Prudential Life Insurance Reviews

Horrific customer service. I had short-term disability with them to cover time off from work due to major surgery and medical leave. When my surgery date was postponed, all hell broke loose in that they would not adjust the coverage date to reflect the new surgery date, which ended up giving me a shorter coverage period, which made no sense given the updated paperwork I provided. The foreign customer service did not help me at all. They do not think about ways to help you, but read from a script and seem to purposefully try to confuse me. At one point, the representative kept confusing "August" with "October." When I finally did reach US-based customer service in my "claims manager," this person was extremely rude, disparaging, and condescending. Again, this person did not want to help me and very quickly got angry when speaking to me about my case.

The customer service call center for this company is full of incompetence and inefficiency. Concerning a life insurance claim I unfortunately had to work with them about, they asked me for the death certificate 4 times and I sent it to the EXACT email they gave me SEVERAL TIMES and still they could not find it. Finally I faxed it and was told it would take 24 hours to confirm receipt even though it was confirmed on my side. 24 hours later I'm told it takes 48 hours. I emailed them the DC two months ago. This process should already be done but I'm still waiting for them to find their rear ends with both hands and a flash light!!!

Almost impossible to deal with. Even a simple request requiring a simple form takes multiple attempts. First agent takes 20 minutes to validate who you are and agrees to send a form in 30 minutes to email. After 2 hours and non receipt, another call, another 20 minutes to explain and validate, put on hold “for a few minutes“ then disconnected with no call back. Third call, 20 mins validation and explanation, and now this form might take 48 hours. And this is for an easy one. More difficult issues literally take months and dozens of calls. The real problem is that no single agent takes ownership and follows through, requiring speaking to dozens of different agents with the same darn 20 minutes validation and explanation each time.

Prudential accepted a fraudulent document from a person who was stealing and is now being investigated for fraud, wire fraud and defrauding the US Navy housing assistance program.. This person wrote a letter and stating was in charge of My Mother affairs solely and they accepted that document but when it comes to protecting their interest they require signatures but never contacted my Brother and I before they issued the remainder of our funds to a person who has not communicated or gave us any proceeds that we were entitled to.

Prudential Life has no business in the life insurance industry. We have been five months now trying to get our payout with zero results. The paperwork has been sent in by a professional in the insurance field well versed in what is needed as well as follow up. Prudential has failed time and again to provide any progress in closing out the policy via payment of funds. When they are contacted they are not professional and present themselves in a manner which makes you believe they have no idea how to proceed. Do not ever buy from them.

My dad had a life insurance policy. I have made 4 calls trying to receive payment. Keep being brushed off. A call to the lawyer is next! I'm done!!!!

Stay away from the Houston Branch on West Loop S. and the main headquarters in New Jersey. After having life ins. policies for 60 years, they scammed us into an annuity that expires when we are 95 and cancelled our policies for better investment. Turned out we have to pay thousands of dollars in taxes because of their actions. After calling, letter writing numerous times with little help and no call backs, we cashed in the 1 month old annuity they opened. We were advised it was elder abuse and fraud. Run fast away from this company!

I fully understand why they have a 1 star rating. Customer service is the worst I've ever dealt with. Difficult to understand and absolutely no follow through. I called twice requesting a 10099-int. The first call, I passed between three different people before I was told they would send one. After two weeks, I called again for status. The rep is talked with said she saw the notes from the last call and reached out to previous rep. Previous rep confirmed it was never sent. 2nd rep promised to send and also email and EOB that day. Two more weeks, still waiting on both.

Really, I think the title of this review sums it up. If not, be my guest and try talking to their customer support phone lines. Their English may be better than other customer support lines with other faceless and soulless mega corporations, but I can tell that they can take a moment to understand what you're saying since English is not the first language of the customer support phone employees. And, yes...as you might imagine, that does tend to complicate matters when trying to get claims or other important business matters resolved in a timely fashion. For Cripe's sake, Prudential! Will you just hire employees who have resided for 5 years or more in the countries you do business in?! I don't care what it saves you every fiscal year in operating costs. It tends to reduce the overall quality level of service by doing that. Oh, and no... even if they're "direct employees" it still doesn't help matters for customers, because that language barrier thing is still there.

