Yes, I have a debt with Centrelink. I had problems trying to report my earnings when I was completing my forms online; I was reporting monthly, but could only enter 2 weeks' wages each time. When I went into the Centrelink office to sort this out, with the staff person laboriously checking off my payslips against my records, I was told that everything was fine, and I'd even have $20 paid into my account the following day.
What I got, along with my $20, was a letter telling me I owed them $1200, because I was overpaid for the weeks that I wasn't able to report my income. It turns out that the person I saw did know this, as it would have been immediately flagged on my record once she had input all my info, and could have told me about it at the time, but she chose not to. They are supposed to tell us about these things straight away, but often don', in order to avoid difficult situations. I thought it was pretty cowardly, especially as I was being really straightfoward about my situation, and am a nice, friendly person.
So now I am having $20 a fornight deducted from my Austudy, to be reviewed in 3 months. At this rate, it will take me over 2 years to pay it back, although I expect to be earning enough in a year or so's time to sort it out (along with my UK student loan and my HECS debt).
I'm irritated that I have a debt, despite trying to do the right thing. It's not my fault their system couldn't handle my situation, and I tried to fix it as soon as I could. I'm also annoyed that the staff person chickened out of telling me about the debt, and let me get a scary letter in the mail instead.
However, as Austudy pays a higher rate than Newstart, having a deduction will be much less painful. Losing $10 a week on Newstart would have made things very difficult indeed.
I'm tempted to say "Bloody Centrelink" or something along those lines, but this is the first time I've ever had bad customer service from them, and I'm always grateful that Centrelink is there to prevent me from being destitute, living under a bench in New Farm Park. My reticence at going into the Centrelink office is also not about Centrelink itself, but about some of the other clientele. Nearly every time I go in, there is someone making a disturbance about having to wait, or feel they are being ripped off or doesn't think they should have to fill out forms etc. I suppose that in the face of some of those clients, I might not mention a $1200 debt, either.
What I got, along with my $20, was a letter telling me I owed them $1200, because I was overpaid for the weeks that I wasn't able to report my income. It turns out that the person I saw did know this, as it would have been immediately flagged on my record once she had input all my info, and could have told me about it at the time, but she chose not to. They are supposed to tell us about these things straight away, but often don', in order to avoid difficult situations. I thought it was pretty cowardly, especially as I was being really straightfoward about my situation, and am a nice, friendly person.
So now I am having $20 a fornight deducted from my Austudy, to be reviewed in 3 months. At this rate, it will take me over 2 years to pay it back, although I expect to be earning enough in a year or so's time to sort it out (along with my UK student loan and my HECS debt).
I'm irritated that I have a debt, despite trying to do the right thing. It's not my fault their system couldn't handle my situation, and I tried to fix it as soon as I could. I'm also annoyed that the staff person chickened out of telling me about the debt, and let me get a scary letter in the mail instead.
However, as Austudy pays a higher rate than Newstart, having a deduction will be much less painful. Losing $10 a week on Newstart would have made things very difficult indeed.
I'm tempted to say "Bloody Centrelink" or something along those lines, but this is the first time I've ever had bad customer service from them, and I'm always grateful that Centrelink is there to prevent me from being destitute, living under a bench in New Farm Park. My reticence at going into the Centrelink office is also not about Centrelink itself, but about some of the other clientele. Nearly every time I go in, there is someone making a disturbance about having to wait, or feel they are being ripped off or doesn't think they should have to fill out forms etc. I suppose that in the face of some of those clients, I might not mention a $1200 debt, either.
Sounds like the contractors who designed the website that did not let you enter the data properly should be paying the $1200. :-P
ReplyDelete