The Smart Investors

MetLife is one of those names everyone’s heard, life insurance, group benefits, annuities, pet insurance, etc. In 2025, they’re still huge, still trusted by many, but there’s a lot of chatter about issues: slow claims, confusing policies, and sometimes getting little help when problems pop up. I dug into Trustpilot, news reports, and product pages to see what’s actually going on.

What MetLife Offers
MetLife offers a wide variety of insurance and benefits:

• Group benefits: vision, dental, accidental & health, disability. Bundles are available for eligible employer groups.
• Pet insurance with customizable plans (different annual limits, deductibles, rewards programs).
• Vision discount / discount program (“MetLife VisionAccess”) for eye exams, frames, lenses, etc., available for people whose employers participate.
• Annuities & life insurance (though note: some individual life/annuity products are less direct than before).

Have you ever needed to use your MetLife pet, vision, or health benefit? How smooth or rough was it?

What People Like & What’s Good
A few strengths:

• Their bundling options for group benefits allow discounts if multiple coverages are combined. That helps especially for employer-based plans.
• The pet-insurance rewards program gets praise in states where it's active. Users like redeeming rewards for pet care needs.
• Vision discount program is fairly simple: no claim forms, you use a participating provider, pay out-of-pocket at time of service with discount.
• MetLife also seems financially stable, doing big moves like reinsurance and maintaining investment operations.

What People Complain About & Weaknesses

Here’s where things get messy. The negative stuff shows up a lot:

• Poor Trustpilot ratings: many reviews say MetLife is hard to reach, slow to respond, claim denials, confusing policy language.
• Pet insurance issues: denials for “pre-existing conditions,” delays, mix-ups in pets, and sometimes claims are processed much slower than promised.
• Employer-based life or group insurance confusion: some people can't find or see their certificates or benefit info in portals, HR or company admin sometimes doesn’t know how the MetLife side works.
• Higher premiums / renewal increases: several policyholders feel the cost keeps going up even when they haven’t made claims.

Have you seen your MetLife policy renew at a much higher cost without explanations?

Recent Developments & Signals in 2025

• MetLife announced a large $10B variable annuity risk-transfer transaction with Talcott to shift some of their risk burden.
• They’re launching or growing rewards programs (pet insurance, etc.), improving discount bundling for group benefits.
• Profit reports have shown growth in investment income and premiums, though group benefits business has some under-performance in certain regions.
• MetLife’s digital tools and customer portal reviews remain a pain point: many say the websites / apps are confusing or missing information.

Real Stories from Customers
Some actual reported experiences:

• Someone had claims for pet medical care denied repeatedly due to alleged pre-existing conditions, even when documentation was provided.
• Employee with employer-based life insurance had trouble seeing certificate details or verifying coverage online; HR was also unsure.
• A policyholder said their renewal premium nearly doubled after a few years although they hadn’t submitted claims.

Read all customer real stories here.

Conclusion: Is MetLife Right for You in 2025?
MetLife can be a good choice if you have employer benefits, want pet or vision add-ons, or you care about brand stability. But go in with your eyes open—read the fine print, double check costs at renewal, understand what counts as “pre-existing,” and test their customer service response ahead of time if possible.

If you were picking between MetLife and another insurer, what would matter more: lower cost or clearer service?

Star Rating
☆☆☆ (2/5)

☆☆ (3/5)
Honestly, MetLife isn’t bad, but they’ve got this habit of taking forever to sort simple stuff. I had their life insurance through work, and man, the claim process nearly gave me a headache. It took like three weeks before I even got a proper response. On the bright side, their pet insurance part seems decent, my friend in the U.S. got quick reimbursement for her dog’s surgery. So yeah, they’re not terrible, but not super reliable either.

☆☆☆ (2/5)
I used MetLife for my dental and pet insurance last year, and to be fair, I expected better. The premium was okay at first, but renewal time? Boom, price jumped like 25% for no reason. Their customer portal also acts up a lot, especially when you’re trying to file claims. I still keep the vision plan though, because it’s linked to my employer and works fine. But for individual coverage? I’d probably look somewhere else next time.