Sun Life Financial Canada Reviews 393

Absolute garbage. Unfortunately my previous employer used SunLife for our pension funds and investments - terrible customer service - they have no idea what they are doing! Still waiting for my money to be transferred to my bank as I want nothing to do with Sun Life.

I live in Indonesia, and clien of sunlife Indonesia for many years. but today I want to know about my polis and advantage from polis. I call to sun life and MARIA as customer service talk to me, many information I have gave her. but last her ask me about polis number, I tell her I dont know, and ask me how to pay, I answer again I dont know. Actually who will remember polis no. and pay method after 1 or 2 years, I think this is crazy question. and then deadlock. She can not give other solution.
I dont think so big company as Sunlife have very bad customer service. As you know I have many insurance, not very complicated like this.
I just ask about information mypolis, how if I claim??? I can not imagine.
I tell to everyone pls be careful to insurance like this.
Agent had gone, we can comunicate, go to insurance company very difficull to get information. why you know???? because they had got out money.
If they need we buy insurance product everything very easy, If transaction done for 3 until 5 years, you will trouble, your money will gone.
Big name of Sunlife, mean bad service and cheating

Shocking Company to deal with who put every obstacle possible in your way to avoid paying out or switching your policy to a more competent firm

My advice is NOT take Short-Term/Long-Term disability insurance if SunLife is offered through your employer. Based on my experience and several others it would be best to create a savings account or research other options.

I signed up for supplemental disability insurance through my employer during open enrollment like many of us do, because of that worst case scenario.

SunLife Financial was the only company that was offered and being that my employer was a multi-billion dollar resort company, I figured SunLife was a legitimate company, but I was so very wrong!

Over a year later, I was diagnosed with what my urologist and oncologist described as a ‘very aggressive form of cancer that required immediate treatment involving surgery, radiation and hormone therapy.

I was advised by my supervisor to leave work and begin drawing my supplemental disability benefits.

Despite multiple reports from my team of doctors, Sunlife denied all claims. An appeal was filed and again denied, despite my complete inability to work which was documented my doctors.

Nearly a year later, Sunlife relented and paid a portion the entire claim. By then, due to inability to work, and SunLife’s apparent policy of denying all claims, I had been evicted, lost my vehicle and was suffering from depression due to the whirlwind of negative actions resulting from SunLife’s continued denials.

Their supposed customer service all the way to upper management are cold hearted in dealing with and seem to take pleasure in denying claims

Stay far away from this scam of an insurance company!

I have been suffering from depression for 30 years. I got a chance to get Ketamine therapy, I had to take out a loan to do so and when summited was denied any coverage for this. They have been coving my medication for depression for years and this therapy was conducted by a licensed doctor in a clinic and saved my life. Now they have left me hi and dry with out even a penny to help. Very disappointed, I can see this happen in the United states. But it shows how heartless these company's can be.

Constantly changing investment vehicles. They constantly remove any good returning investment vehicle and replace it with garbage. After five years, my money would have made more in a bank and had less hassle. I really dislike how an email constitutes approval to move tens of thousands of dollars to a losing fund, to help prop up a incompetent investors portfolios, when they were told multiple times hands off. Not even a read receipt on an email. This company is too big and should be investigated at a higher level for predatory practices.

This is a absolute joke of a company.

Me and my partner are buying a home and trying to get the funds out of her RRSP for the HBP( Home buyer plan). I have my RRSP's withdrawn from my bank perfectly fine (my account is not affiliated with sunlife). My wife applied and got the funds. The funds were then taken back out of the account the following day they were deposited. She called back and was told it was due to "not having the right bank stamp" on the direct deposit information. My wife ended the call and did not feel right with that information, so she called back and figured out her SIN wasn't correct on file. She was told they only accept the front and back of the SIN card but she does not have a plastic SIN card anymore and they do not issue plastic card for SIN numbers anymore. I called back and was told they need proof of SIN from Service Canada. She then called back and was told a T4 would do. She submitted the T4 and was told to wait for the funds. She called back during the wait, and they confirmed multiple times that it was getting processed. Timeframe passes, and multiple calls later, she figured out that the payment was showing up as "deposited" the prior week. We waited a week for nothing, The agent stated they would escalate the case. Waiting 3 more days. No movement or call back. She called and asked for a manager or supervisor. My wife got in contact with a supervisor, and they stated they would WIRE the money over, and there is a fee to do so?? so now we have to pay to get our own money? We also had to wait over the weekend, and the supervisor stated they would get it sent next week with a follow-up phone call to confirm. My wife ended up having to CALL the supervisor, as they did not reach out by the time that they promised they would. The supervisor obviously forgot to send the wire. The supervisor reached back out three times and confirmed the WIRE was sent on the third call. The wire was finally received the same day the supervisor confirmed it was sent. Three weeks after the initial deposit was sent, we got the money. We are very lucky the closing date was a month out.

AVOID SUNLIFE AT ALL COST. -10/5

I'm experiencing significant challenges with this company. Despite having benefits through my employer (U of A), my attempt to claim ambulance charges has been denied four times. Each time, I've ensured that I provide the necessary information, but my claims are continuously rejected, citing a need for details I've already provided. It's been over two months, and I'm still awaiting resolution. I'm unsure of how to proceed and am deeply frustrated by the situation.

Worst company ever I have seen in my 28 years in Canadian life.

