Sun Life Group Benefits Insurance Reviews

I had no choice but to choose Sun life since my company is tied up with them. I applied for Short Term Disability (STD) in January 2016 due to a mental illness I have (depression and anxiety). Could not work so needed time off, so I applied and submitted to Sun Life. Within 3 days they declined my claim saying it is not a physical injury that prevents me from working and further says I'm claiming money for personal reasons!

Being said, Sun Life thinks mental illness is a joke unless I have a disease or in physical pain. A huge disappointment coming from a large corporation to make this comment. And to think in Canada we raised 25 million dollars to research on the stigma on mental illness and Sun life thinks it's nothing. And to think I'm claiming money for personal reasons??

I spend more than $100 to complete this from only to be denied in 3 days. Worst insurance company ever, and now I have to force myself to return back to work with this illness.

This company is the worst to deal with. I pay for coverage through my employer for short-term disability. I had carpal tunnel surgery in September and am still unable to return to work. My surgeon filled out the paperwork stating no use of the right hand. Not sure what more they need. There is a very high chance of another surgery to try to correct the problem. Now more paperwork needs to be filled out by the doctor. What a run around. They say they will return your call within 24 hours. Another crock. It took my member of parliament calling them for the call to be returned. I have not been denied yet but looks like it is going to go that way. I am trying to find out if there is a way to opt out of paying for this as when it is needed, they don't pay. I have never claimed been unable to work until now. I am not asking to be off for the rest of my life. Just until they fix the problem. I would rather donate my payments. Why should I have to pay for something I can never use? This company is a joke. I realize that they make money by not paying out however it is crooked to take money from people if they can never utilize the services that are supposed to be provided that you pay for. Will be talking to my union to see what steps to take to remove this payment from my pay and put it to anywhere but these crooks

I had a health plan through my group. Alberta
Took pre-authorization for orthodontal and endodontic expenses separately submitted by each of these specialists.
The Sun Life team approved both the pre-authorization separately.
These orthodontal and endodontic treatment expenses for the child are very expensive and not easily affordable for parents.
Despite the pre-authorization approval received from Sun Life, the insurance company refused to pay an amount of approx 463$ which is approximately 8% of the payment made by us ($10000) for these specialists.

A complaint was registed with Sun Life and case id was issued.
Their customer care representative Mr. G informed me that the pre-authorization approval was a mistake by their team and hence then cannot compensate the amount of $463

I followed up with Mr. G for several months and the case was open. But Mr. G states that he has put a write-off request to his senior management due to the error from Sun-life in the pre-approvals. But his senior management did not take steps.

Despite several follow-ups, Sun Life did not honor their pre-authorization approval and did not reimburse me for the expenses made

Result
Orthodontic Expenses for the treatment by us : $8000
Endodontic expense for the treatment by us : $2600

Pre-authorization sent out separately for the above to Sun Life
Approved pre-authorization amount for orthodontics : $2000
Approved pre-authorization amount for endodontics : $463

When expenses were submitted after treatment, Sun Life insurance company paid only 2000$ instead of the pre-approved amount of 2463$ with further loss of 463$

Experience
1) Despite taking approvals, the team is not professional enough to understand customer concerns and did not honor their commitment.

2) Why the customer has to always bear the loss due to the any lapses of Sun Life medical insurance team.

3) please be careful when you sign up with Sun Life plans and they will tweak the clauses to their own benefit despite preauthorization

4) they collect hefty premium for these plans

5) Sharing this information to all of you so that no other customer should have to face similar things while dealing with Sun Life health and dental insurance

I made a claim to Sun Life since last August. We are now in April and I problably talked to one of their representants 3 or 4 times at most. The rest of the time, I was talking to answering machines and nothing else. And when they do answer your call, it is to tell you nothing else but lies and excuses for refusing to pay you. From what they told me, they can change their reglementations whenever they feel like it. Even their superintendant won't answer the phone! All they do is changing representant to make you feel they care... but it all comes down to a restart with no end. I truly am hoping my company will change insurance company. I am fedup being forced to give my money to those crooks!

