Manulife Life Insurance Reviews

My deceased dad took out an annuity for my mom from Manulife sometime before his death in 2012... My mom's accountant flagged in 2021 that my mother was being taxed on an amount from this Manulife annuity that was not in her bank account. THE UPSHOT IS THAT MANULIFE HAD BY LAW BEEN REQUIRED TO MAKE A PAYOUT TO MY MOTHER EVERY YEAR BUT NEGLECTED TO DO SO FROM 2012 TO 2021. Yet they reported to the government that they sent the money to my mother so she had to pay tax on it. I called in April of 2021 and was unable to get past the guard of twenty-somethings whose sole job is to keep customers from getting the information they need. We talked to Rose, James, Ron etc etc etc - no last names of course. "We will provide you with that information in seven business days" No information was forthcoming. We called again. "We will provide you with that information before the end of the day" No call - no information. This went on through May. I said at one point that I would like to talk to Rose's manager "No, you can't" was Rose's response. Finally, in June one of them said that they didn't know who I was and I needed to provide them with my dad's death certificate and fill out a lengthy form as to why I should have this information. (They already had the POA I sent them stating that I was authorized to act for my mother) My father died in 2012 and a death certificate was sent to them in 2012. Another was sent in 2014 and yet another in 2017. I also had to provide my POA. This document was sent to them in 2012. "Just go to the file and pull the documents - you already have them," I said. "We won't do that" Was the reply. I resisted the impulse to say that "yes - my father is just as dead now as he was in 2012" That was definitely a low point having to prove that he was still dead repeatedly. Was satire required? "Yes, he faked his own death at the age of 92 in order to defraud Manulife out of a lousy $21,000 policy." We ran into a brick wall so I sent the package of notes that I had been keeping of every phone call to the Ombudsman. Lo and behold! We get a call from 'James'. "I am a TEAM LEADER," he said "I am here to help you" "You could start by paying my mother the interest that you earned by keeping her money for the last 8 years" "We don't do that" was the reply. After weeks of dealing with 'James', the money was eventually restored but we never did find out why the money was withheld for 8 years. Manulife is impossible to deal with. The action was only forthcoming because we notified the Ombudsman. Another low point - I was told that I needed to get my 96-year-old mother suffering from dementia to sign a form authorizing me to act on her behalf. I told them that, due to her dementia, she was incapable of doing so and YOU ALREADY HAVE THE POA THAT SPECIFIES THAT I ACT FOR HER. Avoid Manulife if you possibly can. They are terrible people. If you can't avoid them I would advise going directly to the Ombudsman so as not to waste the three months we did dealing with people on the phone. On an end note - we never did find out why they didn't make payments to my mother for 8 years.

My dad passed 2 months ago. We called in to make the claim and were told 19 business days for policy funds to be deposited. Nothing was deposited after that time, so we called back twice and were told a rush would be put on it. Still nothing. Called the broker and he talked with them. They told him it would be 5-7 business days. Still nothing. It's now 2 months and Manulife says an adjuster will call us back.
Manulife is a joke. Never use them.
There are policies with 2 other companies, both of which have come through immediately.
Don't waste your time with an unprofessional company like Manulife.

A simple dental claim takes them months to do an inquiry! Crazy company! I would not prefer this company.

I got sick in Mexico and needed to stay in the hospital for a day. Two months ago, my wife and I submitted a claim to be reimbursed for our medical expenses as we purchased medical insurance from Manulife.
It seems Manulife makes it as hard as possible to access claims. They ask for one round of information, then when they have all the information, they ask for another round. We are on our third round of information giving, and 75% of the information asked was given in the first round. It's as if they make it as hard as possible for us, so we would give up on the claim.
They recently made us translate all our documents which cost us $250, and gave us a 30-day deadline to do so, or we would not receive any of our money. How does an insurance company give us a 30-day deadline when they are the ones who owe us money? Should they not be the ones that have a deadline?
We are now holding $5000 on our visa and still have not been paid back. There is a long wait time on their helpline, and we feel like the service we have received is on the verge of crooked.

You pay for your benefits yet they ask for a doctor's note every time you want to go for a massage or chiropractor even through what you pay for. This company is a scam.
For someone that has a back problem, it is incredibly time-consuming for me to go to the doctor to get the diagnosis every time I want to use my benefits. DONT waste your time with Manulife.

Not only do claims reimbursements typically take longer than 7 days, but the customer service is also terrible. That is if you can even get through to an agent on their customer support line.
What absolutely floors me is that insurance companies like Manulife make millions if not billions of dollars a year and yet they can't properly fund a call support centre.

So the company I am with uses Manulife for the insurance. I have had nothing but issues with Manulife. I attached and sent all support documents for a claim but they always come back with some document that they need to approve the claim which my doctors say they don't provide. Manulife customer service representatives are constantly telling me wrong information and then I get countless emails about different guidelines that seem to change every claim. They truly make it very hard for you to even get a claim approved even with so much support, signed by the doctor documents.

They don't help in claims. My money has been stuck with them for 5 months and they don't respond at all! Neither through phone nor email. I hate their service.

Manulife insured a school trip well before COVID-19. The trip was cancelled just before departure. A claim was submitted with the exact required paperwork. The families were told it will take time to process. 6 months have passed. Parents getting extremely frustrated. Repeatedly Manulife said it was only delayed due to claim. They even told us the settlement would be in early September. Now they say they are waiting on additional request paperwork. This is the first anyone had heard of this. They are stalling. Some parents are going to the major media. Others are prepping to sue. The school districts should refrain from using Manulife moving forward.

My documents show that it was “on file “ that “ I am the beneficiary” for my spouse's basic life. Manulife is refusing to give the sum to me as the beneficiary due to them apparently not being able to find all their necessary signed paperwork. When did someone apparently not doing their job become my responsibility and problem? If when my spouse would go online and print out their benefit plan and everything shows that they have on file the correct designated beneficiary and so forth how is it fair that when it comes down to having an issue that money accordingly that they deny the stated beneficiary the amount as the beneficiary because they can’t find their ‘signed’ paperwork. Our documents are our confirmation that all is in order. And then they suggest for the beneficiary to open an estate account that seems unnecessary and odd. Finally, after months of back and forth, they issue the cheque but not the full amount of my spouse's pay and in accordance to what they stated I was entitled to in a letter sent to me. Therefore, once again leaving me to wait for management to figure out the problem and more time goes by without receiving money that I am entitled to and not in the way that I feel it states I should receive it. In my experience, there seem to be a lot of discrepancies and I feel that during a very difficult time in my life Manulife made it more difficult mentally, emotionally and financially for myself. Based on my experience, I do not recommend Manulife to any company, person or family.