Canada Life Life Insurance Reviews

The online portal is inaccurate and does not provide you with up-to-date information on your claims. You are required to call customer service with a lengthy wait (an hour +) to inquire about the status of your claim. The customer service representative's knowledge is very limited and often results in multiple transfers to other representatives before getting an answer.

I am forced to use this company for now because my employer decided to use them for our health benefits. However, if you have the choice, I strongly encourage you to seek a different insurance company because this level of incompetence and lack of transparency is something I’ve never seen before in an insurance company.

My work just switched over to this insurer for some insane reason, and I am trying to get enrolled and registered, and not only was I on hold for two hours on the phone with them before being disconnected, I also went through ridiculous chat sessions with their "technical help". It appears they only have two agents to do the chat for the entire company -- Pratik and Nathalie. Pratik spent half an hour not answering my questions before disconnecting the chat on me, and now every time I happen to get Pratik on the chat, he automatically just disconnects the chat. He seems to be unable to answer basic questions about registration and enrollment when I did speak to him. Both of them just enter pre-written responses that do not answer any questions directly and it takes about an hour to get any basic answer to your question. I've enrolled with them but it seems that my plan isn't working at the pharmacy still, and there is no one to assist with this. Seems like that isn't the only problem I'm going to have with this company according to this horrid reviews.

There aren't enough words or examples to describe how abhorrent Canada Life is as a benefits provider. If there were zero or negative stars available, I would rate them as such.

My company has used Canada Life as our group benefits provider for several years, and I can only assume that it's because they are the cheapest possible option on the market. There are literally no redeeming factors to their service.

A few highlights of my experience include:

-Inordinately Long Wait Times: I've often waited on hold for 1.5 hours, only to be disconnected due to "system issues".

-Segmentation of Expertise: Each customer service rep can only assist you with one type of claim. If you need help with the Drugs vs. Health vs. Healthcare Spending Account, be prepared to talk to three different individuals, with a lengthy wait time in between each. You will also have to provide your identifying credentials every single time.

-Incompetent Staff: 75% of the customer service reps have no idea how to do their job. Asking them a simple question requires them to put you on hold for another 5-10 minutes while they investigate your query. They will rarely have a response on the spot and will claim that they'll call you back after they look into the matter further. Don't hold your breath.

-Processing Times: On average, it will take 4+ weeks for your claim to be processed. Their ongoing excuse is that they are short-staffed due to the pandemic. Cry me a river. Maybe they should hire better staff and pay them adequately. (See "Incompetent Staff" above.)

-Claim Errors: Your claim is finally processed - great! Not so fast, as you will need to review the results with a fine-toothed comb. Their team makes numerous "data entry errors", resulting in you only receiving a fraction of what you're owed. Time to follow up with incompetent reps after long wait times, thus causing the entire cycle to repeat itself.

I have no words of advice, other than to encourage your employer to avoid Canada Life AT ALL COSTS. My husband's company uses a different carrier, and the experience is the complete opposite.

Over a month to add someone to plan despite numerous escalations then denying claims.
Denying claims for prescriptions saying it's not a prescription.
Two months wait for claim to be told the website doesn't always take claims and they have no record.

CLAIM reimbursement time and wait times for agents on phone don't get any worse than this. Company is an absolute TRAIN WRECK. 4 endless 7 phone calls and 3.5 months later and no reimbursement sent yet for standard claim that we've done for years. Service gets worse /longer with each passing month. One Rep tells you 7 days after several past calls had reps saying the same thing. That was 3 months ago calls. They acknowledge the claim and nothing of in question but they just can't seem to get anyone to refund your out of pocket. How simple and quick this process must be but NOPE. Why don't you take some of the profit and hire competent people that actually want to work? People that have bills to pay and families to feed. Maybe pay them some real money to do the job correctly? Just a thought. This company seems to be very mismanaged or at the very least needs to clean house soon with employees. I didn't think the rating could drop much from a 1.3 five months ago but sure enough it's now 1.2/5.

Le service est horrible. Les employés ne sont pas polis, ils ne sont pas formés correctement et ils n'arrivent pas à traiter de simples demandes. Le suivi des demandes est médiocre. En fait, il n'y a aucun suivi de fait. Ils refusent de couvrir des éléments qui sont dans le contrat d'assurance. Je vais évaluer la possibilité de déposer une plainte aux instances qui protègent les clients de ces pratiques abusives de la part des compagnies d'assurances.

Unfortunately for most, Canada Life insurance is chosen for them by their employer and so there is no leaving or options.
Their wait times on the phone and email are just ridiculous. Imagine having to set aside your day to wait for someone to connect you to someone else because they don't train their personnel. Sorry I only know this, so I have to transfer you. I have literally sat on the phone for 2 hours and then the line drops me because they don't think anyone is stupid enough to be here... oh wait that's me.
I absolutely hate them and their music because let's be honest if you're a customer you have listened to it for hours on end.

If you have a choice, go elsewhere. Go to an insurance company that actually appreciates your time and money.

Absolute worst company. First, no phone number to call directly. Second, form upload has multiple portals without explicit direction as to which is for what. Third, the person who accepted my claim documents from one of the portals goes on a 3 week vacation. That person says they received my form and is processing it. I get an email confirmation from Canada Life confirming that my document was recieved. I think it was from the agent. Nope. That person gets back from vacation and says I am missing more information and forms. What!? Why didn't you or the process application list this? One of the forms was already part of my profile documents, but they don't care. Resubmit it. I do. Emails are received in multiple threads and each one is asking for more forms and information. Why? You don't need my spouse information as he is dead years ago. That's why is it listed as "widowed". What is wrong with you people? The phone cuts off and disconnects when I try to call direct. Two months goes by and I am still working on this. This is such a scam operation. Ponzi scheme? My work uses this sham of an operation and I wish I can opt out of their joke of services. Oh, and that time they changed their prescription policy without warning.

Waited for 1 hour and 25 min and was connected to an idiot rep who couldn't provide any answer and she tried to connect me with another department and dropped the call.

They should change their name to Canada death, as I don't see how can it be any life in it

Peachy, just peachy.

I gave up on calling in because the service is equal to dealing with a child who likes to disagree. Tried contacting them through the website Contact Us.
1) An inquiry was put in six weeks ago, then four weeks ago and finally three weeks ago for the same reason. Still haven't heard back.
2) A claim was put in over three weeks ago for a substantial amount and it is still pending with no explanations or reasons. I must be made of money.
3) A different inquiry was put in recently for a different item to see if we have coverage. Still nothing.

It seems as though they are very understaffed or the staff, they do have, are incompetent. It could very well be both. Regardless of the reasons, I would never choose them over our previous provider. I would have given them all zero stars but that was not an option. I'll call a duct cleaning company to see if they offer a better service.