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
Canada Life should be embarrassed by its dreadful service. I have waited weeks for reimbursement of a simple routine dental appointment. Today I received a letter in the mail saying that they couldn’t proceed with the claim as additional information is required. Such stupidity... Their incompetence is to blame as they have all the correct info but now want a paper claim submitted so it can be ‘promptly’ assessed. What a pathetic joke. Wish I could give zero stars but that doesn’t seem to be an option.
I’m on disability insurance with Canada Life and I had to wait 3 months for a decision to be made and it’s been 5 months and I still haven’t gotten paid. I’ve called and emailed them many times in which they keep saying you’ll get your paperwork and you’ll get your pay but still nothing. The worst company I’ve ever encountered with. My work uses Canada Life so unfortunately I can’t change insurance companies.
When you call to inquire about anything, you can be on hold for 1-3 hours. When you complain about how long it takes to get reimbursed for most benefits (which is often) they just pacify you and tell you it will be coming soon. I tell them I have been sending inquiries online and they tell me that is useless because no one checks that. Right now, I have been waiting to be reimbursed for medical supplies for 5 weeks. When I was waiting for reimbursement for my partial dentures, it took 6 weeks. My husband has this company for benefits. It is awful. Needed to get orthopedic shoes, so I got a doctor's note which they would not accept. You have to get a podiatrist to send a full and specific problem you are having and once they accept that, then you have to go through umpteen dozen pairs of orthopedic shoes until they decide to accept a pair. Terrible company!
My father had life insurance policies with Canada Life and another company, a week after his passing I notified both companies, six weeks later and Canada Life has yet to send me any information about the settlement of his policy. There have been repeated calls, excuses that due to COVID they are behind in their claims departments. I have demanded and called supervisors who tell in five weeks I should hear something, now it’s up to another two weeks before someone contacts me. Latest call I have been told that they will be contacting me via email because the process is so slow when dealing through Canada Post. In the meantime the other company took my information over the phone on the same day I contacted Canada Life and we received the information we needed nine days later and sixteen days after we returned the forms that the company paid out the policy. Now, this other company had to deal with COVID also and sent everything through Canada Post and yet Canada Life can’t even begin the claim! Tonight I found this forum and I realize that Canada Life stalls regardless of the type of claim and COVID.
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.
Why do we pretend like insurance companies are here for our needs and not our wallets?
It's been a month since putting in an application. Haven't heard from anyone. Multiple emails, voice messages, and emails sent to my works nurse to see if she can do something, all a waste of time.
If you work here, for god sake, find a new career and let these places die off already.
After over six emails regarding benefits of disability insurance, I have into for over four years. Not a single reply or acknowledgment. Heads up to anyone this company is nothing but a liar. When it comes time to step up and acknowledge a claim that they have to payout. Forget it you'll get nothing. Contact a lawyer.
Money was not transferred even it has been processed a month ago. Very difficult to reach. No answer or you have to wait 45 mins to 1 hour.
I have been dealing with Canada Life for an STD claim for almost 2 months. They never got a hold of me, I had to get a hold of them to see where my claim was at after 3 weeks of hearing nothing. Then I called the company and got passed off to 3 different people who could tell me absolutely nothing.
The staff aren't trained properly, they have no knowledge of what's going on, they give you wrong/withhold information. I have called every week now for almost 2 months. I have sent 3 separate emails and didn't get a single reply. When I finally talked to someone who seemed like they knew what they were doing, they told me that they were waiting on information from my employer for almost a month which no one told me in the weeks prior when I called. So I finally was able to get that information and get ahold of my job who didn't even know they were waiting on it, to send it in.
It's been almost 2 months and they still don't have a case manager assigned to my claim. I am off work due to pregnancy complications and all my bills are about to bounce because this company is so disorganized and slow with processing their claims. I'm off work because of stress and dealing with this company has made my complications worse because of the stress they cause you. They have the worst customer service I have ever dealt with.
I don't recommend this company to anyone. If you're a company looking for Insurance for your employees, please choose a different company.
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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.