan to venture. I did not expect that the amount that was charged (initial deposit) directly from my savings. Although I did enter my pin number and the agent that handled my application (*********) was nice, I was not in my best mode to sign those contracts. I immediately affixed my signature without carefully reading the policies and guidelines. After I became a successful plan holder, I was able to think things over and realized I’m not comfortable with this agreement.

I hope you will grant this request for cancellation and refund as I am still within the 24-hour time period to request and get it.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely yours,
Edcel
+63 926 *** ****
edcel_****@yahoo.com

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After writing this letter for cancellation, it was later taken by the agent who assisted me, and then affixed her signature and gave me another copy of this letter. I was told to just wait about 30-45 business days for it to be processed.

So I waited in Cebu since I went home then already. I didn’t really put much focus to it because I didn’t want to expect much. Patience wasn’t much of an issue.

I’m taking a break from writing about Danvil Plans Inc. Philippines because I think I’m ranting too much. So let me talk about what happened to this site last night. When I typed the URL on the address, I only saw a blank white page with a note on the first part saying “hacked by IRHAQ” or something. I forgot the whole codename of that person. I immediately chatted with my Support and the representative initially thought about it as an outage. I informed them that somebody really hacked my site and afterward I was told it was already fixed. True enough, my site was up and working.

But I’m now apprehensive of the kind of security my site is undertaking; if it’s sufficient enough considering the many blog entries I have in it. What’s really alarming on my part is how hackers can simply check a random site and the unlucky site will fall as a victim.

I have 5 personal blog sites in totality and I don’t know if I’m getting a good deal out of it since I’m paying for each hosting service and not as a bundle. Although the amount is relatively cheap for web hosting, I’m just doubtful now of the protection that is needed because of what happened which is pretty scary cause it’s not easy maintaining 5 sites with their own original content that are PERSONAL.

The night after I signed up for a Policy in Danvil Plans, I had a hard time sleeping because I suddenly gave 6,650 bucks without much thought or second opinion from another person. That night, I researched about some available information on the net about danvil plans. I googled ‘danvil plans scam‘ to make sure if the former Family First company was legit or not. I saw a number of experiences and blog entries from different people who have also signed up for their own policies and felt that they were hypnotized and were scammed.

Just to be fair, I didn’t think the company was a scam; I just realized that the I was not comfortable with their plan that’s why I wanted to get my money back. But I felt hopeless because I was told that it’s non-refundable.

However, upon searching more information online, I was able to find a video feature from ABS-CBN’s “Probe” with Gina Cruz (Danvil’s VP for Corporate Communications) stating that “for whatever reason, so long as the plan holder goes back within 24 hours, we can give him/her a refund”.

I submitted my letter of cancellation and request for refund within 24 hours in SM North Edsa and it was received by another rep who was substituting her managers as she claimed that her managers were not around.

She was helpful in assisting me and informed me that she was going to forward it to the SM Megamall branch. I asked her a favor to follow it up since I don’t have any other means to contact the Megamall branch because that was my last day to be in Manila. She told me she called the Megamall branch but there was no assurance since it’s still subject for approval by the “higher management”.

I was able to find a link fortunately for people who have the same experience. I was also able to read through plan holder’s who have successfully gotten their money back after 24 hours of submitting their request for refund. I was able to stumble upon a woman who was able to get her money back after how many letters to the SEC (Security of Exchange and Commission)  and such. It gave me a spark of hope to anticipate that I could get my money back.

So I just had to wait for time for a response.

When I was in Manila for work, I was confronted by an employee from Danvil Plans Inc. (formerly formerly Berkley International Plans or Family First), a company that specializes in selling endowment plans or insurance plans. Anyway, it’s only now that I decided to blog about it because of the situation in SM Cebu that I’ve heard that they’ve opened another branch.

This experience happened to me sometime in October of 2008. I was strolling around the 5th floor in SM Megamall around 5pm when an agent approached me saying I’ve won something. I was wondering how I could’ve won something when I didn’t even apply for any contest. He told me that I won a chance to win a new car if I were to go inside and play their computer game. I got curious because he just asked initially for a couple of minutes without really informing me what it was all about. Because of that, I became excited probably because of acquiring a prize that could be mine.

So I filled up a small information sheet making me check if I had a credit card, atm or checking account. I was assured that there was NO money obligation involved and the reason why they asked if I have an account is just for verification purposes. True enough, they didn’t get my card number. I agreed to go inside for them to listen to their now 45-minute presentation.

While waiting, the agent kept on asking different questions in order to build rapport (How many we are in the family, how old I am, do I have a girlfriend). When it became too personal, I politely refused to answer and made him stop. Afterward, I was ushered into their boiler room by an agent just went on saying that I am a very lucky person to be one of a few people who were given the chance to participate in this opportunity.

She then discussed to me a lot of data about their company and asked me what I wanted for my family, for my future, for my life. Of course, who wouldn’t want to wish yourself well? I provided her answers that were normal for any person to dream; all the while the agent kept on shaking my hand whenever she would hear a good answer saying: “Congratulations for making that decision.” –>duh! Of course, everyone wants to have a safe and secure life in the future.

There were a number of explanations and then some more information. Until it came to a point that she discussed the available plans Danvil Plans was offering. Honestly, I was really looking for different plans in the market that’s why I stayed there because I was interested. I never thought about this as a scam until I tried to research on the internet about it because I got curious and it was money, MY MONEY that I used to pay off the amount.

Anyway, the agent informed me that she was going to use my credit card for verification purposes after pointing out the plan that I wanted. I will only have to pay the down payment of 6650 Php and then pay 1610 Php every month for seven (7) years, will wait for 8 years before I get the money. At first I was apprehensive because it was too long a time for me.

She took my card and then told me that they were just going to check the funds. Good that my card didn’t have enough credit left, but stupid me offered to use my BPI Savings Account card that could also be swiped and deducted. So they took 5000 bucks from my atm card and then 1650 from my credit card.

The manager then asked me if I was happy with my decision, I just nodded without much thought because I felt drained from all the listening and talking. Then came the agent bringing a microphone congratulating me in front of other people that I am their newest member of their family. I was then directed to their computer machine when I was about to exit for the raffle promo of a car which I already forgot. It was pretty useless because they used a computer that had a slot machine game that I just need to press the proper numbers that would match their screen and I could win the car. But hell, I don’t think anybody could win that car at all because of how fast the game was playing. So much for the WINNING A CAR contest.

After I left the room in that Megamall branch, I felt a bit uneasy and I couldn’t sleep the night after. I tried to search for some information online about Danvil Plans if this was a scam or not and I came across some bloggers who said that it was indeed a scam; nothing really provided me any data that this wasn’t so I became really worried.

Will continue the story on my next post on what I did next…