I honestly don’t know where to start with this review. Earlier this year, I was given the details of Co-Operators Insurance in North Battleford, managed by James Bowen. I decided to call in and enquire about life insurance. On first impressions, both the business and James appeared professional and helpful, providing reasonable quotes and clear information. Unfortunately, that’s where any positive experience ended.I arranged a meeting with James for my wife and me to set up life insurance, as we had just bought a house locally. We brought along everything James had requested, including our payment details, and were told the policies would include Critical Assist coverage. The meeting lasted close to three hours, but James reassured us everything was fine and explained that the company provides temporary insurance while awaiting medicals and bloodwork, great, or so we thought.A week later, James called to admit that the temporary insurance had not been activated because he made a mistake entering the payment details. He said he couldn’t contact us to correct it in time because he’d been camping and had no access to communication. Trying to be fair, I gave James the benefit of the doubt and agreed to a second meeting, which again lasted nearly two hours. My paperwork was completed, and all seemed fine, until I later informed him I no longer wanted the Critical Assist coverage and wished to cancel it.About a week later, we ran into James at a local shopping mall. He casually mentioned the cancellation but didn’t disclose that he hadn’t actually processed it. Instead, he waited until the very last day to contact me and say it needed to be cancelled immediately or it would cost money. It felt like a tactic to run down the clock in hopes I’d miss the cancellation window.Somewhere in between all this, my wife and I had yet another meeting with James. It was chaotic, he appeared disorganized, made multiple computer errors, and even had to call his daughter-in-law for help navigating the system. That meeting also dragged on for several hours. By the end, he assured us that everything was finally in place and the policy would start soon.Months later, we received a letter stating that my wife’s insurance policy was inactive because James hadn’t submitted all the required information. After nearly seven hours of face-to-face meetings, handing over every document and payment detail multiple times, my wife still doesn’t have coverage. There was no apology, no sense of accountability, just excuses.I would strongly advise others to avoid this branch and James Bowen at all costs. Our experience has been nothing but frustrating, time-consuming, and ultimately pointless. I now intend to make an official complaint and raise my concerns with the ombudsman.Edit: November 13 2025The problem with the response from co-operators is the man the complaint about is the business owner. How can this company provide any impartial investigation when he has family and friends working within the office?
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The Co-operators Group Limited, founded in 1945, is a Canadian insurance co-operative owned by 44 members including co-ops, credit union centrals and representative farm organizations.