A member frustrated with slow refund processing (GIC and university fees) asked whether Canadian business processes are generally this slow, after being quoted 6–8 weeks for various refunds.
What the thread shared, as real experiences:- University fee refunds were commonly quoted at 6–9 weeks by different members' institutions — this appears to be a fairly standard stated window, not an outlier.
- GIC refund timelines vary by bank. Members reported different institutions quoting different maximums — one bank quoted 4–5 weeks, while another was cited as typically returning funds within about a month despite an official maximum window of up to 8 weeks.
- The stated maximum window is often longer than the actual processing time. More than one member noted their refund landed faster than the quoted maximum, suggesting it's worth treating the quoted number as a worst-case estimate rather than the expected wait.
The practical takeaway: budget for a 6–9 week refund window for university fees and up to 8 weeks for GIC refunds (varying by bank) as the worst case, but know that actual processing is often faster than the quoted maximum — don't panic if you're a few weeks in and haven't seen the funds yet.