Great-West Life Disability Insurance Reviews

This company has zero empathy and lack any form of communication skills when it comes to their clients. Being on short term disability for mental illness and they make it worse by refusing to cover any treatment for a psychologist after they referred me to their own doctor to see if I needed that treatment. After their own doctor stated I needed therapy from a psychologist they still refused to pay due to it “being too expensive” of treatment; been off work since February and they never once referred me to get any form of medical help so I bought it on my own and when I did that, they come back with zero financial aid and a comment of “we’re not responsible for your choices”. Apparently, someone who cannot work because of mental illness is to sit on the couch and do nothing and become worse because to them that is financially safe. Worst insurance company ever.

This company is a total fraud. Broke my elbow and they denied my claim. Over and over. Appeal after appeal. Documented disability as it’s on an X-ray and still denied. I don’t know how these people look themselves in the mirror and live with themselves knowing that every day they literally ruin people’s lives.

I wanted to see the best and originally it looked that way. I truest believed Great West understood what was happening and wanted to get me back to my normal. First payments were always an issue. Late, non existence no response for a week past. It's like they don't understand you rely on that payment date. Had the worst experience with the pay. Secondly they sent me to see someone who didn't do anything to talk about what was bringing on my symptoms and just wanted me to decide what to do about my job which was in direct conflict with what my case worker said. They told me my claim was ending the week after I experienced a panic attack so bad I almost blacked out while driving. Told me I'd deal with PTSD forever and so my claim was over and back to work I go. I work in a safety related industry it makes no sense. My last payment never came big surprise. All and all it was a terrible experience. I'm not very happy having no choice by my former employer but to pay into benefits that really don't benefit you when you get sick. Save your money. They are more interested in getting your case closed over your actual health. It's pathetic.

I applied for short term disability in June 2016 through my employer. The 1st case manager Logan M. lied to me over the phone that my claim was approved and just needed to finish the calculations, and I'd likely to see first payout by next Friday. About 2 weeks went by with me chasing her as to what's going on. After complaining to my employer about lack of response, Logan M. told me that my claim was declined because my employer said I shouldn't have stopped my medication years ago. My specialist doctor told me to wean off it and completely stop it, because there's bad long-term side effects. The wait to see the specialist doctor was months long to get my medication refilled. My employer said that they do not influence any claim decisions at all. I escalated at Great West Life and was assigned a 2nd case manager Sara S. After I got in to see the specialist doctor and was on my medication again, my claim was denied again - Sara S. said to me over the phone that I should have been taking Tylenol and working during the long wait for a specialist doctor. They denied my claim again, on basis that I wasn't severe. I told my family doctor that Great West Life was giving me the run around, she wrote a doctor's note and told me to apply for EI sick benefits. She was right, I had no problem getting my claim for EI sick benefits approved. Great West Life case managers will lie and manipulate your words over the phone. I consulted a disability lawyer because they take cases on contingency basis, he said there wasn't much money left for him to chase. EI sick benefits payments are deducted from short-term disability calculatons, so the crooked insurance company Great West Life won by declining you repeatedly until you give up. Unless you have something that's "definite", like surgery or being in the hospital... anything "subjective" or episodic disability will be repeatedly declined so they wear you down by forcing you to provide all kinds of evidence that you're "severe". Be warned, everything they ask you to get to back up your claim, they're actually using all of that to manipulate it so they build a case against you. Also, I'm in Calgary, they assigned Ontario reps that are off work at 1pm my time... adding to the difficulty of getting a hold of them. There's a reason why they only provide their first name and the first initial of their last names, they're unethical... after one phone call with each of the case managers, I refused to talk to them over the them, requiring everything via email... it helped stop some of their lying and manipulation over the phone with you. I wonder how these case managers sleep at night, they're incentized to decline as many cases as they can, it's how their performance bonus works.

This is the worst of the worst. Was put on short term disability for heart issue, doctor would not renew my licence and I drive truck for a living. Had to wait 7 1/2 weeks for first pay cheque, and was about 1/4 of what I made. The Evil witch that looked after my claim could not give a care of my condition, she told me that I was running out of short term disability and if I applied for long term disability I probably would not get it, because not being able to drive is not covered, and I live 50 miles from work.
I had several claims with this company, because the company I work for goes with GWL, and every time just very negative. One time had dentist work done and was in the dentist chair, and dentist was doing work on my teeth, they tried submitting claim to see if I would be covered, and GWL wanted to talk to me to ask me a bunch of personal questions to verify it was me, I felt like 2 inches tall. The only people I would recommend this company to is my enemy's.

Extremely bad customer service within the Disability office. They do not return calls. The 1-800 phone number states they are closed, even though they are open and during office hours. Case manager extensions not working. I just switched from short term to long term on Jan 13. My LTD is approved. I did not receive any money on my regular payday. It is now Jan 29th and have been without pay for a month. NSF charges through my bank, missed car payment. At no time did I received a call or letter from them advising me that this would happen. How are we supposed to live? My mental state is back to being as bad as t was when I went onto disability. I'm so stressed out. I have no food, no gas, I owe large amounts of money now. Why would my case manager not call to advise me? I have no idea when to expect my LTD pay which is already lower than my actual pay so god knows how I assn going to get caught up! This treatment is not right. Great West Life dies not care.

Absolutely horrible experience, agents will avoid returning phone calls or emails and will deliberately obfuscate facts to deny claims based on technicalities. This is at a time when you need the money the most. Absolutely souless, low trust, disgusting company.

I was injured in a surgical blunder. Been off work for 16 months. They are harassing me to go back to work when I am disabled and don’t have the use of my left hand. They don’t want to take responsibility. They want to put me to work and forget about me. NOT. This company also gave me someone else’s private information. Maybe time to sue them? And will try to override a doctor's note.

I had a group plan via my employer with Great-West Life. I was diagnosed with Diabetes, Hypertension and was advised by the doctor that I was at High-risk to suffer a Stroke. But these scammers did not approve my claim even for one day to be off work and their excuse was, “many people suffer from it and they did not see a reason why I should be off work”. I had to quit my job to take care of my health. But the funny part is, I reluctantly applied for EI Sickness Benefits and was approved by them after showing the same Medical Certificate and Notes that I had provided to GWL. This clearly proves them to be unethical scammers and hope they get treated the same and worse thousand times over!