Hopeless, inconsistent & argumentative Oaken Financial customer service Evening of Nov 18/25, after again a much frustrating 15 minute+ wait & an annoying interrogation style security process, I was talking to this Roshen person at Oaken Financial as I am not getting the promised following up call concerning a GIC that Oaken Financial did not renew as per my updated maturity instruction dated July 2/25 to have it ''auto renew'' as it matured on Nov 13/25. (Please see my post at this site from Nov 17 for more horrible experience when I first called Oaken Financial about such an unacceptable & open violation of an banking invetment agreement). THEY DEMAND CLIENTS TO FULLY OBSERVE & COMPLY WITH THEIR TERMS & CONDITIONS WHILE THEY THEMSELVES DO NOT! I must say once again that whatever client profile system that Oaken Financial is using is one big confusing & highly unorganizzed, ineffective big mess to not only clients but their own people as well based on my personal experience banking & dealing with Oaken Financial for over a decade. Here is a long list of whys. First, Roshen gave me totally incorrect maturity instruction of this GIC. When I protested & offered more info such as what another OF agent told me yesterday, etc. & long hold he put on me, he finally saw the same ''updated '' maturity instruction to auto renew this GIC as it matured on Nov 13/25. Then lots of debates & arguments & shoutings to each other over the phone for multiple times when I asked for a case/reference/escalation /whatever number they use for this complaint I filed since Nov 17 for my record. Roshen kept telling me ''there is no such number''. Based on a common sense & actual reality that Numbers is life; life is Numbers in this world of ours, whether or not this is really an Oaken Financial fact or Roshen simply told me another thing that is not true, I wonder a lot. ( this makes me remember an OF agent once lied to me that they had received some funds on my behalf & was already in my OF account, etc. while it was actually not. The complaint process & experience was much frustrating, time-consuming as well as so much negative that I stopped putting money with Oaken Financial for years!!) When I requested Roshen to send an email reminder to Naveen, he just refused & said this has been escalated, etc. & therefore he ''cannot send another escalation'' & so on. Roshen did not change his attitude even after I corrected him multiple times that not ''another escalation'' but a reminder that I am still waiting for Naveen to call & I have waited 2 full business days already, etc. I asked him to see & he confirmed that another OF agent named Dale did send out an email reminder to Naveen yesterday, Nov 17 as per my reuest. Roshen could not explain why he ''cannot'' do this same reminder as I was requesting him to while another OF agent could!! Such a misleading joke if not a lie when Roshen said to me ''everyone will do the same'', etc. On top of this, Roshen told me this conversation is recorded, etc. YES, it is recorded but NOT ACCESIBLE TO CLIENTS, EVEN UPON REQUEST!! Then Roshen told me I will get called in ''4 days''. I again protested & he & I shouted at each other again. I got more frustrated & agitated almost every time I speak with these people at Oaken Financial. I was told ''2-3 days'' on Nov 17 & Oaken Financial still wants nothing but drags on & keeps me waiting day after day AS A RESULT OF A MISTAKE THEY MADE!!!! SUCH SHAMEFUL & IRRESPONSIBLE TRUST BANK! Further inconsistencies & much discrepencies I experienced when I enquired about another GIC maturing in under a month. Roshen confirmed my auto renew maturity instruction is in place. This GIC will get renewed for another 2 years from the maturity date & a confirmation will be sent within 10 days after renewal, etc. Dale went through the renewal request & process yesteray, Nov 17, with me ( although I still very much puzzled as I never had experience that OF would renew a GIC in advance, etc. Dale assured me multiple times that I will receive a renewal confirmation in about 10 days, & she also confirmed with me other GIC details such as the amount being renewed, , rate I am getting, the new maturity date, that this Tax Free GIC being renewed is not new investment but a rolling over/renewed as I used up my TFSA contribution room already & absolutely do not wish to get over contribution penalty from CRA. In summary, Oaken Financial & many of thier employees have again acted being arrogant, inconsistent in almost every way & so much unaccountable even about mistakes they made. To me, Oaken Financial does not even show any true remorse & timely REAL actions to resolve the situation but drags on & on & on........totally disrespecful, indifferent & insensible in their treatment to a frustrating & stressful client of theirs for over a decade! read more

Oaken Financial requires Letter of Direction for almost everything. That means almost for any type of request you might have via phone it's the perfect reason for them not to help you immediately. Letter of Direction is required for each account you wish to link to Oaken, it's required to de-link accounts, it's even required if you plan to close your accounts as well. I imagine it's needed for other areas as well. Oaken doesn't have a template regarding what they expect to be included in this letter of direction. You are supposed to know yourself. Oaken might claim Letter of Direction is standard practice but that is simply not true. It is very rare to encounter this in the entire banking industry. read more

We went overseas, although we use the same computer, we cannot get into our accounts. On July 12 we sent an e-mail to the Oaken instructing TFSA's came due on July 4th both should be put in a one-year term. I called OAKEN again on July 19th to warn that interest rates were supposed to be 4.05%, yet my wife was 3.75 %. I was told instruction was given, to correct the mistake. Called again on the 29th of July, but it was not corrected. Before leaving the country on May 18th I filled out a "Tax-Free Savings Account Direct Transfer form" There was a mistake in the "Individual Plan number", and it was corrected by an e-mail. I called on July 7th, and I was told that the transfer from Outlook Financial is taking place. Please let me know if it is really taking place. We have been with Oaken for years, and we deserve better service. read more

5 members of my family tried to purchase TFSA GIC's. Here's some of the useless delays that were introduced by Oaken: 1. After PAD form provided (in lieu of a void cheque), several days later asked for a void cheque from an applicant who they already knew had no cheques. 2. Days after PAD form submitted AGAIN, asked for a copy of bank e-statement to confirm account number on PAD form already signed and confirmed by applicant. 3. Days after bank e-statement submitted, was asked for confirmation of birth date submitted with application ... weeks earlier. 4. After submitting all requested information in responses to multiple e-mails was asked for a signed letter of direction for the bank account withdrawal (even though signed Pre-Authorized Debit form is all that is needed and was the first document provided). 5. After 4 applicants had already submitted ALL of their account specific personal information via e-mail as instructed by Oaken, the 5th applicant was told "WE CANNOT ASSIST WITH ACCOUNT SPECIFIC INQUIRIES VIA EMAIL". Seriously, W T F? 6. Two applicants had to call customer service to find out the status of their applications 2 weeks after applying. Only then were they told Oaken was awaiting additional information. Total of 3 weeks between TFSA application and funds withdrawn from bank account. 7. The 5th applicant waited 8 days for a reply on application status and heard nothing back. They cancelled their full application and requested all application and banking information to be deleted from Oaken's systems. Unfortunately, we now have money locked up with them for a year in GICs, but will never deal with Oaken again. Their delays in setting up a GIC more than offset the slightly higher interest rate they're offering. read more

does not return calls denies receiving paper work representatives can not answer questions. I am fighting to redeem gics that are mature. total frustration!! read more

Very poor follow-through/customer-service. For a "mostly online" financial institution, you'd expect prompt responses to enquiries. Yet, it took them more than a week to tell me they hadn't processed my GIC request, and that they needed further info. Then I spent over an hour on the phone with various personnel of theirs to try to decipher what documents they needed (even their personnel weren't sure!). And then, after sending in what they indicated they needed, a month later, I learned they still hadn't set up the GIC, and wanted yet MORE documentation. Seriously! Not worth the hassles and frustration caused by their utter incompetence, and inability to communicate in a timely manner. Get your good rates elsewhere! read more

Oaken has given us great, friendly service thus far. Nor hesitating to re-invest more with them.