John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC

Truly been one of the worst experiences I have ever had dealing with a company. I left my job and requested the funds on 3/8/2024, and I still have not rec’d the funds currently. I have spoken to them and managers several times and they keep saying the same thing and nothing changes. I have told them how this has created financial hardship for me and my family and they literally don’t care. So I’ve now had to seek legal action. Just know, if your job deals with them, don’t. Find another company to work with. It’ll save you a headache

Google review doesn't give me a choice to give this company no stars. Use other retirement companies, people. Not John Hancock Retirement.
Use Fidelity, Edward Jones, Vanguard and/or Schwab.
Please look at all the reviews I posted. I give 3 stars to 99% of them. I have never given a company less than 1 star.

It's a shame the way this company operates. They literally hold your 401k money hostage and will not let you roll it over to an IRA. I wish I never contributed to my 401k with my employer. Reading about some of the other shameful tactics John Hancock uses from the other reviews, it is clear that this company does not have ethics.

The only reason this company could be in business is because cheap employers use them for their 401k, giving employees no choice. The automated phone system is a joke, the app doesn't work half the time and when it does, it's super slow. They probably still use rotary phones in their call centers.

Closed out a tiny IRA that had been established from a small 401k balance. When I informed John Hancock (in the Philippines) that I wanted to cash out and asked to have it sent to my bank account, they told me it would be quicker if I did it online. So, I established a user name and password, provided the information needed and requested a check, because, as I recall it was more problematic to have it transferred to a bank account. That was on 6/13/2023.
Today, 6/27 I was wondering where the funds were, no check was in the mail. Upon calling John Hancock I was told that whenever a new online user, password, etc. is established there is always a 10 day delay for any movement of funds. Okay, I get it, safety. However, they should have told me that rather than telling me it would be quicker for me to do online. I don't recall seeing anything that made that clear.
By the way, doing this online with another 401k managed by Principal Retirement Plan Services took three days for funds to transferred directly to my bank account.

Dealing with these folks is simply impossible! I mean this in the most respectful way that I can, but it’s EXTREMELY difficult for to understand the broken English that comes from the “specialists” when calling. I had had enough so I cashed out my 401k as I had just started with them. Every time I called, it was a different story as to what was really going on. I found that most of the time, they were giving you general answers about your account and not really what’s going on. When cashing out I gave them the account/routing number to my bank account. She had some much trouble understanding me that I was certain there wound be a problem getting it correct. It was nearly two weeks later and I still hadn’t received the deposit. I called once at a week in and she said it was sent to your bank. I gave it another week and, as I suspected, she got the account number wrong and they had to send a paper check. Still waiting….. They are handling our retirements….the money you have set aside for the last years of your life…you simply cannot trust them. I chose to trust an American company with my future! Think twice before using them.

Horrible company, deceitful, not patient or family advocates. Do not care about sick ppl or hospice patients. Mission Statement by CEO does not match the violations of their LTC Insurance Policy Payouts. They lie, they withhold payments, their customer reps laugh in your face, learn stall tactics and rehearsed lines to prevent you from getting your own money. They literally accept premiums made by elderly ppl for twenty years and then withhold that persons money per contract while ppl explain to them they can’t pay bills or mortgages etc etc. and they just don’t care. Horrible company and I would never ever in my lifetime as a former nurse recommend them to anyone.

My father has been trying to get his pension benefits for over 2 yrs and still have not been able to. He has been getting the run around. First they never received his application after several submissions. They even stated pages he submitted at one point were missing pages which was incorrect. They take months at a time to resend a application for him. I even had them sent certified and just to call and the reps state they have not gotten it. I’m to the point I feel like its some fishy things going on. Because he already had a online account after me trying to assist him. He DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO SETUP AN ONLINE ACCOUNT. I assisted him with the process on 05/13/2022. We called again and was told another application would be sent and he never got it. I stated can we do it online the lady told us know. He has a pension plan through
C&S Consolidated Pension Plan. He’s just trying to get his money earned.

Dealing John Hancock retirement services has been a personal nightmare for me. I switched retirement services (prev J.H.) to my new Ret. service which requires an IRS Letter of Determination to switch funds from one account into another.
I called and spoke to a representative from John Hancock and they had no idea what a IRS Letter of Determination even was. I then asked to speak to his manager and he was able to help me out, finally, after countless and wasted minutes waiting for them while on hold. They then informed me that they would mail out the IRS LOD and that I should receive it in about four weeks ( I asked if they could just email it to me instead, in which they responded no...which makes very little sense to me). Well six weeks have gone by and I still have yet to receive anything from J.H. (Meanwhile the money I took out from J.H. does have an expiration date, which means time is of the essence). I called J.H. again and spoke to another representative and this person, again, had no idea what a IRS LOD. I then asked if there was an update on my situation in which they replied, “I don’t have any information pertaining to your Ret. Fund”.
It’s been months now, and no progress has been made what so ever from John Hancock Ret services part. I’ve dealt with other Ret Services and they all have been smooth and understanding with no difficulty at all.
I would highly recommend using other Ret Services other than John Hancock. They are very difficult to work with.

When you roll out they take fees never agreed upon, shut you out off your online account the second you request a closing of account so you can’t see activity and don’t give you final documents. The check they state you will receive is different than what you actually received (less $) and they blamed it on “3rd party” taking no responsibility, which after many calls turns out to actually be them in conjunction with United Retirement. They are a dishonest company. If you can, work with Fidelity instead. I am an actual unhappy customer and this is my honest unsolicited review.

Horrible time dealing with John Hancock to rollover my 401k into an external bank. They insisted and required I download their from from their website and sign BUT they refused and cannot accept the signed documents via their kn-line portal aka I have to mail them physically to them. Really in 2020? Really? On top of that, they wanted my external bank to sign an Acceptance document and mail it back to them as well. Just way too difficult to deal with them to move YOUR $$$$. Avoid them like the plague!

The worst customer service help, unable to find any information to help you. Can’t understand them, they tell you how to fill out forms so they can reject over and over. Call everyday to get a different answer each day. Clueless.

THE WORST OF THE WORST. I have submitted 4 applications to withdraw my funds and they keep rejecting it even when one od the employees guided me on filing out the forms. They have brainless employees that dont have a clue of what they are doing.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Shockingly dysfunctional. From the service team members, online interface, call menus and processing time; completely outdated and broken systems. Transfer your funds and get your documents now. It appears that this ship is sinking. Sooooooo many wasted hours!!!

DO NOT TRUST WHAT THE CSR TELL YOU. Horrible Customer Service. Inadequate advice and explanations surrounding services. Cost me substantial amount of money by trusting them with my retirement accounts. STAY AWAY. Much better Retirement Plan Admins available.

Absolutely the single most horrible experience I have have ever had with this world!!!!!! worked 35 years and it will take me that long to get my pension. its been 8 months now and I was told I have to start over again. then their webpage doesn't work on top of it. unreal!!

Too bad you can't speak to anyone that knows the account! After 5 phone calls and 4 e-mails, still cannot even access my account. BAD service and unreliable. downright untruthful information.

The absolute worst web ux, terrible customer service over the phone, do yourself a favor and stay far far away from John Hancock.

The absolute worst company to deal with. They trap your money and will not let u transfer it. DONT USE THEM FOR YOUR RETIREMENT.