I have health plan coverage through the Public Service Health Care Plan (Canada) and will say it's the worst customer service I have ever experienced with any professional service company ever. It's as if they deliberatly attempt to frustrate the customer to make you give up. The phone advisors are more often condescending and rude than they are helpful, and the online secure messaging and inability to communicate by email makes the whole system as slow as molasses. I have come to despise Sun Life and will never, ever willingly use them for anything ever again as long as I live.

8 months now on my new job and still don't have life insurance coverage! They keep calling to tell me I'm missing "something" to finish processing my application but they cant' tell me what's missing. The sub-contractor they sent to do my physical lost some of my paperwork so they denied my coverage. Now I'm being denied due to "non-response". When I call to ask what I'm supposed to respond to, and I quote "Sir, we don't know". They denied coverage for my wife for a "medical condition", but they can't tell me what it is. She has only had a couple surgeries on her feet........ HR is trying to help but there is only so much they can do. I give up. I'm just going to tell HR to cancel my application with Sun Life so I can just go get private life insurance. It'll cost the same but I'll have much better service. Not a grain of intelligence can be claimed by any of the agents working at Sun Life! Anyone that rates better than 1 star obviously hasn't had to deal with them in any capacity yet - but you'll soon find out and be back here re-posting a new review.

I have UHIP with Sun Life. Initially they say everything is covered 100% including doctor visits, but when you claim they decide what % you pay out of pocket all of a sudden. First, they never send you the health plan information packet, second, the out of pocket expense % is not mentioned anywhere. So you're basically lost, and they decide how much they pay for each claim. God knows how they calculate these percentages. Their customer reps can't even explain this. Poor service, and misleading info!

Sun life is the worst company I have ever dealt with. For the first time submitting a claim in 30 years through my employer coverage, I have waited almost two months and still haven't been paid. They received my receipts and then asked for a referral note from my doctor. They stall and build any road blocks to avoid paying a dime.

They are a total scam.

For those of you leaving positive comments, just wait until you try and collect anything.

Good luck.

I have group benefits through my hospital..In Toronto/ Mississauga area. My goodness what a subpar provider Sun Life Insurance is. My wife and I did co-ordinated benefits for a pair of eyeglasses, and (Manulife) which is my wife's provider paid out their portion with no concerns. Not even one question. Sun Life did not pay out a cent.. they keep sending it around in circles to our Human Resources and then them... for eyeglasses.. no paymnet yet after 4 months.. I pay the benefits and they have not paid out one penny ..not one... when you need them.. for eye glasses... I have had Dejardin, Manulife , Equitable life and even Td Insurance.. and have been around 25 years in social services. Sun Life is the bottom of the barrel. If you are a company like a hospital, non profit agency,private or public company.. this should be the last choice you should make.. Do you want your employees to respect you.? Well then, don't choose Sun Life Insurance as your group provider... saving money does not always pay in the long run for your employee loyalty and or lost time for the HR dept in your agency..

Sincerely

Mike

I have a group benefit insurance from work. All claims went through without any problem until now. I decided to call customer service to find out what happened. Took me 30 minutes wait and when someone answered, I was told that the claim is still being investigated (which of course I already know - if the claim went through I wouldn't have called ! ) hence I have to call back in a week. I signed up for an online account last week, was given access ID, but have to wait for password or the account can't be activated (which is another unnecessary delay. I activated my account here in less than 2 minutes after I signed up. Same goes with all of my accounts online, except Sun Life account). I called again but after 20 minutes wait, I knew that 30 minutes wait will never get any shorter. If I ever needed additional insurance, I wouldn't go with Sun Life. it's the only company that makes it so inconvenient both by phone and online. if they are mostly not available by phone, at least it should be much faster and easier online.