Our company has been with 3 different extended health insurance providers. Sun Life is the worst. I have no choice as I'm under group benefits. We only left the previous 2 due to costs I believe but you do get what you pay for.
Sunlife has received so much feedback from me verbally (at least 2x) through their manager when I had to escalate an issue on more than one occasion. I've also given feedback through email. None of this has amounted to anything. More than 2 1/2 years later with them and the same issues are present. Then they have the audacity to ask me to fill out a survey recently. I don't think they want to do anything with the survey. They just want you think they care about your experience. Here are my reasons for giving them a low rating:
They are NOT client friendly. They have made it very hard for you to get help. Then their website is even worse. It's done up for them and not for us as clients. Here are only some examples of the top issues:
1. When trying to find information on a claim submission (and I have so many); why would I remember the date on which I submitted the claim? Yet that is the information they choose to organize their info by. I have the receipt in front of my so naturally having the service date makes more sense (which is what other companies provide).
2. They do not allow you to see the total of all claims accurately forcing me to have to go and total everything up. They haven't figured out how to remove claims that were submitted more than once (due to their request for more information). It is only one unique claim yet they will show it in the final summary as 2 claims. What makes this so infuriating is that if they actually provided service date info for me to see it wouldn't be all that hard to add up all the unique service dates, but no, they only provide date of submission for the claim which makes it so confusing!
3. There is no clear explanation of why you have the refund you have. Other companies show that you have used up all your available funds and hence the amount remaining is what is left to only partially refund a claim. This is not shown anywhere. Only by sleuthing around am I able to see that but why should I have to do that?
4. When it comes to income tax time and needing to get a final total of unpaid claims good luck. Again I have to spend hours going through everything due to the messy information that they present you with.
5. With all the above said, I am then forced to have to call in to get help which then means they also have to go and look into my account. But I'm put on hold forever before I can even get an agent.
6. Their website won't even allow you to email them anymore. "Ella" the virtual assistant is only available during short hours when I'm not. So I cannot contact anyone nor leave an email.
7. There are no features allowing the client to organize the dependents information to view separately. The mix in all claimants under one messy view. Absolutely frustrating for me to look at when I cannot distinguish one claim from the next.

I may not have explained all the problems well but I can definintely state that with our previous 2 insurance providers; using their websites to find information on my claims etc was logical, clear and very client friendly. Sun Life if you're reading this, take a look at what clients with Greatwest Life can do on their website. I've given you that suggestion already a few years ago.
The date of experience that I had to put down is not Sep 9 2023. It includes numerous experiences since January 2021 up till Sep 9 2023.

Sunlife always asks me to rate the service providers I use so it’s time to rate them….and they are not fairing well. I have been dealing for months with a benefit payment isssue. After 3 escalations I had to get 3rd party advisor involved and again too much time passing because they don’t know how to correct their own error! I guess I should have read the other reviews before making the worst decision I have made to date in my retirement.

Try to do things on the cheap.Extremely dishonourable and condescending.

I had a pension with them for 20 years and they were doing well up to about 2 years ago when it started losing money and they were taking their fees to not make me money. I decided to transfer to another provider and completed the forms. They mis read the form and tried to cash the pension in deducting 55% tax. After pointing out their error they admitted they had fallen short of the service level and duty of care they should have afforded me. They then took a further few months to make the transfer and this resulted is about a 10k loss as the fund was index linked. They then offer 100 as a good will gesture but not the 10k they lost me! They should not be in the business of handling public money and really need to be shut down by the authorities as they are just plain not fit for purpose. If you have money with them get it out while you can. If you are considering them stay clear unless you like paying them to lose you money!

Brutal company. The hoops you need to jump through to submit a claim are ridiculous and more than likely, they wont cover your claim. Whats the point in paying into insurance? Want to add someone. Nope, have to wait until the benefits roll over. Just the worst. Go with bluecross. They've been great to deal with.

Been trying to transfer my money to my BANK.. I am on my4th or 5th call. SunLife Financial support is really problematic. I just wanna move my money OUT of sunlife

Update (Sept 5 2023) (after talking with the right person, they did transfer my money within a week)

Getting denied mental health leave, after this company boasts how much they do for people’s mental health. Literally the worst benefits provider I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with. Employers across the country should switch from Sunlife to honestly any other company. Sunlife sets the bar very low. They love to send emails to me about the mental health services they provide but when push comes to shove they deny any claims.

Sun Life pension plans are the worst and they can't even answer if there is an alternative to Blackrock investments. They are worse than a TFSA

I went to move my RRSP and non rrsp savings from Sunlife to my main banker. Well, Sunlife limits the amount you can withdraw at any given day and chargesyou $25 for the privilege. First time it was a larger amount but second time it was restricted at a smaller amount about 45% of the original. Again a $25 charge. Never ever again will I invest money with this company!!! If I could give them a negative 5 I
Rating I would. My advice, make auto payments at your bank to your rrsp or savings, DO NOT use these insurance companies for ANY savings. Crooks

Sun life is the absolute worst investment company to trust with your retirement funds, I have been with them for 21 years with my company and unable to change who I invest with and after 21 years my investments have a 0.00 return. They continue to charge fees however I’ll never be able to retire with them due to their incompetence and I’m stuck with them through my company connection. Please don’t waste your money or time with them

I wish I could do zero stars. I request a check, they said it would take 7-10 days to arrive. Nearly a month later I called because it hadn't arrived yet. They said that they had made a mistake and that a new check was issued the day before I called. There was no communication on there end. I asked what they could do to rectify the situation, the person I was speaking with attempted to "escalate" it to a supervisor. I was put on hold for nearly 45 minutes, then that same person came back and said no supervisor was available and that someone would call back within 24-48 hours. No one called back. A week later (still no check), I called back and the person I spoke with could see that it had been escalated and made the comment that I should have already received a call, which I hadn't. Unbelievable lack of urgency, especially considering they admitting the mistake was on their end. I will be transferring all my funds to another financial institution. I do not trust them with my money.