I was just recently denied coverage for myself because they said that I had a memory disorder. Excuse me, I don’t have any memory problems and I can prove you wrong. I’m not sure what you mean by cognitive disorder, but I don’t have Alzheimer's or anything like that. I’m going to reapply for life insurance through you, and this time I want you to do this right!

I HAVE had longterm care ins. for about 40 years and my wife also. I am now 90 and my wife needs help taking care of me. PRU delays every way possible. I have made all payments and I wonder if I should drop it all in a a lawyers box!!?

My mother in law passed away in September. She left my daughter her granddaughter as one of her beneficiaries. I have been going back and forth with this freaking company. They refuse to give my daughter her money because they need proof I'm her mom. I then sent birth certificate social security everything that ties me to my child and still nothing. So we will be seeking legal assistance on this matter. WORST COMPANY EVER. I will never and I mean Ever be going through them for life insurance. I don't care if they the last insurance company in the world.

They refused to cover me though I'm healthy as a horse 40s. Didn't give a reason or contact me directly to explain. I can only assume it's because of disclosure of underlying immune disease. (Pre-existing conditions) We have zero control over. What a joke I'd highly advise a different insurer as they clearly pick and choose likely discriminate against potential and current clients. Which honestly should be illegal and only reflects the quality of their insurance and business practices. Shameful!

Extremely Disappointed – Claims Denied Despite Proper Documentation. I am extremely disappointed with Prudential’s MyBenefits services. Despite submitting all required and appropriate documentation, my claim was still denied without any clear explanation. I’ve done everything asked of me, yet the process feels like an endless loop with no accountability.

My husband passed on 12/11/2020 & had held & paid monthly on a policy with Prudential since 1990. The policy end date was 12/10/2020. After being contacted by funeral director & myself he was denied any compensation as they stated the policy was inactive ~ yes ONE day after policy ended he died during Covid unexpectedly ~ and Prudential choose to completely disregard after paying for 30 years. I understand there are rules however One day after & during Covid there was nothing offered! I would definitely say this is not a life insurance company to invest in.

I have two Prudential life insurance policies and the second one has been the hardest event of my life to get it filled out and started and such poor Customer service and my agent is sorry. When you call in to try to straighten out a problem that they caused, it’s next to impossible to talk to somebody, and when you do talk to somebody, they have no idea what you’re talking about.

Completely worthless company. My father passed away and left a small annuity. I spent a long time on the phone with a rep who I could barely even understand. I finally received a link to file a claim that wasn’t even for the item I was trying to claim! The online system is confusing and all over the place. Unbelievably horrible company.

An absolute dumpster fire of a company with terrible customer service. I have never had such an awful time dealing with a company before. You need to be sure you stay far, far away from this company as you can.

Horrible to deal with for death benefits. Incompetent processing. Foreign customer service with lack of understanding. It’s taken over a year to process my claim. Online service is incredibly lacking. Requests the same info repeatedly no matter how many times you provide it.

Joy **, Andrea **, Joseph ** and Scott H are all fraudulent. I was told by Joy and Andrea that my claim was good to go but Andrea told me that Andrea had requested the wrong dates. My claim should be approved by now. I asked Joy if she was working with the employer to falsely deny my claim due to siding with the employer because the employer is a customer with Prudential and Prudential is siding with the employer. Joy and Andrea I have several phone calls that was told to me something different something. Prudential is for the employer and falsely deny claims to please the employer so the employer don't have to pay the claimant when in fact the claimant is more than eligible for benefits. Prudential is a fraud company. Prudential also retaliated, harassed and discriminated against me because of the employer not wanting to pay eligible benefits.

The company did not disclose the proper information I needed for life insurance until it was impossible for me to attain. I will encourage all the veterans I can reach to avoid the company and all of their services. So glad I have a large platform on social media to let everyone know.

