Fraste
1/5
My review is specifically related to my familiesâ interaction with Mr. Mark Calla as an advisor to my momâs RRIF insurance products with Manulife and Ivari. I do not often write reviews, but in this case feel it is important to advise current and prospective clients of the terrible interaction we had with Mr. Calla.
Mark was fortunate enough to "inherit" these accounts over two years ago when the long-standing advisor retired, Mr. Art Robson, who was a friend and patient of my father, who was Mr. Robson's doctor.
During the 2+ years that Mark is the named advisor on these accounts, he never once attempted to contact my mother to say hello and introduce himself.
In April 2024, one of the insurance companies stopped paying out a monthly amount of over $2200, money needed to fund mom's monthly expenses. Mr. Calla never once attempted to confirm and contact my mom to see why the deposit stopped. This caused undue financial burden and stress, as it was discovered by the family and took over six months to resolve, over $20,000 in arrears.
Once I was aware of the financial shortfall as a result of these stopped payments, I contacted Mr. Mark Calla as power of attorney.
My interactions with Mark were, in my opinion, confrontational, as Mark tried to sell other investment products when he did not even have an accurate picture of the overall number of accounts held in my mom's portfolio, and made excuses for the delays in reconciling the stop payment issue. Mark even told me in January 2025 that there was an additional account valued at $350,000, which did not exist, as it was consolidated by the previous advisor Mr. Robson.
Mr. Calla's platform was apparently never updated to coincide with actual current market values.
I even had to propose intervention by the financial regulatory agency for Ontario before Mark began to act, in earnest on our request to resolve the stop payment by Ivari.
What "advisor" would allow an 85 year old client, who receives $2200 a month in income from his product (that he oversees) to have it stopped by the insurance company and not try to connect with the client for six months? I never received a clear answer on what happened and why these accounts stopped paying.
In my opinion this is not an "advisor" who is over-seeing his clients well-being.
Mr. Calla set up a meeting to discuss my mom's investments on January 14, 2025 and did not attend nor advise he was unable to meet. I contacted him when he was 30 minutes late and he told me abruptly via text, he was unavailable. Obviously, we were not important to him.
Furthermore, when my family began the process of withdrawing RIF accounts from Mr. Calla's "control" and transfer to a "trusted financial advisor", there was a delay due to the fact that one account was a spousal RIF. Note my father passed in 2010, so obviously, there was no oversight nor care to monitor the new account handed over to Mark 2+ years ago... just keep the trailer fees coming...
Is this what a "financial advisor" does for his/her client?
It is a strange feeling when you do not feel you have "control" over your money, and your "advisor" is not helping with your needs.
I believe it is important for current, prospective clients and colleagues of Mr. Calla to be aware of the challenges we faced when we needed Mr. Calla to resolve non- payment issues, clarify account status, and attend meetings that he scheduled. These were the reasons to withdraw holdings with him, specifically he seemed to lack understanding of client needs, he demonstrated poor client contact, poor knowledge of account holdings, and in my opinion, poor interpersonal communication skills.
I am sure that Mr. Robson, who my father trusted and therefore invested with, would not be happy to hear how his widow and family were treated by the new "advisor," Mr. Mark Calla, whom he âgiftedâ this account to.
I would give a minus 5 rating for Mr. Calla as a financial advisor.
