Canassistance Reviews 56

Canassistance should change their name to Scamster. Only in Quebec company like this could exist. A third world within Canada.
After put me thru hell asking documents, proof and paid professional estimate denied by some technicality. It would have been helpful if they were upfront about this before sending me off to hire a professional and pay for estimate. Does anyone ever get their claim paid by this company? It’s like in some movies. Only thing they do find a way or invent something to deny your claims. I canceled my National Bank World Elite Mastercard after this horror. Never ever want to deal with Canassitance or National bank or anything or anybody from French Canada side. These people are born to scam others. It’s in their DNA.

Date of experience: April 16, 2025

Completely useless. You will get the run around from beginning until end. They would tell us that they called a hospital and then the next time we called they would say they havent gotten ahold of the hospital. One day they told us we would have our money in 10 days and the next day they said it would be 30 days. They never even responded when we initially called them from the hospital in Mexico. We ended up having to pay over 25000 and are now currently paying interest on it.

Date of experience: March 21, 2025

I would strongly advise against using CanAssistance for travel medical insurance claims. My experience has been nothing short of a nightmare. I had sudden and severe shoulder pain while traveling, which required immediate attention. After an X-ray, my doctor recommended an MRI due to the complexity of my condition, which turned out to be cervical stenosis. I was prescribed painkillers and advised to undergo conservative therapy until my return to Canada.
When I contacted CanAssistance, they requested a doctor’s letter and an online claim submission. I complied, but they kept asking for additional doctor’s letters as if my medical condition could magically change every week for a month. Every single request for a doctor’s letter cost me $35. Then, they demanded a report from my family doctor in Canada regarding any pre-existing conditions within the last six months. Once again, I obliged. this time paying $40 for the report. After three months of back-and-forth, they closed my file, claiming they needed yet another report from my family doctor. Apparently, they contacted my doctor directly, but nothing came of it.
This ordeal was nothing less than harassment. How many times do they need the same report? It felt like they were deliberately creating barriers to make me give up on pursuing the claim. They couldn’t find any valid reason to deny my claim from the reports I provided, yet they kept demanding more. The total cost of all the medical reports would be more expensive than the amount of my claim. An absolute waste of time and money.
If your claim is minor, don’t even bother. Dealing with CanAssistance is exasperating, upsetting, and ultimately fruitless. It’s clear they are more interested in wearing claimants down than providing meaningful assistance. CanAssistance is absolutely useless / hopeless. I'd like to give them a -5 rating, but because the review system does not allow these ratings, I'll give CanAssistance an over-generous 1.

Date of experience: April 10, 2025

Alberta Blue Cross couldn’t tell me about my insurance plan so they bounced me over to Canassistance. After waiting over 30 minutes being told repeatedly “your call is important and someone will be with you shortly” I phoned with another phone. The agent advised the travel department was already closed to which I asked “why the phone system does not advise this?” after tying up my phone line for over 30 minutes. We sure need to make the payments promptly, but the service just isn’t there. I think I’ll look elsewhere for my insurance needs. The agent said to call again tomorrow, but I’m not spending another 30 minutes on hold, especially if they don’t have a callback system! They’re busy-yes, I understand, but I am also busy!!

Date of experience: April 03, 2025

terrible terrible service after paying for Blue Cross for over 20 years I had a small claim for dr they sent me to in Aruba only 105 dollars they wanted endless papers would wait hour in phone,,,,they told me the hospitol would be paid directly but hospttol tolcd me this was wrong 33 months later still waiting fir this small payment AVOID USING BLUE CROSS TRAVEL INSURANCE AS THEY USE THIS TERRIBKLE TERRIBLE COMPANY THAT DOES EVERYTHING THEY CAN NOT TO PAY YOU

Date of experience: March 31, 2025

When you have to wait over an hour to speak to an agent, the chances are that you will be death before starting a claim!

Date of experience: March 10, 2025

I’ve submitted more then 4 claims per year with this company and it has always been easy! Agents are sweet hearts. Very sympathetic and take the time to listen. I’ve had maybe 2 claim that extended longer then the time frame indicated on their site but nothing to the extreme!

I’ve read some of these reviews and I wouldn’t take certain of their complaints as canassistance fault. People have a tendency of skipping the main message where it says «  important message » that indicate everything they require. Or not getting informed of their contract before hand.

