brighthousefinancial.com Reviews 26

I had a basic question about converting a term policy to a whole life option (this was after a received a letter from Brighthouse about this option.) When I call the phone number listed on the correspondence, I was told I could only communicate my question via email. What kind of customer service is that for a big ticket item?

I have been trying to get a verification of income for my mom since December. It is now March.
First they said they would do that but they sent me a notice that they received my change of address (which they'd gotten wrong) but no verification form.
I never got that form.

When I called about it, they said I had to have mypower of attorney form renewed, which I've had for 17 years.
I got my mom on the phone to request the VOI, and they mailed her a power of attorney form. We live 250 miles apart from each other.
I FINALLY got the POA form, but by then my mother got a notice that all her benefits were denied because we didn't have Brighthouse VOI.
I emailed my signed and notarized power of attorney, along with their form.
Today I called. They received my stuff but told me I needed to wait 5 to 10 days for them to process it before it was legitimate.
They only mail these VOI forms throughthe USPO. They will NOT email them. But when they say they've mailed something, it takes up to two weeks to arrive.

Update: Mom received her verification of income on March 9th. It was dated February 11th. It took 4 days short of A MONTH to receive this form. Two Medicaid deadlines passed before we even received the form.
BRIGHTHOUSE: YOU NEED TO SPEED UP YOUR COMMUNICATIONS!!!

EVERYONE ELSE: START MONTHS EARLY TO RECIEVE IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS!!!

My father died in May 2025.I need to file his taxes.Customer service said they will not release his tax forms unless I sent them !)a death certifcate 2)a copy of the judges executors ruling.We had no judge or legal proceedings with a judge.What a joke !

Annuity payout and they will not direct deposit it without a voided check?? Who has a damn check in 2026 ? I know my routing and account numbers. Come on people do better !!!

The overall experience of managing my account is unreasonable and archaic. While I value the coverage, several routine processes have been unnecessarily difficult and, in some cases, costly.
Enrollment & EFT Setup-Enrolling in automatic deductions should be straightforward, but the current process requires faxing in information — a method that most modern service providers abandoned years ago. Every other bill I manage allows me to set up EFT quickly and digitally. This needs to be updated.
Phone Verification-When calling in for a general inquiry, I'm required to provide my account number, Social Security number, address, and the insured's name before I can even ask a basic question. That level of verification may be appropriate for sensitive account changes, but it's excessive for routine calls and creates an unnecessary barrier to basic service.
Beneficiary Changes-Updating beneficiary information should be a simple, accessible process. The current steps are overly complicated for what is a standard account management task.
Online Payments & Late Fee Policy-I was charged for two quarters rather than one when a payment was late. That policy is punitive and, frankly, discourages online payment altogether. To avoid being double-charged, I've resorted to mailing a check — which is not a reasonable solution in 2025.
Overall-These friction points collectively suggest a system that hasn't kept pace with modern customer expectations. I'd strongly believe that filing a claim will be hard, stressful and cumbersome. After dealing with them for years I highly doubt they care about their customers.

They have no idea what they are doing! The customer service representives are idiots. I'm beneficiary of my ex husband's life insurance claim because it was an agreement we had. It is court ordered in our divorce decree. I have all the necessary paperwork to prove it. Brighthouse flagged me as a thief!

This company claimed it would pay out the money it owes me for my annuity on October 15, 2025. I've made multiple calls to their "customer service" department, but they don't have any idea what happened to MY money. It's a lot of money, so it looks like I have to sue.

If there were a minus star, I would use it. These people have the worst customer service I have ever experienced. The Philippine-based team specializes in obfuscation, ignorance, and lies.

Call 1, Nov 17: Get the application, filed the same day, and received an email confirmation of receipt.
Call 2: two weeks later, in process, please call back in a week
Call 3: Still processing, no claim number available.
Call 4: We have not received your application. What fax number did you send it to? What date? From what fax #? Please email us. Gives me the address, and it is the same as the email receipt.
Emailed and it was rejected by the mailbox
Call 4: Make it to processing, “Jim” tells me payment will be sent by direct deposit within 24 to 48 hours (Dec 22)
Call 5: The processing team says information is missing, and they sent you a note. Really? What is missing? I don’t have that info. How was it sent? I don’t know. I want to speak to Payouts. CLICK, hangs up.
Call 6: The processing is not done, the team needs more time. I don’t know anything about what Jim said. From “Jomari” (Dec 29)

Terrible call quality, some have very heavy Filipino accents, and none are interested in helping in any way.

What a disgusting company! The reviews would be funny if it weren't so horrible to deal with them.

TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE customer service

I bought the annuity from Brighthouse in 2010 and decided to cancel the policy at the end of August. They charge the total Fees of 3.6% and I wanted to make a change. I cancelled the policy on September 1st and requested the refund of policy to be mailed right away. I am writing this review on October 8th because i still did not get the promised check. My stockbroker made numerous calls making the inquiries and different people gave him different excuses why the check was not mailed. Finally, yesterday, upon my instruction, he threatened them with my complaint to the Security and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Fedewral Insurance Office, US Department of Treasury, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Florida Insurance Commissioner and Florida State Department of Insurance, they promised to send the check by Fedex. I did not get it yet and wait until Friday. This Company took my money in 1 day when I bought the annuity, but it is taking some 40 days to get it back to me. Totally Unprofessional!!!

A name correction took place on the life insurance policy and I have been struggling for over two months) to get BrighthouseFinancial to also correct my name not only in their documents but also online when I log in. I am not only a policy owner but also a beneficiary so my name needs to be corrected there also. The policy owner sent in forms, I sent in forms, phone calls, etc. every call leads to different answers and they always claim that a letter was sent to confirm the correction but we received no such letters and the correction is not reflected when we log in online. It feels like a circus and I have lost all my confidence in their ability to complete the simplest of tasks. They waste a lot of your time on the phone when you call. We are considering changing, but have been paying into this term life policy for over a decade. I feel I was ripped off.

On Monday, August 4, 2025, I submitted a life insurance claim as the named beneficiary — including the completed form, death certificate, and the annuity contract number (clearly listed on the first page and in the subject line of the email). By Thursday, August 7, I had received no confirmation or updates.

I called BrightHouse three times in one day just to get answers:
• The first rep (a foreign call agent) transferred me to MetLife, a completely unrelated company.
• The second rep couldn’t verify anything and treated me like I didn’t know how to send an email — even though I had confirmation that it was received.
• The third rep finally told me my email “hadn’t reached the processing center.” I had to demand to speak to a supervisor.

The senior advisor told me my claim wasn’t processed because I didn’t re-enter the contract number on page 2 — even though it was already listed elsewhere. This requirement was never clearly stated on the form. As a result, my entire claim was left sitting in limbo.

I was told I’d need to call back again on Friday, August 8 just to find out if the email had been located and sent to processing. In other words, BrightHouse made it my responsibility to manage their failure — while grieving, in financial distress, and doing everything right on my end.

This company has shown:
• Poor communication
• Untrained customer service reps
• No urgency or empathy
• A broken, unclear submission process

If I hadn’t followed up multiple times, my claim would still be ignored. BrightHouse Financial does not care about beneficiaries. If you’re considering this company — don’t. There are better, more compassionate alternatives out there.

Erafat was so nice and curteous. He answered all my questions regarding all the paperwork to close out my mother's account. He went through every page with me to answer my questions. He is very patient. You need to give Erafat a raise.

As the executor of an estate and while grieving the death of my mother I have had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with the unprofessional, rude and completely incompetent folks from Brighthouse. They have given me wrong forms, wrong addresses and lied to my face numerous times. I have been hung-up on, screamed at and treated like absolute garbage all while trying to settle the estate of someone who was a "customer" of their company. I cannot recommend them LESS

I had an annuity with Brighthouse Financial for years and when I decided to surrender it, they were dishonest about what it would cost to do that. They withheld way too much, but wouldn't honor what they told me. Their investments over the years also lost a lot of my money instead of growing it as they should have. DO NOT INVEST WITH THIS COMPANY!!

I have two annuities with Brighthouse Financial, worth over a hundred thousand dollars together. I am more concerned about online security breeches, having experienced several, than I am about receiving paper documents. Given that my mailbox is not located out on the street, I choose to get my quarterly statements via snail mail. So tell me... what sort of idiot mails sensitive financial information in an OPEN ENVELOPE???? No, neither envelope was opened or damaged in transit. They were never sealed to begin with! It's lucky the forms got all the way here without falling out! My personal information, policy numbers, address, and balances were all right there for anyone who felt like taking a look, and for all I know, someone did. How hard is it to moisten the envelope and close it? Hard to believe anyone would be that careless. I'm sorry I trusted them with my investments. I suggest you don't.

THE ABSOLUTE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Horrible life insurance quote experience.

Terrible customer service
No option for CC payment or for bank wire. They accept only checks.
Needed to wait 30 min on the line until managed to speak with an agent.
The agent was rude.

I just spoke to Arafat who kindly and patiently answered my questions about my account. He also carefully spelled out the names of the associated websites so that I could further access information. I was very appreciative of this.