Review for Tony (Philip) Velenosi ... Although I've only…read moreknown Tony as my advisor for just over a year, he is absolutely top notch and well suited to his vocation. Tony is helpful, knowledgeable, patient and wise and I am happy to have him as my advisor. I trust him with my investments and insurance totally, and have no hesitation to recommend him. Maryke Mior

From the owner: We are T.E.A.M. Financial Solutions -- a financial services company offering a diverse range of…read moreinsurance and investment solutions designed to help our clients save, invest, and plan for a lifetime of financial security. Our trusted advisors can provide relevant and meaningful solutions including: life insurance, group benefit programs, wealth management, estate and financial planning, living benefits and health insurance, personalized retirement and workplace solutions. But we're committed to more than great products and services. At T.E.A.M. our mission is to educate and mentor clients through the ever-changing world of financial planning concepts and solutions that empower our clients to make informed and confident choices that will ensure a brighter financial future.

I was with Sun Life for health and financial group plans over a decade ago with my employer at the…read moretime. It got acquired by my current employer. Due to the acquisition, our health and financial group plans got moved to a different provider. In late November 2021, my employer decided that it was more cost-effective to switch to Sun Life. It was quite an elaborate transfer process with sessions to help us out. Many of our questions didn't have answers, but the folks at Sun Life along with my employer's group benefits department worked to get those answers and ensure as smooth of a transfer as possible. As of January of this year, everything is with Sun Life. I do like it better than my past provider. The only hiccup during the transfer process was that Sun Life remembered what my old policies were a decade ago. It does not delete accounts. So, I had to call Sun Life customer service to get my password reset because I couldn't use the online feature to do it. The woman that I spoke to was competent and reassuring. She took care of my login issue and I've been good ever since. I was happy being back. I still am! My dentist pulls estimates roughly three weeks before my dental appointment. I feel that staff there are exceptionally eager when it comes to getting estimates. I get alerts through e-mail when these estimates take place. I am free to log in and check them out. What's different about Sun Life is that whenever a claim has been deposited into my chequing account, I get an e-mail notification. It's great. I don't have to check my bank account like a hawk. The deposit is quick. I will admit that I had thought that I had set up everything. Um, nope. I left out adding my chequing account details to have claims automatically deposited. Instead, I had to wait for my first cheque to be sent through Canada Post. It took five business days, which wasn't bad. The day that I paid my dentist was the day that the cheque was cut to reimburse what I had shelled out. My claims have been seamless ever since. My pharmacy has all my plan details. When I have a prescription, my pharmacy automatically files a claim and I get a notification. I recently had a prescription for a wrist-thumb splint. I didn't know whether it was going to be covered. It was 85% covered and I received funds from my claim within two business days. I was happy. The process filing the claim online was painless. I uploaded my receipts, filled out a few fields, and I was good. Group RRSPs and pensions are a bit different at Sun Life, but moving my funds over to these new accounts was pain-free. I can check how they are doing whenever I'm curious and adjust how much when the change period is available, which seems to be every year. Sun Life has an app where you can check the status of your account and file claims. I haven't downloaded it. I'm perfectly content using the online portal through any browser, so I'm good without it on my phone. I like Sun Life. It's nice to be back. (214)

I can buy medical product in my local area for $250, and Sunlife reimburses me 100% for that…read moreexpense. I found the exact same product overseas for $100, and shipped it for $30, total cost to me $130. I requested my reimbursement, expecting Sunlife to be happy I'm saving them $120 (instead of $250 claim, I'm now doing a $130 claim for the exact same medical product). But no, they denied my shipping charge (even though the local $250 product paid for shipping, they simply don't display it in the cost). Sunlife's policy will not pay for shipping fees. They said contractually, shipping fees when broken down on a receipt, cannot be paid, even on an exception basis So instead of allowing me to save them $120, they now saved $150 from my efforts. Hmmm, next time I'm going to buy the local product for $250 (which comes from overseas by the way), is what their policy is training me to do. For everyone else out there, ensure no shipping charges display when you file a claim. And for anyone interested in Customer Service, never state the word policy, when you won't provide the customer what they are requesting. The word "policy" upsets people. Especially when common sense shows the policy being followed, is ridiculous for both parties involved (in this case, they might have won $30 from me this time, but my future expenses will always be $250, instead of $130). I guess common sense isn't that common, or as powerful anymore...

Ghosted! Dana MacRae agreed to file bankruptcy on my behalf on 12/10/24. I submitted all required…read moredocuments. He asked me for a $300 payment as a show of good faith which I email transferred on 12/13/24. After that he broke communication with me. I reached out 4 times between 12/16/24 and 12/30/24 with no answer or response. Each time I reached out I could see that him and his wife both read my messages but decided not to reply. Today is 12/30/24 and I called him and he answered telling me that he is no longer going to file on my behalf. I asked for my money back and he said that he has to send it by cheque. I have ZERO confidence that I will receive my money back. Please do your research and beware before doing business with this so called "Trustee". Don't get scammed like me!

From the owner: Dana MacRae | Licensed Insolvency Trustee is a financial consultant in Waterloo, ON. For many…read moreyears, we have offered a wide range of services to manage bankruptcy, debt consolidation, garnishments, and much more. We take pride in the work we do and strive to offer our services at affordable rates. For a great service in Waterloo, ON, call on Dana MacRae | Licensed Insolvency Trustee. We provide the following services: - Alternatives to Bankruptcy - Filing for Bankruptcy - Consumer Proposal - Credit Counselling - Credit Management Services - How to Reduce Your Debt - Informal Debt Settlement - Letter To Creditors Take Control of Your Debt Rather Than Your Debt Controlling You!

