Manulife Life Insurance Reviews

My deceased dad took out an annuity for my mom from Manulife sometime before his death in 2012... My mom's accountant flagged in 2021 that my mother was being taxed on an amount from this Manulife annuity that was not in her bank account. THE UPSHOT IS THAT MANULIFE HAD BY LAW BEEN REQUIRED TO MAKE A PAYOUT TO MY MOTHER EVERY YEAR BUT NEGLECTED TO DO SO FROM 2012 TO 2021. Yet they reported to the government that they sent the money to my mother so she had to pay tax on it. I called in April of 2021 and was unable to get past the guard of twenty-somethings whose sole job is to keep customers from getting the information they need. We talked to Rose, James, Ron etc etc etc - no last names of course. "We will provide you with that information in seven business days" No information was forthcoming. We called again. "We will provide you with that information before the end of the day" No call - no information. This went on through May. I said at one point that I would like to talk to Rose's manager "No, you can't" was Rose's response. Finally, in June one of them said that they didn't know who I was and I needed to provide them with my dad's death certificate and fill out a lengthy form as to why I should have this information. (They already had the POA I sent them stating that I was authorized to act for my mother) My father died in 2012 and a death certificate was sent to them in 2012. Another was sent in 2014 and yet another in 2017. I also had to provide my POA. This document was sent to them in 2012. "Just go to the file and pull the documents - you already have them," I said. "We won't do that" Was the reply. I resisted the impulse to say that "yes - my father is just as dead now as he was in 2012" That was definitely a low point having to prove that he was still dead repeatedly. Was satire required? "Yes, he faked his own death at the age of 92 in order to defraud Manulife out of a lousy $21,000 policy." We ran into a brick wall so I sent the package of notes that I had been keeping of every phone call to the Ombudsman. Lo and behold! We get a call from 'James'. "I am a TEAM LEADER," he said "I am here to help you" "You could start by paying my mother the interest that you earned by keeping her money for the last 8 years" "We don't do that" was the reply. After weeks of dealing with 'James', the money was eventually restored but we never did find out why the money was withheld for 8 years. Manulife is impossible to deal with. The action was only forthcoming because we notified the Ombudsman. Another low point - I was told that I needed to get my 96-year-old mother suffering from dementia to sign a form authorizing me to act on her behalf. I told them that, due to her dementia, she was incapable of doing so and YOU ALREADY HAVE THE POA THAT SPECIFIES THAT I ACT FOR HER. Avoid Manulife if you possibly can. They are terrible people. If you can't avoid them I would advise going directly to the Ombudsman so as not to waste the three months we did dealing with people on the phone. On an end note - we never did find out why they didn't make payments to my mother for 8 years.

Trying to upgrade my existing life insurance policy and can't get even a phone call back after 4 weeks of trying and leaving numerous messages. Finally sent a complaint to the email address and the response was automatic saying a ticket was started and they would contact me. Guess what. I am still waiting for one call back or response after weeks of leaving messages. Don't deal with Manulife if you have any other option.