Great-West Life Group Benefits Insurance Reviews

If you have an option, stay away from their service. I tried to call a general helpline and find out more info regarding disability claims. They gave me another to call for disability claim info. I called that number, and the lady on the phone told me I should call another office in Scarborough, so I called Scarborough disability claim office. They said they only help with existing claims. With all this passing around, I still couldn't find out if they will accept my situation, where to submit claims, and how to get claim form etc. Useless, rude, slow, ineffective customer services. Lastly, I found out I should contact my account rep-M.D. She never answers her phones or returns phone calls. Every time I call, she is out of the office or away from the desk. If your company is short of staffing, hire more people, and hire smarter people. Super Disappointed

Sadly through my workplace, we are forced to pay into this horrible company. They charge a fortune in monthly fees, yet cover nothing that other reputable insurance companies offer. A prime example is their pathetic mental health coverage. You can’t even get the cost of one appointment covered with a psychologist. Also, I’ve spoken to a few working moms who have coverage under their insurance policies for breast pumps. Big surprise, Great-West Life do not consider it essential. They do not care for their customers, they are simply out to gouge hard-working Canadians from their hard-earned money!

I recommend everyone to stay away from Great-West Life Group Dental Benefits! Twice I’ve had to get a crown on my teeth and both times they denied my claim stating that they determined that a filling was all that was needed! My dentist assured me that a filling would not work and this last tooth had a large chip to the point that my nerve was exposed! I’ve never had this many problems with any other Group Benefits Company!

Always a busy tone when calling customer service. Could not speak to anyone for over a month now, not even their switchboard could reach them, yet switchboard would say that they're experiencing high call volume, so then why isn't that message on their recording when calling in to make customers know what the heck is happening instead of a damn busy tone!!! This is all nonsense!!! 1.4 RATING FROM 133 REVIEWS!!! My husband claims are all selected for audit even though I've been submitting his claims via online, sent proof of the receipts, yet they would email countless times asking for proof, ARE YOUR EMPLOYEE INCOMPETENT??? CAN'T THEY OPEN RECENT ATTACHMENTS??!!! SO FRUSTRATED!!! LOOK at your rating, your service is crap and surprisingly there has been no significant changes even with the constant negative reviews. SHAME!!!

If you have a choice, stay away from this company. They will do anything to not pay your claims. i.e. multiple short-term disability claims of my colleagues have been delayed in payment for months after their disability period. Cancer medication claims have been ignored over and over again. One of my colleague's husband passed away more than 6 months ago and there are still no payments. You can imagine the financial stress this creates. For myself, basically, every claim in the region of 100 $ + (over one hundred) is "randomly" selected for audit half the time then ignored after successful completion of the audit. The customer support line phone always has a busy tone. You simply cannot reach them. The online written requests get no answer. If you escalate to your company administrator, they will make statements that they tried to call you three times to clarify. They will state that you as a customer ignored them and therefore they do not pay. I can go on and on with these stories... Overall, this is a full-on fraud company.

I clicked on Life Insurance...because there isn't a drop-down option for Health & Dental. I had coverage with GWL with my previous employer. I accepted a buyout package and was eligible to enroll with GWL under the similar plan. I really had no issues with GWL when I was with group plan under the employer. However, when I signed up with GWL last week....it has been a "gong show" ever since. After signing up and being accepted...I was emailed copious documents and my policy # on August 30 - with noted commencement date for benefits starting September 1. There was no indication with paperwork when I would receive our drug cards. As I wanted to fill a prescription at Shoppers Drug Mart, I called GWL to find out if they could give me my client ID...and other info that Shoppers had requested. Well - GWL had no record of my policy # - it doesn't exist! Oh, for frig sake!! So, after several phone transfers to different departments passing the hot potato...approximately 45 minutes - still not resolved. I became apoplectic on the phone. How ironic that I had interviews for an executive assistant position with top big wigs at the London, Ontario office....and they spoke so eloquently on how customer service is "paramount" to their business...huh!

My school uses them and god are they awful. I had an eye exam and was told they would cover the cost of my frames, but that I had to pay upfront and they would reimburse me. I waited a month with no mention of this from them at all. I created an account on their painfully slow and worthless website only to find all the reimbursements were pending, due to a lack of a known address. They never even attempted to contact me for this information. The website was god awful so as I spent ages trying to navigate properly to set this information and at the same time, called them in case it failed to do so.

After a long while, I had finally submitted my address to them, both online and through on-phone support. I was told I would get my reimbursement in a couple weeks. A couple weeks later, a letter from them showed up at my place asking me for my address... Imagine my disbelief when they sent the letter to my address, asking for my address.

These guys are just around to steal your money unless you waste your time trying to keep them honest.

I have this insurance company with my employer and good grief does it ever suck. I had Greenshield with my last employer. For the last few years, Greenshield billed the pharmacy directly without making the employer pay extra. If having to submit your receipts for drugs is not annoying enough, you have to do it by mail. What a craptacular company. Their website works, apart from GroupNet. Every time you go to their website, you get the following message. I have been trying since Friday night and still see the same message. Need I say more. Site Temporarily Unavailable. We are sorry this site is only available. We are working to restore service as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Return to Great-West Life website: Click here to return to the Great-West home page. This is the worst insurance company in all of Canada! I cannot believe I have to send prescription receipts again through Canada Post to get reimbursed (80%). They mail you the cheque and explanation entirely in French on top of that, no English anywhere. If you don't parler Francais, you will not understand most of it. The form I submitted was in English as were the receipts for meds prescribed by a doctor in Ontario. I have no idea what the letter says and short sentences in Eng are long in Fr. I would have to type it in Google translate, as they do not use email. I know this is a bilingual country, but do they seriously expect everyone to know French. Moreover, they don't even cover the prescription strength (a strength not available OTC), generic allergy medication, the same one Greenshield covered. Maybe that is why their explanation of my benefits for the receipts was in French? So unimpressed.

I am a completely healthy young woman - yet somehow it took them over 8 months to approve my benefits application. They lost my application several times, then sent me in the wrong direction several more. Absolutely horrendous customer service. Once I finally did get approved, they sent all my information and my drug and travel assistance card- but when I called to set up my online GroupNet, they said they have no record of me having benefits through them.
Thoroughly disappointed!

Unfortunately, my husband has a group plan with this company. They provide the worst customer services, the hotline often gets disconnected. They refused claims even though we provided all the documentation they requested. I'm just hoping their company will choose another insurance company with better credibility, I can’t wait for this nightmare to end soon.