Great-West Life Disability Insurance Reviews

I’ve been on WSIB for 18 months. GWL is my Ltd carrier. I am being paid 100% WSIB, and GWL has not paid me one cent, however, they are threatening to cut my Ltd off even though they aren’t paying it if I don’t apply for CPP. I’ve called 4 times and have left messages but no one returns your calls. WSIB even wrote them a letter saying basically “ buzz off “, she’s on our payroll. I have spoken with a lawyer and they agreed that GWL should not be insisting I apply as they don’t pay me. This so-called worker of mine also calls at night or in the middle of the day on weekends. What a bunch of jokers. Never ever use this company.

The story is the same at all insurance companies. You get what you pay for; know what you bought. Read both employee and customer reviews; both parallel each other. Had to request supervisor assistance. Caseworker never returned emails or calls. I have a new caseworker. Hope things pick up and I get the help and care I need to get better so I can do what I love, my job.

Have been trying for months to cancel my critical illness and disability insurance policies. Originally spoke with a rep in July, who was unable to help me and told me to phone another line. They only take calls M-F 8-4:30(I also work the same hours). So it was weeks before I was able to actually speak with anyone. I spoke with multiple reps in July, who told me different things, left a message to a supervisor, mailed in a letter in August, emailed their client services in October. No one has ever reached out to me, then Dec. 1st rolls around and I get billed again! I'm glad I never had to process a claim with them, but at this rate, I'll probably be stuck with them until I retire. What a joke, this company is a total scam.

So I had a short term disability claim. I will be honest I had waited quite a while before I submitted it for personal reasons. This however does not justify the following.

1st, I submitted my claim as a short term claim. I was told it would take approx one week for it to get processed and to a claim manager. 19 days later I noticed the women I was dealing with kept typing "long term claim" and it took an additional week to convince her otherwise.

So a manager calls me to apologize for the error and tells me my claim will now be rushed. Great right?

A week later I still hear nothing so I call in and email some more.

They deny my claim because "I had waited longer then the 10 limit to submit my claim" No where on any paper work did I read there was a 10 window.

So back to the grind, luckily I write contracts for a living. I am good at what I do. So after describing to her in very small words just how wrong she was I was told her manager would double check her work. At this point I demanded her managers FULL name and email. They will fight you on this but it is important to know in case you end up taking legal action.

Eventually she realized I was right and would not give up my fight. (I am Irish I will spend any money to not be taken advantage of)

My claim is now approved. She informs me accounting will take 2-3 days to deposit my funds.

2 weeks I wait. So back to the phone. I am repeatedly told to just give it another day or two. Turns out they mailed me a check, to an address I rarely use.

The whole process is a nightmare. They will automatically deny your claim to save money and pad their bonus account. You will have to dig in and fight. Be polite, and angry. Do not give up your fight. Make them know you have every intention of winning. Or even better, choose ANY other insurance company. This was not my first issue with GWL but it certainly will be my last.

Good luck.

My experience with GWL has been nothing but awful. I'm currently out on disability (have been since Nov.), and all they have done is give me the run around. They paid my claim up to Dec. 2 and refused to pay further. I started the appeal process right away and have still gotten no where with them.
The customer services is a joke. The person that I deal with doesn't even pretend to care. On multiple occasions, she's said "I'll look over your information or whatever and get back to you." Whatever? Really? Talk about lack of professionalism. She has also flat out lied about faxing out important documents to my doctor to fill out.
Ex. She said she had faxed a questionnaire for my doctor to fill out to move the appeal process along. I then found out that she didn't fax it until 6 days after my conversation with her. She misspelled my name on part of the questionnaire and put on it symptoms that I never said I had.
As of today, I left her a message informing her that I knew she was lying and that if my claim is not approved by the end of next week, I'll be going above her.
My advice: Avoid GWL like the plague and spread the word that they are a company that doesn't care about helping people. If you are unfortunate enough to have to deal with them at some point, just remember: They want to wait you out and force you back to work. Don't let them. Stay on top of your claim and call them daily.

Today I received a call for an update, very normal. Yet she wanted to know where I was calling from.... The only reason it bothered me was because she heard over head speakers. Was she thinking I was... Where dunno it was just such a weird, very abrupt question. What are my rights?

Just a terrible experience. Severely injured my back years ago, had a successful short term disability claim, and a semi-successful long term claim. The 2 years of long term coverage was nearly up at which point I was sent for a physical assessment. It took me 2 months to get the results which are extremely innacurate, they seem to describe another person.
My appeals have all since been denied, information I know has been submitted goes missing, phone conversations are incorrectly documented and I am continually told that anything submitted is lacking details.
To be fair, the agent I deal with seems to sympathize but is left hanging by company policy.

Case manager tells me we can help you see a specialist earlier then a couple days later tells me we won't help you because it won't save us any money

I've been constantly harassed with requests for forms and reports. After I sent one thing they claim they need something else.

I had little to no communication with the case manager

Now that they only pay for my life insurance premiums, they continue their harassment of request for forms and report to the point that it almost costs me more to pay for all those forms and reports than the actual insurance premiums they pay

I've had the displeasure of dealing with GWL for 4 seperate Short-Term Disability leaves due to a chronic illness. All they care about is getting you back to work, even if you are struggling horribly and have no quality of life. In the last year I've missed a total of 5 months of work yet with every claim they act like it's some short-term illness that will clear up soon. I have proper documentation from my GP as well as a specialist, and my doctor is frustrated with them as well. If you have to fax something in, be prepared to fax it a dozen times yet still have them claim they never received it and threaten not to pay you. This has happened with EVERY claim I've made, and I triple checked the fax number, and confirmed it sent. I'd call after sending to let them know I sent it, only to get a call back A WEEK later telling me it never came. They never answer their phones which is not a big deal, but they take a week to return calls. My claims adjustor does not seem to actually be aware of what my condition is, as I am constantly having to remind her of my limitations despite the fact that my doctor details all of this in the forms he sent in to them. The stress of dealing with them is sure not making things any easier on me.