Deceptive and unprofessional
by Aaron S on Jan 21, 2016
1 out of 5 stars
Horrendous insurance company. The customer support spoke nothing but incomprehensible, nonsensical gibberish which, roughly translated, consisted of excuses for their terrible and illogical behaviour. They also bill me without warning and long before they're supposed to, and on top of that, they constantly find new ways to, again, rip me off. My rate spiked for no reason at all, for starters. Do yourself a favour and avoid Aviva at all costs.
Absolute garbage company. Got my notification in the mail for my renewal. Come to find out they increased my premiums for home and auto insurance. After 6 years with them, this is how they treat my husband and I. He had 1 minor traffic ticket and they tried to blame it on that. Normal insurance companies decrease your rates over time. Not RBC Aviva... Not a chance. The representative then informs me that they applied to whomever to be able to increase everyone's premiums... they increased it alright... They got approved to increase their premiums by 20%!! This is absolutely absurd. My car insurance increased by almost $100 and my tenant insurance increased by $20! Unreal. It's almost criminal how they're allowed to get away with this. Ever since they partnered up with Aviva everything has gone to crap. Stay away from them. Save your money and go elsewhere.
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Aviva sent a registered letter at the end of November during the postal strike wanting us to reapply for auto insurance after we had been with them for 9 years. The forms were received just before Christmas, which were 5 pages of jargon I didn't even understand. We filled them out and sent them back, they didn't receive them until January 14th...our policy expired on the 12th. When I finally got ahold of someone after 45 minutes of being on hold 3 separate times, they told me that I did not fill out the forms correctly and they would mail them back to me to fix. I told them I can't go without insurance and asked if I could have a grace period. They said no and absolutely refused to help me. Then told me if I wanted to stay with them that it would be up to 5 weeks with no insurance before it is sorted out. Their exact words were "well, if you need insurance today, then go somewhere else". All the agents I spoke with refused to let me talk to a manager and said they would put in a note on my file for one to call in roughly 5 business days. On top of all this, I have made monthly payments with them for 9 years, not once did I miss a payment. They said that because I lapsed I am deemed a "threat" for non-payment and they want a credit card number for full payment before they even reviewed a so-called new policy. My driving record is spotless, I have zero claims and this is how they treat a customer. These people need to be reported to the BBB. What a scam to jack rates. Horrible Company. Thankfully, I was able to get insurance with another company with better benefits and customer service. DO NOT USE AVIVA.
Worst company to get insurance with. I updated my credit card for both property and auto monthly deduction, they updated it for property but never updated for auto and kept charging the previous card and then cancelled my policy on payment after hours-long multiple calls, transfer from department to another and waiting on hold for hours. They asked me to pay the backlog once, which I did. Still, they never reinstated my policy and offered me a new one with double rate ..and still, my history is scarred by CANCELLATION DUE TO NON-PAYMENT which was actually CANCELLATION DUE TO NON-CHARGING but they don’t hold any responsibility for their lack of update on my provided account. Very improper and unprofessional .. I guess they don’t care about customers at all, all they think about is money-making ...worst experience
No accident ever. Clean record. HIT while still driving responsibly in afternoon aware of road and others. Negligent driver at high speed smashes, into me from behind #distracted driving. Does Aviva care about me or my whiplash, back, head injury or tendons? When they can go after the instigator, the reason for all of this. Car retrieval and repair was a joke on my new car. NO. You pay them monthly, they take but never give back. Ridiculous exam from "their" doctor. How can a fingertip touch determine my injuries? I just want to get my life back and be better. Shameful!
Had a heck of a time dealing with this company. With their lack of response and them trying to rip me off on my car that was a write-off! The accident wasn't even my fault! They then low balled me even though I had coverage to replace my car and of course I had to fight it. The accident happened on December 1st and the claim didn't even get settled until January 19th! This was only because I was so sick and tired of dealing with Jacques. I had included his manager in the emails, and she was unresponsive as well. Until I got my lawyer involved and as soon as they sent the email, low and behold, Aviva responds within 3 minutes! Eventually, they even became unresponsive to my lawyers' emails and phone calls. They would call at odd hours knowing my lawyer wouldn't be able to pick up! Then once I got my lawyer involved they refused to even talk to me about my claim! Ridiculous! I call them, wait on hold and leave messages to no answer. They are willing to take all your money but when it comes to paying out they are unwilling. They got a "deal" from the dealership but the dealership said we only give that deal if this is a cash payment of the vehicle. Customers don't get the discounts if they go on finance. So again I paid 36k and when they said full replacement they don't really mean it. The adjuster said he needed the MSRP, etc etc. and when he wasn't able to get information from the dealership because they didn't have it. It went silent. I got the MSRP price of my vehicle and yet they gave me a lower settlement. If he wasn't going to change his mind on the payout why make me jump through hoops to get the information for him? I had the no depreciation endorsement. So, in the end, I am at a 10K loss. So the year I have been paying into my last car was a waste. Terrible customer service! I even contacted the ombudsman and that is a total joke as well. They tell me on my insurance that if I am not happy with how things were handled I can get my premium back, but when I emailed them they told me since I have my lawyer involved they need to deal with my lawyer or have my lawyer tell them they aren't dealing with it anymore. My boyfriend also sustained injuries and when I talked to my adjuster, he said the healthcare team will be in contact. 2 weeks after accident still no answer. So I called them again. First they said oh I will put a note in for someone to call. When I called back they said oh someone clicked off not to call your boyfriend. Well, wouldn't they have seen that in the first place?! My boyfriend is still in a lot of pain from the accident that happened Dec 1st! We have gotten a lawyer to deal with this and it is ridiculous. I wonder if there are any companies out there that treat their customers better? and not to lie to them!?