I myself sometimes miss providing the proper information and was always explained with such delicacy «  it’s normal , don’t worry about it. Once you submit we will advise our team member » and within days problem solved!

Canassistance is great once you do your due diligence on your side!

I’ve worked in customer service for YEARS and feel for all of them having to discuss with elders who require a lot of time and patiences. In which they never make you feel bad for!! With the most stubborn and rude customers not assuming their errors as well.

Canassistance you all are doing a GREAT JOB with IMPECCABLE SERVICE!

Date of experience: February 09, 2025

Terrible service, they were suppose to supply a guarantee of payment for my daughter to receive medical care in Mexico, they had a technology issue and could not do that. The hospital gave them two weeks after to provide GOP, they never provided it so I was charged in full. Been waiting over two months to be paid back, they say 15 days then another 10, then say they put a note on your file, then you talk to the next person who can't read the note because its not there. Then someone told me I would be paid next week, the week comes and no payment. No one seems to know what they are doing or can give any direct answers, one of the worst companies I have dealt with.

Date of experience: February 27, 2025

I went to another country to fix my back issue as in Montreal,Quebec I don't have a family doctor since 2011 and it's a pain to get an appointment with the Dr.
I submit my claim after 1 month after coming back to Montreal and it took 6 months and multiple calls with them to ask for progress on my claim. Of course they rejected with the stupid motive : unstable medical condition prior to departure !!!!!!!!! For fsake , if you had a viable health system here you think I would chose to go somewhere else ???
They are by far the worst customer service in Canada . Unfortunately my work choose them so I can't change anything . One start is too too much for NoCanAssistance but it's minimum .

Date of experience: September 14, 2024

I feel bad for the one star but I had no choice if there is a negative stars I would give CanAssistace below zero stars, terrible customer service , terrible time frame , they promise you 10 business days for the claim to be finalized and now it’s month 2 and it’s still going , it’s impossible to speak to the adjuster or the claim processor , you can only talk to customer service who don’t have enough info and when you request a supervisor or to speak to the mysterious claim specialist they said sorry we can’t do that. The worse customer service in all over Canada. After they processed the claim they sent me $60 and I paid over $3500. A joke but it’s not a funny one.

Date of experience: December 20, 2024

Terrible service, it has been almost a year since i submitted my claim and still no decision, "the decision letter will arrive in the mail within 10 business days", yeah, sure, that's the same message you gave three times over the last 6 months.

Date of experience: March 31, 2024

I want to give this company 0 stars - they are the absolute worst. You can't contact them. If you are lucky enough to talk to someone they put you "on hold" and then disconnect. It's no accident - they did it more than once. I have a simple documented claim of US$591. SIMPLE! I've been dealing with these "people" since March - it's now December and I keep getting a run around. Their web site is as useless and crappy as the company itself.
I really blame the organizations - in my case RTIP - for engaging a crappy company like this. We formerly had ManuLife and doing a simple claim was simple. Then they had to go to CanAssistance.
We MUST all contact our provider (RTIP ... whatever) and have them end all dealings with these incompetents! They are not the worst insurance company I've ever dealt with - they are the worst company I've ever dealt with.

Date of experience: December 03, 2024

Never ever, I repeat, Never Ever Ever waste your precious time and money filing a Travel Medical Insurance Claim with CanAssistance...for the insurance policy that you have through Alberta Blue Cross. All the reviews I’ve read I couldn’t agree with more. You simply cannot get a hold of any of their Supervisors/Managers to get a clarification or file your concern or complaint about the worst of the worst customer service. they keep asking for further information and they don’t accept anything but scanned copies (they simply assume you have these capabilities). Even the online tool accepts only 3 documents, while I had over 50 receipts/invoices to submit.
They have made my Emergency Travel/Med Claim experience extremely stressful and nerve wrenching. Don’t put yourself through this. I agree with other reviewers about how they make it so impossible that all you want to do is give up and withdraw your claim. It's been 5 months for me fighting for this Claim. What a scam!!! Shame on you CanAssistance, Shame!! Shame!!!

