Sun Life Financial Calgary Central - Calgary

The worst phone call experience ever with branch manager today... I called branch manager at Sun Life centre 108 to inquire about one mutual fund transaction today, and such phone call experience was the worst 15 minutes in my life. After the call, my shoulders and hands were trembled, blood pressure hiked, and I was lucky that I had a strong heart. I thought the call would be easy as I just wanted to get a transaction detail from the branch. The manager did not listen to my request; instead, she started to describe the progress of the incident by explaining to me that she was not at fault. It seemed that she pushed all the problems to me in order to protect herself. I told her on the phone that what happened already happened, at this moment, I only wanted a copy of evidence for the transaction, as I doubted any words from the branch and would prefer to see real data from system’s back end in my eyes. Still, she ignored my request and continued to explain that she was not at fault, but louder. I raised my voice a little and repeated that I only required the document rather than talking about the details. She ignored, while, she kept explaining and talking, talking and explaining. I could not talk any words but listened to her for about 5 minutes. That was enough -- I could not bear the self talking. I raised my voice further and kept talking the same way, wished I could interrupt her so that I could at least speak a word. Well, it did not work; the manager raised her voice too. We kept self talking for 30 seconds, and no one would listen to the other. “Can you stop and let me talk?” I repeated 3 times, but she did not stop. “You are not letting me talk, please show me your respect!” I kept repeating the sentence 5 times, she did not stop but slowed. “I am your customer, stop talking, you are not respecting me”, I kept repeating and repeating until she finally stopped. I slowed down speech and lowered my voice as I was so tired and felt uncomfortable because of that noxious, disrespectful conversation. I told the manager that I had known her for 2 years and treated her as my mentor with my full respect and trust. However, what she did today totally demolished the well built relationship as she damaged the foundation of relationship -- respect. I reminded her that she was the branch manager of Sun Life Financial and her attitude and behaviors represent the brand and reputation of Sun Life Financial. I told her that even my lawn care company would never treat me with this terrible customer services experience. My relationship with the manager and branch is finished. As a customer, I definitely should not be treated like this. I was respectful not rude on the phone, and all my need was to request a copy of my financial transaction, which I believe that I have my right for information and full disclosure. The manager has worked for Sun Life Financial over 20 years and holds a management position. I am curious any reason caused her behavior; didn’t she know how to communicate or serve a customer, did she require more training for customer service, did she lack professional ethics, did she treat customers differently based on different grounds or characteristics, or simply an attitude issue? A person can learn more and work harder if he or she does not have enough knowledge or experience -- this is not a problem; but it will be a terrible problem if a person does not have right attitude to proceed. Anyways, I already had the phone call recorded, and I am gathering all documents and evidence for a formal complain to the head office of Sun Life Financial and appropriate authorities. Further, I do not trust Sun Life Financial anymore, and my mutual funds with Sun Life Financial, the branch 108 and the manager was the most terrible thing.

Sylvie Chan is my advisor from Sun Life Central in Calgary. I chose her over other advisors at the same firm as well as other insurance companies’ advisors. We had two meetings at her office lasting 1-2 hours because I had many questions. She has been very friendly and patient with all my questions and has been always interested in my own needs. She never tried to be pushy, instead simply gave me detailed explanations. Sun Life is a solid company and premiums maybe a little more expensive than other insurance companies. But I didn’t want to buy an important insurance from others because they are cheaper. Manulife’s advisors or brokers didn’t impress me. They just seem to want to sell anything!