If you have time to waste, call and wait for a customer service representative
by Martin Dionne on Dec 8, 2022
2 out of 5 stars
Phone wait time is over an hour. Customer service are completely incompetent. They never have any answers for your questions. Stay away!!!
Wait time is deplorable. Waited for over an hour, fell asleep! Like I have nothing better to do?
Why I would NEVER recommend Canada Life extended health... their coverage might sound fine but they are terrible to deal with.
1. Dozens of experiences where they exceeded their standard payment timelines, when inquiries were sent them would reply with their standard timelines - VERY UNHELPFUL
Our average turnaround time for claims is:
- 5 business days - health and dental
- 7 business days - pay direct drugs
- 10 business days - out of the country
Don't be fooled, they are almost always going to exceed these timelines and only pay after multiple emails.
2. You can't actually get anyone to answer the phone (in English, I understand you can get through on the French line). I have spent 2 and 3 hours on the phone waiting to talk to someone, as have others I've spoken to, only to get to the front of the queue and be hung up on. Emails often take up to 5 business days to get a response.
3. Even after my organization got a dedicated contact whose email signature indicated she was a Regional Service Manager my claims remained unpaid after one month. What good is a plan that doesn't reimburse clients for allowed health expenses?
Of course, there are many things to consider, but I would recommend you steer clear of Canada Life at all costs! They aren't a good company and I would give them zero stars if I could.
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.
Non-existent.
Waited at least 35 min for a customer service representative then the call was dropped.
A disgraceful way to run a company.
The next general board meeting should be interesting!
Today alone I have called Canada Life a total of six (6) times. Twice after waiting on hold for an hour and a half (1.5 hours) I was disconnected without ever speaking to someone. Their wait times and customer service are absolutely ridiculous. I have never experienced anything quite like it.
Had a claim from my dentist. It took 4 months just to answer. My dentist had sent 5 different letters as per request for Canada Life to get more information. Until I had reached out to a Canada Life manager nothing was done
After 3 days the manager calls back. Told me that there is a clause in the policy that prior dentist work with another company does not qualify to use there's. My work company had changed insurance companies.
So really all this is out of my control. And when you call you need to set aside 40 to 1 hour for waiting on hold. Then make sure you ask for a manager. The call center is 3rd party so you're talking to India. Have fun!
Everything I have endured with this company has been horrible. I'm a customer with a group benefits plan with my employer, and I would never select this company or recommend them.
They only take phone calls, and no emails, their claims system is old and glitchy. Once you finally speak to someone after waiting up to 1+ hours, they are poorly trained. Processing time takes weeks, they lose your information. Find somewhere else!
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I called Canada Life after waiting on hold for 25 mins, the agent could not find me in the system and she tried by my name asking me if it’s a new policy I said no. I said this is taking me a lot of effort to call in as I have Covid. She put a recording through saying there is a system error and it hung up on me, making me back call in again.
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Requested refund for dental care. It took 2 weeks just to post me some additional papers to fill. It took only 2 days to send the info back via their website. Now, 1 month has passed the request is still pending... Also, nobody answered me for 1 hour.