Step 1 – Contact your insurance broker

If you are dissatisfied with a service or product from Optimum West Insurance Company, you must first contact your insurance broker. If you make an inquiry, a request, or wish to file a complaint, you will be encouraged to contact your insurance broker. Your insurance broker works on your behalf and represents your interests. He offers independent advice and considers the importance of insurance when it comes to your financial security. If your insurance broker is unable to find a satisfactory solution to resolve the dispute or if the complaint relates to your insurance broker or our claims department, you may proceed to the following step and contact the Complaints Officer.

Step 2 – File a complaint

If you are still not satisfied with the responses or information obtained in the previous step, you may file a complaint to the Complaints Officer. We recommend that all formal complaints be submitted in writing from the outset. The Complaints Officer can be contacted by mail, phone, or email at the following addresses and contact details:

British Columbia

Complaints Officer

Optimum West Insurance Company inc. 

3777 Kingsway St., Suite 1700

Burnaby, British Columbia  V5H 3Z7 

Telephone: (604) 688-1541 

Email: [email protected] 

Alberta

Complaints Officer

Optimum West Insurance Company Inc. 

147 McIntyre Street West 

North Bay, Ontario  P1B 2Y5 

Telephone: 1-800-461-6110 

Email: [email protected]

The complaint must include your name, your policy number, the name of the person against whom an allegation is made, and detail all the information (facts, dates, and times) including the nature of the complaint, the steps taken before filing the complaint, and expectations regarding the complaint filing. The written version of the complaint must be dated and signed.

The Complaints Officer shall record your complaint in the complaint register. A file is created for each complaint recorded in the register. Only those responsible for processing complaint files will have access to the register and the associated files via our systems.

Upon receipt of the complaint, the Complaints Officer will acknowledge receipt accompanied by a written notice within a reasonable period, namely within five (5) business days following its receipt.

The processing of the complaint must be carried out in a reasonable period, namely within ten (10) business days following the receipt of all necessary information for its processing. If the Complaints Officer is unable to meet this deadline, he will inform you of the reason for the delay and the expected decision date.

Following the examination of the complaint, the Complaints Officer will send you a written and reasoned final response.

However, there are situations where the Complaints Officer is not able to resolve the complaint, such as

• unavailability of insurance coverage;

• dispute resolution procedures imposed by law or other regulatory powers;

• any issues that have already been brought before or are currently before the courts.

In such cases, the response from the Complaints Officer will reflect this.

Step 3 – Escalate the file to an external organization

If you are not satisfied with the resolution of your file or its processing, you can request the transmission of your complaint file to one of the following relevant organizations:

British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA): regarding questions in British Columbia, the BCFSA is the province’s regulator for the financial services sector and assists consumers of financial products and services. BCFSA ensures insurance companies are acting in good faith, demonstrating ethical behaviours in the marketplace, providing clear and proper disclosures, and delivering the financial services and products consumers expect. 

(604) 687-3221 | https://www.bcfsa.ca

General Insurance OmbudService (GIO): GIO is an independent organization that assists Canadian consumers in resolving disputes with their residential, automobile, or commercial insurance provider. 

1-877-225-0446 | https://giocanada.org/

Use of the masculine gender to designate individuals in this document serves only to simplify the text and applies to both women and men. Unless the context in which a particular word is used clearly indicates otherwise, words in the singular include the plural and vice versa.