Genworth Annuities Reviews

It is June and I am waiting on April's claims. There are some very caring employees who have helped but some have been less than helpful. Example: My policy and Genworth told me they would pay for housekeeping service during my wife's illness. Now I am told they want their payments back. They state they will not pay once a week housekeeping while my wife was in Hospice for 12 weeks. I guess that rather than being with my wife during her last days I should be cleaning house. They seemed so excited about getting their money back. Now I am having to go to the Clerk of Court and file forms so I can cash their checks. If I ever see them. After the last 6 months taking care of my wife of 34 years I am exhausted and devastated. Genworth has been a big aggravation the entire time.

She dismissively said we would just need to resubmit our claims. Being weary of another three claims making it to them I asked to speak with a supervisor and waited another 20 minutes for her. We are not on day three of excuses with every time I call I am on a 30 to 40 minute wait. Is there anything more we can do or are we really at their peril?

When I called my representative and made her aware of this, she told me she could cut the premiums, but by doing so I would cut my care. Also if I was approved for help, I would have to pay for the first 51 days of service. This along with the premiums is well above my means. If I cancel the policy we are talking about close to $20,000, I would be out with no refund of any kind from them... They keep all the monies I have been out. I would not recommend Genworth to my worse enemy.

One rep would tell me one thing then transfer me to another rep who would state that she did not know why I had been told such thing because that was not true. I asked for one person to see this situation through and they could't even do that! I was accused of lying and that was the last straw! I advised them I wanted all of the info for my annuity so I can put my money to work elsewhere and I was told I could not withdraw my own money! I advised them that I know the law and my rights and I can invest my money anywhere I choose! They still refused to provide me with acct balance, interest, etc! They had the nerve to tell me that that info could only be sent upon my attorney's request! Ridiculous! Since when does one need to go through an attorney in order to have access to their life savings??

I read up on Genworth before investing. Unfortunately I did not speak to anyone in regards to their personal experience and customer service! I was told initially it would take them at least 3 weeks to issue another check! Not even the Social Security Administration tries to feed you that much BS before putting a stop payment on one check and issue you another one! That is totally unacceptable! I need my money to pay my bills on time otherwise I will have to be stuck with hundreds of dollars for late fees! Furthermore I need to eat! But these reps could care less! I had to ask them to overnight papers or send them by email as I don't have a fax. But no matter what solution I brought up they always found some alleged reason why they couldn't do it! Finally one rep got sick of me and emailed me the forms. She asked to fax the forms ASAP and to call back as soon as I faxed so they can email me the next form! Why they can't email them all together? Go figure!

After I faxed the paperwork I called and I was told that my document was not received and they probably wouldn't receive it till the next day after 12 pm! When I asked how she knew my document was not in the fax machine she had no answer. I advised her that I had a confirmation number and she refused to take it. She also refused to walk to the fax machine and check if my fax was there! That is just plain laziness! She ended up telling me that it did not matter anyway because she was not authorized to email me the next document and that the person that could do that would not be available anyway till after 12 pm tomorrow. The rep that I had spoken to prior to this lazy woman had advised me that they were open till 8 pm. I am honestly disgusted with Genworth. I will not recommend them to anyone and I am seriously considering taking my business elsewhere. I am not looking forward to dealing with these reps tomorrow. I will jump over every hurdle these reps pull out. This is my money. I worked all my life for it. Honestly I have gotten better customer service at WalMart!

If you are thinking about Genworth, go somewhere else. The only reason I am staying is I have 10 more years on my policy. I have owned my own business for 27 years. I would never talk to a customer like she talked to me. A customer is to be celebrated, treated with respect and feel good about where they spend their hard earned money.

My late husband purchased Genworth Commonwealth variable annuities from Raymond James and Associates, Inc. in the late 1990s. He purchased the annuities with the understanding that there was a death benefit that would protect his investments. He was advised on several occasions by his financial advisor to hold on to them, specifically for the death benefit, since they were valued less than the initial investment amount due to poor performance. After my husband’s death I attempted to claim the death benefit on these policies. I was informed that for the death benefit to be claimed, the claim had to be made within 90 days of Ron’s date of death.

To the best of my knowledge, my husband was never made aware of this deadline and as a beneficiary I was unaware of this 90 day time frame. Had I been aware of it I most certainly would have filed a claim immediately. After speaking to numerous financial planners and insurance representatives, I have found that such a clause may be highly unconventional. Especially since beneficiaries are likely to be unaware of detailed contract provision that they have never seen or read?

I have attempted to plead my case with both Raymond James and Genworth, but their response was, "Unfortunately to comply with your request for an exception would be a violation of our contract provisions. It would also be an unfair practice to our other clients."

Just how many other clients have been cheated out of money owed to them by Genworth? I feel that this clause was placed in the contract to give the insurance company a way out of paying on a benefit that myself and many other beneficiaries were entitled to. Ninety days is a short period of time for a widow who has had to endure much pain grief and suffering to get her emotions in check to be able to handle and resolve many issues and problems arising from my husband's death.

A sum of $58,000 was lost. To me (as a senior citizen on a fixed income) it represents a little added security especially when a $105,000.00 investment over 7 years was reduced to $89,000.00. My husband knew the risks of investing and purchased the annuity looking to safeguard that risk. He paid for that coverage over a 7 year period. As it has turned out, the insurance company provided no insurance against that risk.