Had an accident July 4th which was not my fault - another driver was charged with careless. So much for Aviva's new car guarantee... Beware, folks, that's lies! 7 weeks later still waiting for a car... My model is no longer available, and they are wanting to replace it with a lower model from another manufacturer... They have a fleet management service source out potential dealers interested in the sale ... Twice now called by Avivia to say have a car for me to look at ... then a few minutes later they call back ... sorry no car there? Now that they cannot easily find a replacement through their fleet management service, and re trying to brush me off with a payment, well below what it will cost me to replace the car? How shady ... and so sad, since they have held my home and auto policy now for 23+ years. Guess they sleep well though ... as they are part of RBC, their staff and management are well salaried and oh the bonuses - too bad the bonuses are on the backs on loyal dumb clients such as myself who loose out in the end. So past time to shop for a new carrier!
Horrible company to deal with. I didn't even sign up with them but a broker tried to put me through them even though I signed up with another company. (My current policy with the broker was cancelled and was no longer renewable through the company I had. Essentially, my current policy was no longer an option when the term ended, and I sought out another )
Long story short, they have harassed me for "unpaid time on risk" even though I showed proof of insurance. Threatened my record, claim to have submitted my name to a collections agency, and also claim to go after your "payment record" which means that they say you're someone who may not pay your rates and it could affect your rate with other companies.
I think a lot of it is scare tactics, but it goes to show what the company is like. Speaking nicely didn't help at all, and I've never been more frustrated with a company in my life. I'm a standard, average person who follows the rules and pays everything on time. This blew my mind! I hope others can avoid this experience by finding another company.
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I’m writing this review because I am extremely disappointed at how AVIVA treated my wife and I when we made a claim for our stolen vehicle which was found a week later by the police in a damaged condition. First of all, when we first called AVIVA to get the case put through (November 14, 2016) it took forever to get a hold of Gorman (The Manager). Gorman never returned our calls and refused to make our case a priority. It took a couple of weeks of constantly calling until finally they gave us the number for the Toronto head office. By law they are supposed to come see me within 24 hours of the reported incident –stolen & damaged vehicle (which they didn’t). Second of all, once the incident was filled, they never got us a rental car as they promised they would when we signed our insurance to them in the beginning. Not only did I have to find my own rental but yet I had to pay for the full cost myself! My case was investigated by Debbie T. who is located in the Toronto head office. We gave all our information to her so that she could conduct an investigation. My wife and I even agreed to go Under Oath and aid in securing information and evidence to assist in verifying the evidence. After all this Debbie T. still denied us and treated us like we were criminals! Consequently, Megan S. (AVIVA General Insurance Adjuster) claimed that they will not put our file through since there “seemed to be some discrepancies between our evidence and the productions”. No further information was explained in the letter of rejection! I have all my insurance with RBC, I tried to get them to help me with the case but they kept of brushing us off and made us deal straight with AVIVA. Andrew M. from RBC was the broker who was supposed to help us, yet he did not do anything! The lack of customer service in RBC - AVIVA is horrible. My family signed up for insurance so that we don’t have to worry about cases like these, but in the end insurance companies will do anything to try and not pay you out - the victim. Moreover, AVIVA still has my damaged car, they have not indicated what they are going to do with it. After speaking to a couple of lawyers they told us that insurance companies will drag their feet on an investigation, knowing there is time limit to sue (2 years). He said there is never absolutely no reason they don’t pay. They’ll just use every excuse in the book to not pay out a claim. Insurance companies have nothing to lose by denying the claim, unless you keep persistent and sue them! My wife and I work full-time and have three small children, we do not have time to be playing petty games with the insurance company. We will not let them treat us like criminals when the crime was done to us! This case will not be left alone, I am working with a lawyer right now to handle the case and sue AVIVA. We are also filling a complaint to the Canadian Better Business Bureau, and forwarding this to as many communication outlets so that other innocent families like us don’t fall for insurance companies like AVIVA Canada. There is a reason AVIVA has the worst ratings and reviews, do yourself a favor and stay away from them!
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Someone said that I rubbed the soda of their car pulling in to a parking spot. Tries to claim and injury and pre-existing damage. I took over 15 pictures and when the investigator for aviva may with me he looked at the pictures and said there's no way that damage came from my vehicle. There were no marks on my vehicle which was filthy at the time so if it had made contact it would have shown on my number. Nothing. Investigator told me I shouldn't worry because the evidence is in my favour. Fast forward almost a year. Go to get new insurance and find out that aviva paid this guy out $1800! For a tiny scratch on his door that I DID NOT CAUSE!! Now my premium is DOUBLE. Very upset with aviva and nobody there will give me a straight answer. Despicable. Will avoid these people and will never recommend anyone to them.