I have been trying to get a life insurance claim filed for three months. I emailed what they asked, but received a notice that one part was not correct. So I sent it again. Then something else was not correct. Then, OOOPs, because "this" now we need "that". Oh, that was a mistake. We didn't need that, but we need this. Seriously. Etc. Etc. Etc. The managers are as bad as the agents. It doesn't help that everyone I have spoken with has had a heavy ** accent spoken through a garbled phone system. Prudential, like America, is dysfunctional - possibly by design. How much money can they make by withholding my payout for months? (BTW, I have submitted life insurance claims to three other companies and all were COMPLETED with one phone call and one e-mail, and I had the money within 10 days. It can be done!)

I hate to write bad reviews for a company that is supposed to be helping Veterans but let me tell you. I retired from the military after 24 years and I was hoping things had changed the way some companies treat vets but nope. Anyway. I got approved for VGLI in April 2025 it is now 4 June 2025 I attempted to set my account up online ran into an issue do I called the number on the notice I received (been calling since I Monday) when someone answer the phone they don’t listen to me all the way through what I’m trying to tell them and just pass me around from department to department and other times they just half assisted and give me whatever information they think they want to give and hang up. Vets have their youth and now we can’t get the dam help we need. Please do better. Vets deserve better.

If I could leave a negative 5, that would be my experience. Have to ask to speak to someone in the USA in order to understand them.. Left doesn't know what right is doing. Many 60 minute plus calls. Takes 5 biz days to email documents. Was sent a letter in February that my deceased mother's policy was going to unclaimed funds if no claim was made. This was my first notice she had a policy. I contacted claims and they sent me claim forms that were unbelievably confusing. I sent them back with documents. Called again in March. Turns out form was not completed correctly and the Trust date was not what their records showed. Needed to include my sister. They mailed her the forms and re-emailed to me. When she received we called Pru again and went through what was needed and decided we would all docusign. Now my claim form won't open and new forms had to be emailed.

When you contact customer service you will get an overseas call center. They are not helpful by phone and will quickly direct you to complete their antiquated forms and require you to fax or snail mail documents and then call them back. They will always put the ownership to solve the issue on the customer and the answer is always fax more documents (which they will take their time to process, I have been waiting months). My niece is autistic and they will not accept my POA to manage her policy, they want a letter from her doctor saying she can make financial decisions (which makes no sense). She obviously has not started the policy or been paying for it but because they made a clerical error in the 80s and made her the "owner" of her policy. I have been running in circles for years to get it fixed. Now they are saying we have to get guardianship of a 38yr old in order to comply.

Don't rely on Prudential for anything, they are in charge of leave for the company I work for and they denied, no surprise there, had an appeal as things have gotten worse. Before the process was even completed "Joy" (an oxymoron if there ever was one) informed me because I saw a dr before starting they were going to deny this appeal. Now for the fun part, I had been on leave for some minor issues, then I was diagnosed with cancer, not once did she show any empathy. She could not have cared less. She said, "It doesn't matter what your illness is because you saw that dr all claims will be denied." She did not offer any assistance in what may help, ways to help but they make you fill out about 25 pages of information including work history which they said was to see if they could find something for you, they have no interest in helping you. Stay away, they are heartless.

Many excuses NOT to pay a life insurance claim. Myself and brothers had to step through many hoops/phone calls to get paid for a life insurance death benefit for our mother. Grief already ensued; yet Prudential made it difficult to settle.

Mr. ** made what was an emotionally exhausting and stressful situation simple. Ray ensured that my policy was looked after and handled efficiently. I do not know what I would have done without his calming demeanor through what was otherwise a nightmare.

I will never do business with Prudential again. I was a customer for years but closed out a small policy a few years ago. They keep tracking me, apparently through credit bureaus, and will not remove personal data. It is more than creepy to get a notice from a company I do not do business with anymore congratulating me on a move to a new state, commenting that they have updated their records, and providing me their privacy policy - which they do not appear to be willing to honor. Here is their exact statement in an email response to my request to have my data deleted. "We are unable to honor your request because the information that you have provided indicates that you are not a resident to a state, region or country that specifies individual rights requirements."

My father passed and we have been trying for 2 months to get this claim settled. Every time we talk to them they tell us they need more information. We have sent them all required docs many times and they still say they don't have them. Every call is with a different person and they all tell you something totally different.

