tal.com.au Omdömen 

Worst insurance company ever!! Do not take out any of there products! They are fraudulent!! They take your money but won’t pay out!! They find every avenue not too pay! They have robbed my housemate and his siblings of over $1millon dollars saying their terminally ill father missed ONE payment out of the whole 15years he had the policy! Now they have denied my own TPD payment due to a broken ankle that after 19 weeks I am still no closer to walking or going back to my day job! Instead TAL believe I can go back to work in another career instead! Like Fck! I pay this insurance for the career I have now!

It's a complex story, but one that was made even more so by the absurd hoops that I had to jump through by TAL. In brief, they did everything possible to make life difficult for me in the situation I was in. A policy was taken out by my brother-in-law. He recently died. I am his Executor and Power of Attorney as I am for his wife who has dementia. I only knew he had a policy because TAL took payments from his account every month. I called and they refused to tell me anything - not what the policy was, who it was for, nor the policy number. Before they would do anything, they told me I had to find the policy number. Can you believe this? Icouldn't find it. So I then had to go through a complex process laid down by them, it seemed, on purpose, to make it impossible to get any information. Many emails later I sent in all the documents and ID documents required and finally I was sent a policy number. BUT it turned out even that wasn't enough. All the ID documents had to be certified. All I wanted to do was to continue to pay TAL so the policy remained active. There was no claim due. But they have given me so much grief, it's clear they want me to drop the policy so they keep all the payments made to date but will never have to pay out on the policy. Keep away from them!!!

The most disgusting company I have ever encountered! Diagnosed with Leukaemia needed a bone marrow transplant spent two years finding excuses and dodging payments the lengths these people went to to deny the claim is sickening. Please if you have any insurance with these people go somewhere else!

They are also the parent company for Australian Super if you have your super with them pull it out and go somewhere else.

TAL are disgusting, read all the reviews. Please stay away from this company!

And thanks for your reply but I can’t send you a message on Facebook because you BLOCKED me for sharing my experience on your posts, that’s how fraudulent, shifty and immoral your company is!!!!! Everybody reading this please stay away from this company.

The absolute worst experience I have ever encountered.

My mother paid into a funeral fund through Westpac, which was later transferred to TAL. She contributed to this fund for 23 years.

Following her passing, I have spent five consecutive days trying to contact TAL to lodge a claim. On every occasion I was left on hold for extended periods, often exceeding two hours. I selected the callback option multiple times and received only one callback from five requests, only to be advised that someone would contact me within 24 hours. That never occurred.

Today, I made a sixth attempt and still have no resolution.

I have now escalated the matter to both Customer Service and the Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) team, yet I am still waiting for a response.

This is a deeply disappointing and distressing level of service to provide to families who are grieving and simply trying to honour their loved one's wishes and final arrangements. At one of the most difficult times in a person's life, no family should have to endure this level of frustration and delay.

My mother paid into this policy for 23 years. The least that should be expected is timely support when a claim needs to be made.

They really are the worse insurance company I have had to deal with. After giving them over $50k in 9 years when I lodged a claim they made me jump through hoops and gave me the run around with multiple transfers to different “managers” telling me that I need more doctors certificates even after supplying one at the very beginning for my toe fusion surgery.
I will just be putting my money into a separate account because it is such a rip off and they will do everything not to pay what they owe.
Very dissatisfied

TAL, pull out of TAL and pay for Suncorp or ING or even AMP, unprofessional lying and inconsistent, TAL cancelled my application for IP before the wait period was even up, TAL IS A FRAUDULENT ENTITY and is no better than the scammers that ring you from Hindi countries, I guess the ACCC are gonna have to pull their finger out and topple this neferious businesses scam, and work ethic

The star is for the claims consultant who was kind and empathic. The company though? Needs to be shut down, a criminal enterprise that tortures victims who are genuinely injured and in desperation. I honestly dont know how they get away with it and manage to score big contracts with AMP and other agencies. Lies, deception, duplicity, ethics of a flea. Avoid at all costs, dealing with this company nearly cost me my life.

