New York Life Reviews

When I was in N.Y.C I never had a problem until I came down south. They're all kind of problems. People give me the wrong number. Lying. They are so different down here. I said everything I had to say. When I was in New York I didn't have no problems. Now that I'm down south all kinds of issues and all I'm trying to do is take my mom's name off the beneficiary. That was it.

My experience with New York Life was terrible. The initial approval was ok, just very slow. Trying to do and deal with extensions was a nightmare. I dealt with some very rude representatives and some obviously incompetent folks. I honestly feel like they withheld approval for extensions purposely. Never will I deal with them again. I gave them every bit of info they needed, had to consistently keep followup because they didn't get things right. Having rude reps is not what one needs when being off for health reasons. Talk about making things worse through an unexpected medical issue. Withholding payments was terrible. I spoke to case worker once in 12 weeks. Representative would try and patch me through but never available. Was told once I would get a call back from upper management. That never happened. Less than 1 for a review if I could.

Agent was nice. Approved my FMLA immediately. Never heard anything regarding my STD. When inquiring about it, the once pleasant agent was no longer. Accuse my dr. about not receiving my paperwork. Since my Dr was new, it took me a lot of back & forth to figure what was what. My agent finally emphasized that she was going to close my case even tho we were currently working on it. She threaten me with this 4 times on the same phone call. 2 days later I got a letter saying it was closed. Letter stated that my illness didn't prevent me from working even though you all approved me for FMLA. I am going to file an appeal and search for attys.

I have had to take a leave from work due to health issues. I applied for Short Term Disability with NY Life 20 October. I will make this as short as possible. Here are my check-ins on status in summary.

Run. This company is a nightmare to deal with. I opened a short term disability claim, sent them all the medical forms from my doctor, and after 4 weeks of waiting they canceled my claim. Why? I called and they had most of my demographic information wrong, the company I worked for wrong, and they said I was terminated by the company I never worked for. I had to refile the claim based on these errors. Every step I attempt is met with a problem. They wouldn't email a form, told me I had to download it from their online portal. My information was inputted wrong by them so I couldn't assess the online portal. Had to request a "demographic change" for the portal which can take up to 48hrs.

Obviously NYL doesn't take these review serious. They claim, if not looking further, that they have the fewest complaints - not true --- 1 1/2 stars! Policy turned down 9/25/25 - got letter re: refund that day. It is 11/7 and no refund and worse, I've called and spoken to 5 people and keep getting transferred until the last transfer results in a disconnect - terrible terrible company. If one has this problem for a deposit imagine if they actually have to pay a claim! NOT HAPPENNING - BEWARE!!!

A nightmare!! Wish I could give less than a 1 rating. We have been trying for 20+ days to simply change our banking account information from which NYLife automatically draws our monthly premiums; payments they've been drawing since Oct of 2020 (5 years). Our personal accounts were 'hacked' & we had to close our accounts and open new accounts. Every business we contacted the very day our accounts were changed (credit cards, mortgage, even Social Security) were so helpful and they changed our banking information in their systems immediately. NOT NYLIFE. We have talked with 'customer service' reps more than 8 times over 3 weeks...each one giving different information on what can/cannot be done or what has/has not been done.

The customer service (nationally) team consisted of polite staff but it was so confusing. I was transferred to four departments. My poor mama has cancer in her brain and had to verify her identity every time. It was such a hard time getting her care and every step had been made harder by their inane and seemingly purposefully complicated policies. It’s like they make it so hard to use so you never get to use the benefits and they don’t have to pay anything. I would only recommend to an enemy.

All I was trying to do was to get somebody to send me a postage paid envelope, because I needed the cash value to pay for the premiums. I asked for a postage paid envelope which I was not sent. You gotta jump through hoops through the machine. Then you get somebody to talk to, then they tell you. That well, you need a licensed agent for that, but you get twenty questions pulled on you before you can get one then, when I asked to speak to a supervisor I sit on, hold, hold, hold, hold.

I joined a hospital in February 2025. I was fully transparent that I had initiated cancer treatment in November 2024. I did buy into all of NY Life insurance products, including short term disability. On July 23rd, I had my final surgery which lasted 8 hours and I am now in bed recovering and learning to walk. Long story short, they have refused to pay my short term disability, which should be 6-8 weeks and should have been only 60% of my pay. Their reason being that it is because I had a pre- existing condition. Had I known that, I would have saved my premiums, so as to help my pay my bills during this difficult time and also have more money in my pocket. Instead of focusing on my healing, I am now focusing re-instating my GoFundMe and staying afloat. I am so disappointed and I just want the public to be informed.