I have been trying to close out a life insurance policy for over 3 months!! They have processed acct x4, expedited x3 and no results! I have spoken to 4 supervisors who state “check is in the mail“. And no results. It’s only $5,000. They have been rude and deceptive. Please be warned. I must now seek legal assistant cause this acct!

My experience with Prudential was a group life insurance policy thru my employer. I had the optional spouse insurance for 23 months before my husband passed. He had a sudden illness that turned out to be small cell lung cancer. No prior health problems. Because the policy is less than 2 yrs old, it's STILL in review. Even though he passed almost 6 months ago. The funeral bill is just adding up interest on my credit card because they're still investigating. And apparently can continue to do so for an undetermined amount of time. As long as I get a letter every 30 days letting me know it's still pending. That's all they have to do. So, who knows when the closure comes.

My dad paid. Was paying into a 100,000.00 policy since he was a young adult. Prudential raised the premium over 300 dollars totaling over 600 a month. My parents were having trouble paying so they dropped them. My father recently passed at age 80 and my mom was left with nothing and struggling to pay bills and buy food. Absolutely disgusting how they were treated. This company should be sued.

I have been a life insurance customer of TEN YEARS with this company, and always paid my premiums on time. We recently moved, and, despite a snail mail, online, and phone change of address, my quarterly bill did not make it to my mailbox! NO ONE notified me by email or text, that my payment was late. I called to ask where my bill was, only to find out they just canceled me, leaving me high and dry! This was extremely nerve-wracking, not my fault and quite unfair. I am NOT happy with how Prudential treated me, a good and faithful customer of a SOLID DECADE.

My father was deceased in 2021. Despite multiple mailings, calls and double submissions of death certificates, I find myself on a gerbil's wheel of correspondence, documentation and phone holds leading to promises of resolution, from off-shore call centers, which never come. All of the boxes were checked in early 2023. And yet, the policy proceeds check promised to be on line, has still yet to be deposited in my account.

We have had life insurance through Prudential for over 15 years. Recently, we received a check in the mail due to the cancellation of our policy. Unfortunately, Prudential's customer service operates only during working hours on weekdays, which is inconvenient for working customers. I spent 1.5 hours on the phone and was told that the cancellation was an error and that our policy would be reinstated immediately. However, 16 days later, we received a note indicating that the check was cancelled, but our policy was not reinstated. Now, 30 days have passed, and the issue remains unresolved. I've spent over four hours on the phone trying to get answers but to no avail.

I have spent hours upon hours getting things resolved. If you can call it that. First they lost a $1521 premium. Then they applied my wife’s payment to my policy and hers lapsed. Each one of these things took months to get fixed. They do not have email. They do not call you back. They do not follow through. Total joke.

Want to warn anyone who would even consider Prudential. They have literally thousands of poor reviews from people they have taken advantage of. I do not understand how such a corrupt company can continue to do business. They will do whatever they can to avoid paying on claims (including Life Insurance to beneficiaries). My Mother passed away over 3 months ago now. I have called them several times, each on hold for over an hour. All they do is send out the same claims forms over and over. They do this so they can collect interest off of the deceased person's money that is rightfully due to the family. The company as a whole is very dishonest and crooked!

Prudential has failed to establish me as power of attorney for my mother's account. I have sent the requesting information via USPO registered mail 24 March 2023. No response was ever given. 29 June they sent a threateniing letter stating that my mother's address had changed. This could have negative consequences to her medical care and other implications. I contacted Prudential on 29 July 24 and found nothing from my prior efforts had been done to establish POA. On 29 July 2024 I sent all requested document to again establish POA. I called on 2 Aug 2024. They acknowledge receipt of documents via e-mail and told me it would be processed in 7 to 10 business days. I called on 12 August 2024. They still have not processed the POA and struggle every time that I call even finding the information that I have sent.

What a difficult time trying to get a matter resolved. Every customer rep has told me a different story. Not one rep spoke (American) English so I could understand them clearly. I have been trying for over 6 weeks now. I'm suppose to return paperwork and have been given 4 different addresses, 1 in Boston, 1 in CT and 2 in Philadelphia. I will keep trying only because I have had my account over 40 years.