Great-West Life Disability Insurance Reviews

I had recently been put on a short term leave from my job due to a pregnancy. I work in a highly dangerous environment with violent clients. Shortly after being put on leave I had a miscarriage. My leave was supposed to be 7 weeks according to my doctor's notes. I had been upfront and shared all information regarding every appointment to GWL and was happy to supply them with any further medical notes they needed. I was told by my GWL caseworker that I no longer qualified for a short term leave because my pregnancy being why I was off in the first place. I explained that I was still having complications and that my doctor insisted I needed to take the full 7 weeks. I was also told I didn’t qualify anymore because I was able to return to my job and complete 60% of my work. Which I found laughable because if I’m anything less than 100% at this job I put everybody at risk. I went back to my doctor and explained what was happening and he said I am the physician and the medical professional here and I believe you need the full 7 weeks. At this time I call my caseworker who tells me I’ve been cut off from my benefits as of last week. She said she had tried calling and leaving me a voice mail but there are no records of either on my phone. So glad I won’t be having to deal with this company again

I have health insurance through work (AHS), applied for short-term disability and got denied. Have all the documentation from physician and specialist but yet I was denied. Why are we even paying premiums? Those adjusters don't even have medical backgrounds yet they decide how an insurance is judged!

I am on short term disability, they treat you like you are nothing they ask to complete a lot of paperworks and then ask for the doctor details... Always by post office!!! Wake up faxes and email exist!!! Weeks and months have passed and still awaiting to be paid. They rejected doctor notes saying to be incomplete. Then they said their specialist rejected the doctor diagnostic... How can you do that without seeying a patients. They just want you to discourage and to let go. Not a chance, when I am going to be better, I am going to bring them to justice and I am going to make sure it goes in the newspaper.

After paying decades of contribution to GWL, I was short term disabled. They requested documents from the doctor, then they needed signed documents from the doctor, then they needed the notes of the doctor. I waited for the payment to be told that I was not more than 60% disabled! On what ground?!
They just don't want to pay...
I have a good doctor and my condition is real. I am going to bring them to justice these thieves and make an example out of them...

I was put on disability by my Dr. Over the course of the first two years, I was made to jump through numerous hoops, have numerous forms filled out by my Dr. (which I had to pay for), had to meet with GWL's third party assessment group (weekly), who push you to return to work, and so forth. I was incredibly ill, couldn't drive and could barely hold an intelligent conversation due to chronic pain reducing my cognitive ability. I found I had to be VERY careful what I said on the phone ... VERY.

Now, finally, all had been well with them (3 years later). I will never be able to return to work. THEN: They encouraged me to apply for CPPD, which I did, and was granted (no issues). I have received a 17 month retroactive backpay from CPPD. GWL says I have to pay this back to them as it is an overpayment and will cover payments made by GWL.

This is INCORRECT in my case. I hold a premium policy which states: if the monthly CPPD payment in combination with the monthly GWL payment does not exceed what my monthly salary would have been, then no deduction will be taken for overpayment.

Therefore, the 17 month retroactive payment is NOT an overpayment and I should not have to pay a penny - when broken out into the 17 months and summed with the monthly payments made by GWL - the monthly amount(s) NEVER exceed what my monthly salary was. So, no overpayment made.

I will seek legal counsel if needed, but the GWL representative is this cold, disconnected, robot like person who has the personality of a rock. I don't feel listened to. And I would advise that all conversation be followed up with an email for tracking purposes!

I had been told, numerous years ago, that insurance companies will say No, No, No, No ... to hopefully get you to just stop asking. Eventually, they will pay, in most cases. But, you have to wait, while you are ill and not working for sometime, in many cases. Which then forces people to go back to work!

So disgusting ... all about THEIR own bottom line .. and never really about You and all the money you paid to be taken care of if something medical should occur in your life. Ugh!

Paid my dues for over 7 years for employee benefits. There rep came to our company and assured us and I quote "Don't worry, if anything happens we'll take care of you! No problems."

Over this 7 year period they recieved over 16, 800.00 dollars on my behalf.

In 2016 I was in a bad car accident and ended up with severe post concussion syndrome. They did everything they could to deny me and left me in the dust.

So I lost my 26 dollar an hour job because of my condition and couldn't drive a truck anymore. Now I survive on a meager provincial disability stipend as I can't work yet.

Don't do business with these people, they are your typical greedy self-centered corporation. They lie and don't deliver what they promise.

I hope you spent my 16K on something nice for yourselves...

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.

We bought GWL competitor disability insurance for my husband 12 years ago, it was the biggest waste of money we have ever made. A year ago at age 56 he had a severe pain caused by a cervical disc herniation and found out that he had severe deterioration of several discs in his neck and upper back that would not allow him to work as he can't lift, climb a ladder or scaffolding or extend his neck. We were shocked when we were told this is not covered, is this not the reason you buy disability insurance in the first place. Do not buy this insurance it is a huge waste of money, this policy should not be sold to anyone. I guess this is why insurance companies are so rich. DO NOT BUY GWL INSURANCE

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.

I have the worst experience in my life with GWL! My doctor gave me a document according to which I need to stay in bed rest because there is a risk for my unborn baby. GWL made me wait for nearly two months without an income and then called me to tell me that my claim has been declined. They said that my condition wasn`t as severe as my doctor suggests!!! I am still waiting for the refusal letter so that I could appeal and eventually apply for sickness benefits through EI. I feel terrible and really depressed from the way they treated me. On top of everything I owe them $246 every month in order to keep my health benefits active. Where will I find this money if I haven`t had any income for two months now? I used to use Sun Life and was very happy with them but unfortunately the company I work for has a contract with this terrible GWL and I`m outraged.