Centrelink Reviews 

Ruth was a most efficient agent. She recognised my problems and got the right answers. Plus her manner was very pleasant. Things take time at Centrelink, but the appointment went smoothly and wasn't long before all was done.

to get this review started a couple weeks ago my points were disabled with good reason as my mother had passed away my job coach chloe was so understanding and considerate as too how i was feeling and now that my points and obligations are active again the mygov system is down and i get a message today the 07/01/25.I need 100 points today but the system is down.Why couldnt they send that message a week in advance?I take my obligations seriously and im always honest even chloe knows this as she is a kind and patient person they all are in the atwork australia mirrabooka.NOT HAPPY.What do i do now?

I am a 65 year old who has never used the services of Centrelink. All my life I have been working my butt off . I now require some assistance due to a seperation and not been able to work as I have worn out both knees and shoulders. I went to Centrelink in Hervey Bay to find out what services I might be entitled to. After waiting for over one hour I was told to check their website !!! Whow, what on earth are those people doing there if they are not willing to help on the counter ? After checking their website I thought that I need a degree in IT to navigate around. I then went to the Hervey Bay community centre and was in luck being able to speak to Judy who has 25 years experience with Centrelink claims department. What a great help she was ! However, after submitting all required paperwork it seemed all good but that was 4 weeks ago ! Ever since I get drip feeding ! 1 more form to fill out, done it, then again 1 more form to fill out and it kept going ! So I called and it was 55 minutes wait. Finally some young guy answered and I questioned the last form which I was supposed to fill out and submit. I had previously filled out and submitted a form and on this new requested form it says in Big letters that I do NOT need this requested form if I submitted the form I did !! No luck so I went back to Centrelink in Hervey Bay, got there at 7.30 and waited till they opened at 8.30. I showed them where it says I do not have to submit this form but was told I have too. I ask politely if I can do the rest of the form now as more than half way already filled out and if they can help me with the rest.
No was the answer !!!! I should go on their website !! Now this is absolutely unacceptable and this whole service needs to be replaced ! Why do Tax payers spend money on a non existent service ? I like to see that dope Albanese to put in a claim !!!
Doing nothing for Australia but surely managed to build a new road to his new property !!! I am absolutely discussed by what is going on in our Country !!!

Having dealt with this gov department for 11 months now am absolutely over it. My mother who I s 95 will be dead before any assistance astold to me by an employee!

Women. More women. All working part time. From home. Interstate. With absolutely no idea what the rules are.

They make it almost impossible to contact them and take forever to get back to you. It seems like their model is to wear you down so you give up trying trying to do deal with them. The worst organisation I’ve ever dealt with.

Never have I ever come across a more obtuse bunch of buffoons in all my decades. I hereby name them "the pokies" because you keep giving and giving and giving and you get nothing back.

After months of trying to arrange temporary assistance, they want yet more forms signed, but their own website doesn't support electronic signatures, so you have to print the form, sign it, then drive your vehicle to a Pokies office to hand it over to a customer service rep only to be told to go away, locate something else, and do it all over again. This, in the year 2024.

Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

How is this even possible? The system is spectacularly flawed and designed to be so extraordinarily arduous that people just give up and cancel it all. In fact, after months of getting nowhere and deciding to cancel it before I actually did lose my mind, the cancellation online took less than 7 seconds. Read that again. No signature required. Just the click of a box. It was the only part of the process that actually worked.

Anything, literally anything at all would be easier than having to deal with this circus.

20/11/0/24 4pm... Rang them because I got a letter saying they have been trying to call, but not received any calls. I said that I haven't received any calls and that I had a quote number to give them. I have them the number and they hung up. Problem... If you don't call they will stop the pension. So now I have to go there because of the system.

Got seriously ill, spend a month in hospital having a major surgery. I was working casual before that. Desperately tried to get some support and it was denied until next year because they said I got money to survive, this is just insane. So if you're not a homeless or a junkie you probably will have problem to get something, we're just the stupid people who pay taxes, a lot. The second person who called me couldn't even speak English fluently..

I had to Phone Centrelink regarding a recent Rent Increase, Rent Assistance, and My Centrepay Deductions, as the figures quoted some weeks back did not quite add up.
Of course I was put on hold, but 15 Minutes of 'wait time' did not seem too excessive!
Spoke to Sarah, and within Minutes I was fully updated on my query. Sarah was very polite, and professional, and Her 'Phone Manner' was exceptional! Keep up the great Work Sarah/Centrelink!