My Father in law was with this company before they even became TAL he had funeral insurance for over 20 years and we were told he had contributed over $18000 in that time, that was during a phone call last year. As an 85 year old, with 1 leg and early stages of dementia he was struggling with the payments, TAL reduced the payments for 2 months to $50 but said they would also reduce the cover, the amount he was insured for originally was already $2500 under a standard funeral cost. He had said he would continue the cover but the dementia worsened over the last couple of months and I didn't realise until last Tuesday the 10 of March the day he passed away, when my Mother in law ( who also has dementia)showed me a letter from TAL saying the account was in arrears by just over $500 dollars due by the 25 February, or it would be cancelled, she didn't know what it meant and neither did Syd. This has left us in quite a predicament with the cost of a basic funeral being over $8000 dollars, when we thought he was covered.
He payed this account for over 20 years for piece of mind and this is how you treat your customers, thanks for nothing TAL.

Currently 7 months into my perminent disability claim. They have ALL information from specialists, surgeons and doctors. Every single update is the same - it needs to be looked at by another team, it needs a team leader etc. Ive now gone from updates every 10 days to updates every 3 weeks. I've tried using the complains route and have gotten nowhere.
This company does NOT cover injuries sustained in the defence force and the ones sustained outside of the defence force, they somehow try to tie into being a defence liability.
Go directly to a lawyer.
I've been paying for this insurance cover since 2012 and now they wont pay it out when needed.

Do not buy insurance from this company. Feel badly let down by them. Would not trust them to behave in an ethical manner if I needed to make a claim

Most appalling IP insurance claims process ever! Provided mountains of documentation and evidence over weeks but it’s never enough, they still want more. Assessor is unkind and unempathic. Doesn’t apply any common sense or believe you. Has a deflection answer for everything you say. Seems to be scripted responses. I concur with other reviewers on this terrible and unethical company. Stop bullying people who really need help, TAL!!

I have read through the reviews for this company and feel for all these people. You take out insurance for piece of mind and then to be treated like some of these people have is shameful. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority is a group you can go to if you feel you have not been treated fairly. Also if you purchased your product through Australian Super they should be made aware about the provider so they can do a review of the customer service practices. Australian Super pride themselves on customer service, and this is a reflection on them.

58% voted 1 star and majority of the votes from mid 2025 prior to that there’s a fair few 4/5 stars. What happened TAL? I’m the 1 star vote unless something changes. My claim for IP was lodged 20/11/2025. I literally feel like I’m being treated like a criminal, I understand policies and procedures. In the business I work with when we identify a ‘vulnerable’ Customer we ensure they are treated with empathy, kindness and no judgement. TAL your customer base is 100% vulnerable customers and in my IP experience I’ve been made to feel absolutely crap about the whole thing, I’ve got nothing against my Initial Rep Bvada and now my new Rep Shreyda whose taken over halfway through and most likely has review absolutely everything, they’re just doing the job how they’ve been taught, and it appears that TAL hasn’t taught empathy and understanding to vulnerable situation. Like majority of the 1 star reviews, we’re either on no income or next to no income and been like so for many months, I’ve no family or friends that can help me and like in one comment it feels like ‘delay- delay- delay-‘ I did my part gathering ALL of my documents, and I too am also out of pocket for drs visits to get documents signed, medical reports and so forth. My claim most likely won’t go through I’ve been advised, because I have a ‘backdated’ medical certificate so it’s not deemed an ‘official incident date’ yet my multiple Drs and Psychiatrist who’ve seen me for years with the same prognosis all state that I can no longer work the same hours I had been doing for 20years TAL has all of the medical evidence, they literally now know me better than my parents but still fixate on the medical certificate. My pro fair letter was all wrong, they state I’m seeking permanent total disability when Ive stated multiple times throughout the months I am able to work hours to a degree, and when I original started the claim I had to correct multiple times the information provided that had been keyed in wrong. I’ve had to follow things up myself also, I thought my claim investigation was finally coming to an end on the 7th January I hadn’t heard anything all my docs were sent and then randomly I went onto the portal to check in, where I see that I now needed a Drs statement (basically a functional assessment) I saw it after hours so was unable to get the form, I never recieved a phone call to notify I needed it, so the next morning I had to spend an hour OTP trying to source this paperwork to take to my drs which coincidentally was at 9.15 that morning, I should never have had to find it ‘by mistake’ and my rep should be with me 100% of the way. I am vulnerable and I need assistance! Income protection should have been there to support the people who need it most when they need it most, but in-fact it’s been quite the opposite distressing horrible process.
I know I’ll get a comment stating to reach out and call the 1800 number or email the customer resolutions team. No I will not be doing that, you can reach out to me. I sent an email today at 13:03 on 20/01/26 to follow up on my claim because yet again I’ve heard nothing. I know the steps, I’ve sent my response for the ProFair 1 week ago, and if it gets declined/ or unfair payment amount we will go to internal dispute resolution team, the next step after that will be AFCA. In the words of TAL court hearing from 2019/2020 I believe, TAL to the 2nd insured should “ treat her with decency and fairness.”

