Manulife Travel Insurance Reviews

My 16-year-old son suffered extensive ankle damage from a sports injury while on athletic scholarship in September 2023 while in the US. We purchased the plan recommended to us by our broker as one that is marketed to international athletes, thinking that it would protect our family - we were so wrong.

After the injury, as you're supposed to, I contacted the insurance company rather than allow the ER doctors to perform surgery straight away (they reset the leg immediately). I drove the 9 hours to my son, and then we waited an additional five days for Manulife to deny surgery in the US against the recommendation of the orthopedic surgeon who determined surgery needed to be completed asap. The entire time I was in the US, I had to act as a liaison between Manulife/GlobalExcel and the various doctors and medical professionals since they did not source any documentation themselves. My best guess is that I spent a minimum of three hours per day on the phone trying to get approval for surgery rather than spending time with my son. Of course, you speak with a different person almost every time you call, and you have to retell your story over and over because even though you have a case manager, you will likely not speak with them...

After waiting almost a week for what I had been assured over the phone would be approval for my son's very necessary surgery, the 'experts' at Manulife chose to medically evacuate my son back to Canada, where he waited an additional two days for surgery.

We will never know the full impact of Manulife/GlobalExcel's failure to make and communicate a timely decision.

Most recently in trying to recoup my personal expenses while I waited almost a week for Manulife/GlobalExcel to make a decision regarding the surgery - expenses listed as eligible for coverage under my policy, my expenses were denied in April by Claim Assessor who I can't speak to because "assessors don't have phones". When I asked for the assessor to call me, I was told it is policy that I cannot speak with them. Anyways - I played administrator again and sent additional documentation to satisfy the piece of the policy that the assessor used to deny our claim and was told over the phone that the claim was approved, and I was sent a form to provide my payment information.

I'm actually on hold with Manulife/GlobalExcel as I type this... I've been on hold about 30 minutes with an administrator I know won't be able to help me get answers as to why I haven't seen payment almost a year after the claim was started, in spite of providing them with everything they've asked for...

There is so much more to my experience that I could write a novel around how many times this company provided subpar service, but my phone call with this dreadful company has since ended and I've proofread my review and am moving on until their Supervisor gives me a call back in the next 24–48 hours. This will be the third time a Supervisor will reach out, so I'm not holding my breath for resolution.

What a joke this company is... do your family a favour and steer clear!

I am in Kosovo and neither of the numbers work. My husband called them from Canada twice and was told twice that they would call me back or e-mail me....that was 12 hours ago. Very happy I am not in an extreme emergency situation and I can take care of myself in midtime... That rule that you must get their authorization before getting treatments is about to be challenged. Go figure that they probably reject all the claims because nobody can reach them before the treatments... Never again!

Please don’t waste your money. It’s a scam.
They are happy to take your money but when you have emergency and open a claim, they will make sure you get nothing. The process is painful and they will do anything to not pay for cover. I’m surprised they are still in this business. Please save your money and time. Find a trusted travel insurance

In February 2022, I ended up in Ukraine, I had an all-inclusive multi-trip policy from Manulife. In general, my return flight on February 27 was cancelled. I was stuck in a war-torn country with no way to leave there for 3 months. During that time, I repeatedly turned to Monulife for help, although I rarely had such an opportunity due to the lack of communication and the Internet. As a result, after long minutes of waiting, I received another excuse. After returning to Canada, I tried for 6 months to get at least some kind of compensation, but in the end I gave up this activity, as each time I experienced a negative experience. In general, I was not reimbursed for anything.

These people are quick to take your money and avoid payment of claims. It has been almost five months since I filed my claim and to date even after more than twenty follow up calls / numerous emails they still have not paid! Staff memeber are horrible to deal with - no empathy - and claim they are "too busy". You work and save hard to afford a vacation and when you are forced to cancel beacuse your mother dies days before the trip - they take five months to run you around! Unacceptable!

Submitted claim in June, it's now December. Every time I call Global Excel, the claims management department, I'm told, "your case manager will reach out to you" and of course they never do. Most recently I managed to get a firm commitment that "a decision will be reached within 30 days and if not, they will reach out with an update". Of course that was 35 days ago at this point. It really feels like they are hoping I'll forget.

From March till now (Oct) they have been processing my claim and I have sent my documents several times to them but they ask me for the same documents again and again... They are playing with me and when I call them every time someone gives me a different answer.
I never recommend this insurance!

4 months later, hours and hours spent on the phone, and nothing. Corrected my address 3 times from the same wrong address to the correct one. Specifically told them not to direct bill, they said ok. Then did direct billing (paid the hospital directly). Then said they were sending another payment. That was a month ago. After the 6th call now, with a hold time of slightly over 1 hour and 20 minutes, they now say they're waiting to get money back from the hospital first. Totally worthless insurance. You will end up spending more time than whatever payout they eventually reimburse you for, if ever

They are very good at taking your money, but when it comes to claiming when you need to, we have been left waiting 7+ months with zero updates

I would not recommend Manulife!

I had a claim 2 months ago, and the company didn't do it, a month later I called them and they told me it just took 14 days, again after a month I called them and they said they were looking for my effective date during this whole month!
I confirmed the date and again they told me it takes 14 days!
What you were doing in these 2 months? Just verifying the effective date?
While it just takes 2 minutes not 2 months!