All correct details while trying to link centrelink to mygov, all say valid verification in each step, but at the end it just says that they were unable to verify with the information provided. tried CRN linking option and got "Your record can't be accessed at this time. Please refer to Next Steps for further help.
Error code C0-1-1". shit website

I've never done anything wrong, I have always reported income before the due date, have attended all appointments, etc and still get penalised and told off when THEY are the ones being deceptive and lying.
My app and account said nothing due or no tasks required (such as reporting income) on Tuesday 22nd October and that my next payment is Thursday 24th (meaning my reporting date is scheduled for Wednesday 23rd. It hits 12.00 midnight and suprise suprise, I get the message saying report over due and it should have been submitted on Tuesday when it wasn't even available!!
The same thing happened when my provider didn't tell me when to attend an interview and the blamed me and my payment was suspended as it was today again due to no fault of my own!! I've complained and tried changing my providers and still nothing and I am always blamed.
I even have screenshots and proof.

Today at apprx 2 pm I listened to a phone interview by a centrelink employee for my grandson to apply for Youth Allowance the person conducting the interview and questions was impossible to understand because of her broad accent this employee should never have been allowed to conduct phone interviews use her for other admin duties she had to repeat her questioning MANY times totally frustrating and just hope the correct answers were given PLEASE PHONE INTERVIEW YOUR EMPLOYEES before giving them this phone interview position it made the whole experience most stressful for my grandson for his first ever application
Regards

Just found out via one of the big 4 banks
Centrelink Smart Card accounts, the "bank" that this uses is NOT in Australia

That is why it is incredibly difficult to transfer money in or out of

Australian Government running the lives of its inhabitants

Forced into apps and online portals that have hardly any features. Ai submitted paperwork to review a decision by centerlink months ago NO CALL NO LETTER NO WAY TO PROMP ONLINE AGENT CHAT OR CALL BACK.

I applied for a bulk recruitment round and made it through to the second phase of reference checks. To my surprise Service Australia have farmed out the recruitment process to Chandler Macleod to assess applications. They are using a process for reference checks called referoo where your referees are expected to complete a reference report and not the usual verbal report. I was surprised by this as my referee would be unwilling to go through this length process and I can't understand why Service Australia would go don't this road. It would be placing a lot of applicant in difficult situations..As a result I had to revoke my application even though I have over 10 years in the public service and was really looking forward to working with Services Australia. Hopefully they move away from this process in the future it seems very restrictive to me.

I found my experience with Centrelink disgusting - not because of the customer service but because of the system. I find it infuriating that I had to go and justify my 93 year old demented mothers finances - money that she worked for and built ., while day after day week after week month after month and year after year there is an army of career DOLE BLUDGERS collecting welfare to sit on their ass and do nothing forever. This place should be CLOSED to anyone under 65 and they can work or die -its a much better system that creates independence rather than entitlement.This observation isn't only from my recent visit to centrelink, but in the past I have had the displeasure of working with the "DB army" the presence of security guards in the office says it all.....I've seen their tricks ( like the woman who produced a Qld pension card after I questioned the address on her NSW one or the grandmother who told her grand daughter to wait til she got her pension) and heard their bs stories .I understand what the staff at centrelink deal with every day and I think they're incredible to keep fronting up to that! Change is needed I'd start with an clean out of dodgy doctors that write these "forever medical certificates"

If I could put 0 I would
I’m not an unintelligent person
Just trying to get husbands senior health care card ( no payment)
Got there Torrensville sa 8:30 am left after lunch after 4 times getting relogged
And still no card
In last visit I accidentally put tax for current year rather than last assessed went for 4th time to counter snd told sorry can’t get back you just now need to wait till this years tax is assessed for both of you you can’t I request this years (which wasn’t put in)
Last 2 years hubby had no income at all and no benefits just relied on my meger money
What a waste of time
Centrelink why don’t you when you see someone do a one and done from beginning to end not send client away after 1-2 minutes to do themselves
A simple you need tax returns passports even for you wife who isn’t applying as not eligible
Poor service and time wasting
Totally unhelpful but pleasant people
I still don’t have matter resolved and went home with high blood pressure and anxiety
Surely I worked 25 plus years in customer service snd this is certainly not customer service
Btw we didn’t even get to nomination form or change address as too complicated
I would have thought with help completing would take 15 minutes with help however they make it more difficult than necessary

Absolutely rude?? disgusted by the sheer lack of empathy. Despite knowing I'm dealing with life changing chronic injury not a single word of sympathy instead was condescendingly asked "how much profit you made selling your house"?
This is the help I got after calling them for 2 hrs multiple times.

Utterly rude staff in Butler that one day told us one thing and then when it's not dealt with just run away from the issue which led to us walking out. The incompetence is horrendous but I'm sure they do this on purpose to make people's lives miserable.