I was diagnosed with cancer and submitted a claim for income protection with AustralianSuper who then reffered me to the terrible TAL. While I understand that verification is necessary, the process felt unnecessarily stressful!! And how crazy to be treated like my condition was being questioned!! You are a number to these guys & they show it... Yes I have cancer and was thrown straight into chemo a month after diagnosis, i gave all the evidence to prove it, forms & doctors notes!! It was never enough!! The claim process was overwhelming and upsetting and I ended up giving up on the claim. It's clear that they purposely make it difficult for members to access support when they need it most. Going through a serious illness is already challenging & dealing with this process made it even harder.
If this is the level of support Australian Super provides for insurance claims, I will be changing superannuation funds to once I am able to return to work. Will also be warning others about my experience with this & by looking at these reviews It's not just a one off.
Delay - exhaustion - silence

Don't bother with the copy and paste "we are sorry' Tal ... I just hope other people read this and avoid your insurance company for their own sake.

The most dysfunctional company I have ever dealt with. Internal communication is very poor. I waited
So long to be paid then was overpaid and had to pay it back. Plus I ended up with a ATO bill due to their incompetence.
Awful

12 weeks.
That’s how long you can expect to wait for any payment (if you’re lucky) when you take out an income protection policy with TAL.

A close family member took out this policy purely for peace of mind. At the time of purchase, he fully disclosed a prior knee injury that had been surgically corrected. The third-party salesperson assured him repeatedly that this would not affect any future claim.

Fast forward more than a year later — he suffers a serious, unrelated injury that left him:
• completely unable to work (he’s a concreter),
• unable to drive his manual vehicle,
• bed-ridden,
• and immediately advised by doctors that he could not return to work under any circumstances.

He was placed on a prioritised public hospital surgery waitlist — yet somehow this still isn’t enough for TAL to process a claim.

What followed has been months of exhausting back-and-forth. TAL requested every piece of documentation imaginable, including medical records from several years ago and from another country, many of which have no relevance to the current injury. Despite how unreasonable these requests were, every single one was provided.

Once TAL ran out of ways to delay the claim through documentation, communication simply stopped.

Initially, we were dealing with a staff member named Chantelle, who was helpful and transparent and I would like to preface by saying she is not the cause of this review. Chantelle advised me that she would go on annual leave and her direct manager would take over the claim.

Since Chantelle has left, this claim has become a complete nightmare.

Calls go unanswered. Messages are allegedly “left for the manager.” Promises of call-backs by end of day are never honoured. Weeks pass with no communication at all, and we don’t even know the current status of the claim.

