Centrelink jobseeker phone line disconnected!

PeeDee on 02/05/2016 - 12:04

Im wondering if any of you guys on the Newstart allowance or student have this problem.

Im getting it for more than a week. Last week I lodged my medical certificate on the mobile app and called the jobseeker line for review. The phone link got cut off. I called numerous times and samr problem.

Today i tried calling, got through, waited an hour finding out that I got cut off in the end.

Between those days i went to centrelink to use their phone thinking it was my phone line but it wasnt, same problem.

So i handed the certificate to them. I had little success, did not hear any reply, came back again and they said 'it's been approved'. Next day i get calls from job agency to go appointment?

What's going on with the Centrelink phone line???

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Comments

  • MrMcHairyHead on 02/05/2016 - 12:16
    +1

    That's pretty normal. Centrelink don't really answer phone calls. They don't give a shit.

    • mskeggs on 02/05/2016 - 14:18
      +9

      I know a couple of people that work for Centrelink. They have had their job duties increase substantially over the past few years and staff numbers cut. They do care about their jobs, but they need resources to do it.

  • GameChanger on 02/05/2016 - 13:15

    Government run agency, don't expect efficiency especially when they have to pay you!

    • mskeggs on 02/05/2016 - 14:20
      +6

      The government (both sorts!) have been cutting public service staff in agencies like Centrelink for years as part of "efficiency" reviews. If you don't give an agency enough resources, service will suffer. Try calling a cut price airline or ISP and you get the same problems regardless of whether they are private or government.

  • StewBalls on 02/05/2016 - 13:33
    +2

    If it makes you feel any better, the same thing frequently happens to providers with service level calls as well. They do seem at first glance to have inordinately poor phone systems, but then again you can bet your bottom dollar they're getting hammered all day.

  • sparkles on 02/05/2016 - 13:45
    +1

    I dealt with Centrelink recently. If you go into the office, they bump you to the phones. And when you try on the phone, they keep you on hold for hours, provided you even have the stamina to last. This business of never dealing with anyone in person anymore is absolute bull.

    The girl in front of me went in asking to see a social worker urgently, and got told to come back tomorrow after 9am, it was too late in the day. What a intelligent and considered response considering she was wearing a school uniform. I hope she didn't sleep on the street. We are just a customer reference number now, the bureaucracy has made people like dirt on their shoe.

    • GameChanger on 02/05/2016 - 14:12
      -1

      I wonder how much money the Govt could save by sacking everyone who worked for centrelink and outsourcing it to India who probably could do a better job.

      • mskeggs on 02/05/2016 - 14:22
        +2

        Already happening in other agencies.
        http://www.itnews.com.au/news/nsw-offshores-jobs-in-215m-ser…

        Think of the money that could be saved if they stopped operating the whole government! It's the money savings that are the important thing, not the service delivery.

        • GameChanger on 02/05/2016 - 14:40

          Yep.

          I remember reading an article which suggested giving everyone a base wage and completely forget about CL. Not sure how the numbers work, but if it's lower this way it should be done.

  • grog on 02/05/2016 - 14:30

    Listen here current liberal bloody government you have stuffed us poor old fair dinkum aussies right up with all your support for your rich business mates.

    We have had enough of this s**t

    The bloody liberal govt do not run this country… public servants run australia

    For every permanent public servant you get rid of, we have to suffer.

    So give centrelink and other depts what they want then shove off!

  • narcoleptic-haze on 02/05/2016 - 15:54
    +3

    I'm afraid this is rather normal. A few years ago I went through the whole centrelink job search thing. I remember thinking at the time when having to line up and wait with 100's of other people, that surely there are some people among us that would be suited to work in this place. There are so many people waiting for help, but typically only 4 or 5 people working.

    And unfortunately it doesn't stop with Centrelink themselves. Even the job agencies used by them are pretty hopeless. I got assigned to a job finding agency and had to go to job search sessions once a week. One day I went in for a session and the regular receptionist wasn't working, so someone else checked me in. I did the session, and applied for another handful of jobs. Alas, a couple of days later centrelink called me up ready to cancel my support because I had missed a session. I went back to the job agency and they denied that anything was different that day. They couldn't or wouldn't tell me who was working that day, and claimed they had no record of me showing up.

    They offered a program to educate me on how to better find jobs online. It was probably written 15 years ago. I'm not kidding, it literally began with explaining the whole concept of an email. Needless to say it wasn't any help.

    Back to the poor phone connections etc: when I finally got a full time job, it took me about a week of trying to call up in my lunch break to let them know I had secured the job. Each time I would either be waiting eternally or transferred around multiple times which more than likely either ended in an unanswered ring out, or just plain disconnection.

    You've just gotta try and get through it.

  • PeeDee on 02/05/2016 - 16:18

    Before I read the comments, one tip for jobseekers out there. If you've had a bad relationship with your job agency, treat you poorly and you found a job, don't tell them you found a job. Tell Centrelink, if the job agency keeps ringing you, you have the right to report to Centrelink (easily through their complaints no.) since you've found a job and don't belong with the agency anymore. If you're treated terribly, the agency don't deserve their pay.

  • subywagon on 02/05/2016 - 17:54
    +2

    Just go get a well paid job…

    • StewBalls on 02/05/2016 - 18:42
      +3

      Let them eat cake…

      • subywagon on 02/05/2016 - 20:57

        ;)

      • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2016 - 10:23

        I thought the cake was a lie

  • Speckled Jim on 03/05/2016 - 22:15

    The CES — which wasn't perfect but did a good job — was destroyed by the Job Nutwerk and Centrelink.
    All you Howard lovers should now stomp your rose-coloured glasses.
    Enjoy!

  • Geekomatic on 03/05/2016 - 23:21

    I cannot tell you how many times I've waited & been cut off, or waited, then be told they need to transfer me, then get cut off.

    I just go in now, which is why (I think) their offices are so busy…Their phone system is horrible, I agree 100%!

    • PeeDee on 04/05/2016 - 00:35

      But I don't understand why the terrible phone system is occurring in the quarter year. I called at the start of the year and it was fine. So was the months towards the end of the year.

      Has the liberals implemented something recent that I don't know? Recent staff cut offs?

      • Geekomatic on 04/05/2016 - 16:54

        School leavers moving to youth allowance has been one of the reasons- or so I was told…I think they have to process them all at once or some such nonsense so it starts a pile-up heading into the following (uni) start.

        FWIW, not that it helps knowing. I know I am cut-off more often than I get through, and that's just ridiculous.

  • Helenn on 29/08/2016 - 10:39

    Am now on my 3rd attempt to call the newstart line
    1st step is getting through at all - more often than not the number is engaged. It usually takes me 5-10mins of repeat dialling before I am able to get to the recorded message.
    2nd step is being put on hold - 20mins the first attempt, 30mins second attempt before being suddenly disconnected.
    I don't have a speaker phone so am feeling pretty frustrated with the waste of time right now. I can't help but think it allows them to cut more people off their payments, because they just give up trying to get through. Also maybe it allows them to say that their wait times are reduced because they simply cut you off.

  • Helenn on 29/08/2016 - 10:43

    4th attempt - this time got cut off after waiting only 4mins :/

  • Helenn on 29/08/2016 - 10:45

    And again. This is getting ridiculous.

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