Excellent service. I have been going here for many years, and wouldn't go anywhere else. Staff…read moreare extremely efficient and helpful. I would highly recommend Gateway. Owner and staff are very knowledegable.

These independent advisory firms are better, in the sense that they are unbiased. They won't…read morepromote or push one particular company/Bank's products(insurance, investments, etc.) like the big banks in Canada. They match and trim the portfolios according to client's risk profile and future goals.

From the owner: Call 905-602-9991 or email at support@sharmawealth.ca for Financial planning services, mainly…read moreRetirement, Tax and Estate Planning.

John did my taxes for 3 years without a problem. After I received my 2015 return I phoned him to…read moreask a few questions. He told me he would get my numbers in front of him and call me right back. That was the last I ever heard from him. I've left half a dozen phone messages and sent multiple emails asking him to get in touch with me. I live 6 hours away, so I don't feel like driving to his office to try to make contact. It has been eight months, and I still have no idea what is going on. I cant even get him to send me my records so I can pass them on to a new accountant. Needless to say this has caused me a fair amount of stress.

I lost over $5000 by filing with EJ Tax…read more SHORT VERSION: The individual who prepared our return made a large error, writing off our rent for the year as a charitable donation. As a result, we were audited and lost over $5000. We were compensated a mere $350 by the owner. That loss of money has deeply impacted our family's financial well-being. The individual who made the error is still working at the company (to my knowledge) and EJ Tax will take no further action to correct the situation. LONG VERSION: The individual who prepared our return made a large error, writing off our rent for the year as a charitable donation. This was not a keying error, but an obvious error in judgment. As a result, our tax return was much higher than I had expected. I asked the individual to confirm the amount and check the numbers and to explain why it was so high. She did so and explained that it was because we had had a child, as well as a few minor other things. As I am not a tax accountant, I do not have the knowledge to double-check the work that I am paying an accountant to do -- therefore I believed her reasoning. When we signed the confirmation form I asked if I could look over the numbers briefly and she said no, I didn't need to, they just needed my signature so they had permission to file. Even so, I am not trained as a tax accountant - I would not have caught her mistake. We received our tax return about a month later and prepared to budget for the next year (including some large purchases, such as a vehicle, made possible by the return). As we understood, this was our money. The tax accountant had confirmed the return amount, and the sum had been deposit into our account. A month following, I received a letter from the CRA that we were being audited. I read the letter explaining why and saw the error that had been made. I immediately called EJ Tax and spoke first with the individual who had filed our taxes, then with Lars, the owner/manager. I was told that the error would affect our return amount greatly and that I would need to pay the money back. According to their recalculations, I owed over $5000. This was a massive blow to my family. We had budgeted accordingly and were about to purchase a family vehicle with our return. We had made investments with that money. None of this was done prior to receiving our return, we budget responsibly, but once we had the money it was needed and used. To find out two months later that we had lost over $5000 because the individual who prepared our taxes didn't realize that rent was not a charitable donation was absolutely crushing. I spoke with Lars and asked for compensation. He offered to pay us back for the cost of preparing our taxes (this seemed absurd - our taxes weren't done correctly, so wouldn't a refund be an absolute minimum expected?) as well as for a portion of the interest accrued. After several weeks Lars sent me $350. This hardly put a dent in the financial hole that was created by the incompetence at EJ Tax. We were refused any further compensation, even though the error was completely the fault of EJ Tax. My family has now lost not only a large sum of money but must also strictly budget to make up for it, cutting things we could easily have afforded before. We are not able to buy a vehicle large enough for our children because the money is now gone. I went to EJ Tax because they told me they could help me with write-offs for my small business so we would receive a maximum return, but they offered no insight beyond what I could have done on my own or with a simple e-filing service. I would never trust this company with my money again. While they were friendly and fast initially, as soon as there was a problem I was left stranded. They "pride themselves on efficient and reliable service", but make baffling mistakes. The individual who made the error is still working at the company (to my knowledge) and EJ Tax will take no further action to correct the situation.

From the owner: E J Tax Service pride ourselves on reliable and efficient service. We specialize in finding ways to…read moresave money and reduce tax bills for small businesses and individuals. Serving the community since 1993, we have over 20 years experience in income tax preparation for both personal and business tax returns, as well we provide full bookkeeping services.

I am very impressed. Very professional and knowledgeable about my Canadian an US taxes. I had a…read moremore complicated tax issue being a non Canadian but he knew just how to prepare my taxes when other CPA's couldn't figure it out. He also advised me how to prepare my taxes in the US. He also was able to prepare them in a timely manner even though his office was working remotely due to the virus. And he did it for a third of the cost in some cases that other CPA's quoted. I would definitely recommend him to anyone needing tax services.

I live in Toronto and my business is in Toronto. When I incorporated it quickly became apparent…read morethat I needed more accounting assistance. I wanted someone that would give me advice about my business and finances. That's when I found Dean. All my friends said I was insane to pick an accountant in Burlington. Well, I can now say that you are CRAZY if you don't choose Dean Paley. He reviews all my accounts online (from his office in Burlington) and provides me with advice and better support that I ever got from anyone in person up here in Toronto. I couldn't recommend him higher.