The real-world impact?
• 12 weeks with no income
• An eviction notice issued
• A vehicle repossession notice
• Borrowing money just to buy food and feed his dogs

This is someone who did everything right. Paid premiums. Disclosed medical history. Followed every instruction. And now stands to lose everything because of TAL’s delayed and dysfunctional processes.

TAL does not appear to care about wellbeing.
They do not appear to care about housing security.
They do not appear to care about the people behind the policies.

At this point, this company feels less like an insurer and more like a system designed to avoid paying claims.

If you’re considering income protection, do yourself a favour and look elsewhere.

TAL — if you are monitoring these reviews, you already have my contact details. I am still waiting to hear from a manager.

TAL is uncommunicative. All they know is to send you emails about arrears apart from that they're useless and a rip off. I lodged a complaint with AFCA but unfortunately as always Big Brother wins. They have been laxed in their dealings with me. But of course because you have entered into a 'contract' you are screwed. Companies like TAL use their legal muscle to screw little people and we have no recourse.

Just generally a bit of a crappy service. Can't do authorisation over the phone etc.

A few months ago, I lodged an income protection claim through Aware Super. Unbeknownst to me, Aware Super outsource all of their claims to an external insurance company- this is where TAL comes in.

After months of back and forth, extremely poor communication and mountains of paperwork, I have finally given up. Below is the email I wrote to my claims manager, whose job I believe is to delay claims as long as possible before finally denying them. The email speaks for itself.

“This claim process has become too hard for me to continue, and it’s been really quite stressful for me to manage at a time when I desperately needed support.

It is disappointing that, despite providing countless documents, payslips, medical records, letters and proof of my illness, the claim has been dragged out for months on end only for TAL to request more documents and information and proof of identity, even though I had already submitted my proof of identity through my super fund.

Unfortunately, it seems the system is not set up to assist or support people such as myself, who came away from a period of workcover only to develop a chronic autoimmune condition that has seen me spend almost an entire year in debilitating pain with crippling fatigue, unable to perform the duties of my usual profession.

I have made every effort to explain this to TAL, with no real understanding other than to be told about the specific wording in the ‘policy’, which completely disregards anyone who finds themselves in my unique position.

The fact that it has been so black and white from the beginning makes it clear to me that this claim was never going to be approved, and I have had to jump through hoops every step of the way. I have been asked to provide one thing, only to then have another five things added to the endless list of requirements.

I made this claim back in June 2025, it is now September 2025. It should not be this difficult for a customer who has consistently paid for income protection cover over many years, who genuinely needs financial support, to be able to access that support within a reasonable timeframe. I needed the help months ago and I’m still jumping through hoops to satisfy a line in a policy that was never set up to consider someone in my position.

It is disappointing to say the least, and the stress of it all has only made my condition worse. I am sorry for the many other people out there who paid good money to protect their income, only to find themselves drowning in a sea of paperwork and red tape to the point that they simply had to give up.

I will be sending this as a formal letter of complaint to both TAL and Aware Super, however I do not have high hopes that anything will change as a result of my experience.

At a time when I have been at my most vulnerable and most disabled, I am left feeling that I am just a number, another person who couldn’t get their claim over the line because of a lack of understanding of the nuance of my situation.

Please consider this email a formal withdrawal of my claim. I guess TAL won after all.”

No stars for this "insurance" company.

I made a claim for income protection and it was denied based on an exclusion that wasn't valid. I now have had to put in a complaint to AFCA(up to a two year wait now) and try and resolve my claim that way.

It took them six months to "process" my claim and I got denied. In that process they used the classic the insurance "D's", delay, deflect, deny. I spent days collecting paperwork, filling out forms, spending money on doctors having to fill out forms($150), going to a JP to get CTC of documents. It was all unnecessary but I did it because that's what they wanted.

Delayed - six months
Deflect - they tried to use a different reason for my claim
Deny - they used an exclusion that wasn't relevant trying to say I was blind, but its amazing how I could still read books, drive a car, basically lead a normal life, just not work in my chosen field.

This insurance company is a scam.