Date of experience: November 28, 2024

CanAssistance failed to ensure payment to US-based providers for our claim in Dec 2023. The amount went to a collection agency who has been harrassing us for over nearly a year as of this writing. Two formal letters of complaint to Can Assistance and hours on the phone with CanAssistance have not resolved the issue. In addition to this review, I am proceeding with a formal complaint. Scanning the list of complaints here confirms that this is a very common problem that Can Assistance has been unable to address for quite some time.

Date of experience: November 20, 2024

It has been 7 months that I have been waiting for CanAssistance to pay for emergency medical care that they approved. The invoice actually went to collections! They lost the documentation that I submitted online. Numerous phone calls to them have been a waste of time. They do not keep records of calls so they have no idea what is going on. I am surprised that Blue Cross has not found another provider considering the poor track record of this company.

Date of experience: February 21, 2024

Absolute dumpster fire. It says in my policy that I have 100% emergency travel coverage. First time I used them in January they addressed my claim within maybe a month and only paid about 75% for a dental emergency. Second time was in May. I had 3 hospital bills totalling 20k CAD. They say they will help you in 10 business days but it is now late August and the bills are not yet paid. They sent me an email notice in June saying that I didn’t prove that I paid these bills. I told them obviously not because I don’t have 20,000$ and I indicated this to them. No reply so I call them again and again and finally weeks later they say ok we need detailed medical reports. I tell them I already sent them everything, they say no we need it from the hospital and we asked them for them. I call the hospital and they say that they have never heard from my insurance company. I give them the fax and I wait again. Weeks go by, nothing. Hospital is calling me asking me for 20 grand. I call Can Assist and they say they got the paperwork but need more information. I call the hospital again and they say ok. Weeks go by, now we are in August. The hospital calls me asking me to pay extra interest on top now. I say no chance that’s not my fault. I call can assist and the employee seems lost asking if I sent in all the docs and what I was even being treated for. I say you have all this already and more. They finally say we need detailed invoices by the end of August or we have to restart the process. Here I am calling the hospital again who already sent these docs to them 3 times and is probably tired of me calling them.

Date of experience: August 19, 2024

Terrible experience with CanAssistance.
They lost my documents. It took them 3 weeks to realize that they lost them. Everytime they add a 10 working-day delay. They send unclear informations and instructions. If you can, don't work with this company, they don't want to reimburse you, they find every reason not to.

Date of experience: July 24, 2024

If I could give them a 0 I would. Had to go to emerg in the US in March. It is almost July and I am still getting the bills from the hospital. There has been NO communication from them. When I call they say I’m getting the bills because “ I was the one who went to the hospital.” NO!! I thought my next door neighbour would get the bills. Never ever again.

Date of experience: March 19, 2024

Unfortunately I find it difficult to give this company even one full STAR. The company name, in reality, should read "Can't Assist". Due to a cancer diagnosis, our planned family holiday had to be cancelled. Having provided completed medical forms from the physician, the next 4 months were a protracted battle of phone calls, documents being continually emailed to them, unbelievable long waits on the phone, being told documents were not complete or not received (even when we received confirmation from them that the material was received. ) It was a constant battle to speak with someone, no one seemed to know what should have already been evident in the file. I am extremely disappointed that the extra money we pay to OTIP for health and travel insurance does in fact cause a nightmare if you have to cancel a trip. If you have an extra 2 - 3 hours every day to contact Can't Assist for a number of months, go for it. Otherwise, run away as quickly as you can!

Date of experience: December 01, 2023

Company does not provide services and then charges customer for their failure!

I suffered a traumatic incident abroad resulting in a 3 week stay in hospital including multiple surgeries. Luckily my medical care was covered by the national healthcare (New Zealand). However I requested CanAssistance support with upgrading my flight home and moving my (luggage as recommended by the hospital). In 18 days CanAssistance were unable to process my claim and provide support. I ended up taking my flight without additional support (uncomfortable and not ideal for recovery). I was disappointed with CanAssistance poor service, but imagine my dismay when I noticed they billed my healthcare benefits over $1600! This is FRAUD. Not only did they not provide assistance during one of the worst times of my life but they actually charged for it. I’m thankful I didn’t need CanAssistance to cover my healthcare costs because it’s clear they are not a trustworthy or reliable company.

Date of experience: March 12, 2024