Why the continual changes Hank ?

[welfarerites]

hi Tangles.
i know it was a while ago you emailed Hank. but now he chats on ABC radio etc and asks people to let him know about their gripes with clink offices and oficers. so he says.
don't expect too much.
Argh!!

i just wish the Welfare Rights Unit had enough resources to promote itself. they should be allowed to have a poster at every kinka link orifice also there should be a copy of the Social Security Act available, and the Independant Social Security Handbook - by Welfare Rights.

I've written to kinka link twice re: having the Social Security Act available and never hasd a reply.
i did discover recently that it can be viewed on their self service computers. good reading while you wait!

[Tangles]

I cut and pasted my original post to Hank Jongen Manager CENTRELINK Canberra. He is on holidays and requested in return email to contact his acting Manager and, true to form of CENTRELINK standard, never included her email address!

He did however include the Canberra phone number of another 'idle' employee looking for something to do. Needless to say I wont throw good money after bad phoning her.

[Tangles]

Un-informed comments about Centrelink recipients who are trying to 'play by their rules' are not helpful. Or, in my case, highlighting constant un-neccessary changes that cause nothing but confusion and errors (theirs) leading to meetings with management, to sort out a mess created by Centrelink's poorly trained staff and seemingly beyond their skills to fix.

Its a pity Juls NGE prohibits contact between us or I could give you a contact who will get the Customer Service Manager from your local Centrelink to phone you and make an appointment to sort this out ASAP. If there are any monitary problems they can get a Senior Practitioner to sit in on the meeting and sort out the whole mess.

Perhaps you might be lucky enough to get 'patched through' to your local Customer Service Manager when calling Centrelink's call centre.

Good Luck

[julslovesjesus]

Gee dusty - thanks so much for your incredibly judgemental and condescending reply. You have absolutely NO IDEA of my personal circumstances, yet feel you can pass judgement on them. You've also assumed I am ungrateful and you couldn't be further from the truth. If you had read my post properly, you would see that I AM playing by their rules - in fact I am more than playing by their rules. Their system has stuffed up and no-one seems able to fix it, through absolutely no fault of mine. Am I just meant to put up with being treated rudely, and not having a problem resolved because the gripe is with Centrelink? I gather that if the gripe was with someone other organisation, you would see it as valid? And according to you, I should feel grateful that I had to spend an inordinate amount of time at Centrelink to sort it out - because by your definition I have no right to complain? The whole process is humiliating enough without having people such as your good self make innacurate judgements with no real knowledge.
I hope that if you are ever in a position where you need to ask for help to feed your family, that you get a much kinder response than the one you gave me. Not everyone on Centrelink benefits is scum you know, contrary to your obvious belief. And not everyone is a bludger - there are many valid reasons why people need assistance. I guess you're lucky enough to never have had to care for someone disabled or ill that meant you were unable to work full time.

[dusty_rusty_2000]

Centrelink is doing you a favour by supplementing your spending money. Be grateful.

If you don't want to play by their rules, you could always change your circumstances so you aren't reliant on hand outs.

[julslovesjesus]

I have spent the past 3 days trying to get a problem sorted with Centrelink. I went to report my earnings and the website would not let me in - so I thought - must be something wrong online - I'll ring. I got caught in an ongoing loop that would not let me though. I then proceeded to go to a Centrelink office - left work early, waited over 40 minutes in line - only to find that there is a computer glitch - someone somewhere has opened an activity statement and not closed it off properly (apparently this dates back to 2006! & they say there is no current statement in place arrgghh) thereby causing my payment to be suspended with no way of fixing it. They assured me it would be fixed by 12 noon the following day (Wednesday)& that they would ring me to confirm this. No call of course. I called them - 20 mins on hold, another 30 mins explaining the whoe thing over again, only to be told - nope not fixed, went through the same rigmarole. No joy. "We'll fix it and call you". Finally got a call today (day 3) from someone from their "systems" department who was very rude acting as though their computer stuff up is my fault. She said she had fixed the issue & I had to go back into Centrelink to organise payment & to sign new activity statement (this being the 3rd one in 3 months because of this ongoing problem) 45 mins waiting in line - finally got to speak to someone. surprise surprise, glitch not fixed, don't know when it will be. My file is locked and no-one can do anything.
When will it be fixed? "Who knows? Normally these things don't take more than a week".
Unbelievable!

[Tangles]

Some imbecile in Centrelink I suggest, with too much idle time and little to do with it, keeps changing the lodgement of Application for Payment forms.

Over time I have had to lodge a 'fortinghtly slip' noting particulars of 4 job applications. Then it 'progressed' to the orange and green booklet with 10 job applications/fortnight "on a trial period at 4 Centrelink outlets across Adelaide".

Centrelink later told me "the book had been dispensed with" (although youngsters still front up today clutching the same booklet) and I was moved to a three-monthly slip with 4 job applications, which never seemed enough.

Centrelink then changed to a monthly Application slip (with 4 job applications) and soon after, yes you guessed it clever person, we have now turned the complete circle and are back to the fortnightly lodgement of Application slips with, wait for it, NO place to write where I have applied for ANY jobs!

I dont know if its because I am approaching retirement OR they finally realise I have jumped at the opportunity to do voluntary work to escape the fools at Salvation Army Job? Network.

Do the youngsters have to dance to the same meaningless tune of confusion at Centrelink, or is it just me?