Kenko Health - Looks like a scam?

08 Mar, 2022 | by Harikrishnan Bhadran

Have anyone heard about this company? I was attracted by their insurance model that's quite different from others. They make the joining appear premium and exclusive by propping up something called "Kenko Score". Once we pass their score test, we are being given the option to select the plans. They claim that they will reimburse 50% of the OP and medicine expenses, doctor fees etc. The catch (which they don't clearly say) is these claims are applicable only from "Kenko certified" hospitals & clinics. After I learnt about this, I tried to cancel the plan. You will be surprised to know that we cannot contact them ! Only they will be able to contact us if we clicked a button on their website and the support executive only talks about sales and once we tell them that the requirement is to cancel, they will say that my query will be "passed" on the relevant team and they will call back. This never happened and in parallel their sales team goes on spamming your number.

I escalated this even to their "Founder & CEO", but no response. There is no much info about this company in IRDA website too. Terrifying indeed.

Request Beshak team to carry out a discrete investigation. At least the outcome will save hundreds of people from this scam.

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1 Answer

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09 Mar, 2022

kush agarwal

Kenko is not an insurance company, it is a membership plan which gives you discounts at places negotiated by them.

In case they are not following the refund procedure as per their TnC then you can raise a complaint on Consumer helpline in a few minutes and you shall receive a response soon.

Kenko is not selling insurance, hence not covered under IRDAI.

It would also be suggested to raise this issue on twitter

2 Comments

09 Mar, 2022

Harikrishnan Bhadran

Thanks for the response, Kush. Yes it's a membership/ subscription plan.

Regarding refund, which consumer helpline are you referring to? Hope it's not their customer care, had a nightmarish experience with them.

For 999/month plan, they do offer Complimentary insurance benefits for 10 days of hospital treatment in association with an insurance company (it's not mentioned which company). Like these, everything is wrapped, not transparent.

Agree they are not selling insurance, but they are taking money on a monthly basis from customers in the form a healthcare subscription. Since money is involved, how are they regulated? If we need to escalate beyond their customer care, how can we do it? I am wondering how did they get the approvals (if at all there is any) in the first place for this business model without a proper customer care channel, escalation and regulatory mechanisms?

I did try on Twitter, no results. Even tried in-mailing their CEO through Linkedin.

09 Mar, 2022

kush agarwal

The insurance they offer is just a small bundled offering in which they get paid by the insurer. Its well known that insurance should be taken from an intermediary who can help you with the claims process.

Anyway a consumer would be looking at discounts offered in healthcare as a lucrative offer than a tiresome insurance claim process.

Healthcare companies spend a lot on marketing their offers and treatments and getting a huge audience reduces such spends so gives them room to extend discounts.

The National Consumer Helpline is available for all B2C transaction https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/

You may also write to IRDAI who can later decide on whether to call this quasi insurance or not.

it is seamless and quick.

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Kenko Health - Looks like a scam?

1 Answer

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