Centrelink Reviews 

I attended the Springwood office to apply for an aged pension. I had to ask to have an appointment and be driven there for assistance as I'm recovering from cataract surgery and was not confident driving. The place had 3 people there with one always seeming to skive off on 'lunch' or a break of some kind. The assistance ended up being a flat top shiny trousers type who had a rudimentary command of English giving me a form and pointing me towards one of the two computers that actually worked. It took over two hours to fill in the sections as one form was a 40 page paper form peppered with ambiguous questions but only allowing for yes/no answers. I asked the staff for help and they couldn't have been more disinterested. They just told me to tick the no box and that I was lucky as an 'appointment' actually consisted of 15 minutes of their precious time so I was taking up someone else's time of the sole working computer. Months later I still have no pension. I approached the local Federal member whose office did respond and I got a text push advising I would be called today by one of their staff; probably as my application has been labelled as 'complex' - probably because of their poor questioning design, lack of help, and lack of interest - and I can see I'm probably going to have to battle these creatures right through to an ARO and Tribunal if necessary as they will probably try to deny me a pension and put every possible obstacle in the way to obtaining one. Of course the phone call never came. Must have been looking for an early mark to get out for their Easter holidays.

They are the worst type of public servant I've ever encountered, state or federal, and the fact that they worked through the unlawful RoboDebt scandal demonstrates the lower trophic zone these people inhabit. A disgraceful office and level of service. I can't believe I taught in schools and universities for decades to see people of this low calibre working in a public service role. Their natural place would be in low skilled positions and roles and not working with people where developed inter/ intra-personal communication skills are essential. A national and local obscenity.

As an addendum, the mooted phone call came today from this miserable type with its small shop keeper mentality and whiny mingeing voice to boot. I have a small company which has never made any money as it was set up to make a film and despite having a chartered accountant complete the books for the company so it's up to date, this caller from Centrelink wants more information - which should be in the returns signed off by the ATO and which were uploaded to Centrelink in their entirety! So, more delay and expense as I have to go back to the accountant to confirm this information was provided. Also asked me if I'd be overseas recently! I had taken a trip to New Zealand with my daughter in 2024 to spread my late wife's ashes there. More delays and expense.

I sent the information by uploading on their lousy third world system. Then, as a further annoyance, I get a letter today demanding more information about the company assets from start of this year to the date of application for an aged pension.

Why didn't they ask for this in the first place? So they've back paid me from my application date but there is obviously a 'dirt unit' in this abomination that does its upmost to cost people more money and harass them in the hope that they will give up or they might find something and try to deny my pension. This is what was put in the letter; that my pension will be terminated if I don't provide the information within 14 days. So off to an accountant to provide these fiends in human form with the information at more expense to me.

So, I uploaded the information to their crappy website and mailed the form and print out back to Canberra. Wonder if this treatment is linked to me making a formal complaint to the local Federal MP?! There is a special place in Hell for these vermin who will try anything to make people give up and go away or prevent them from getting the aged pension they're entitled to. I hope you all get to where you deserve to be.

So the noticeboard says 10 min wait. 40 mins later we get to a counter. Then was advised we need to fill out a form and need to go and get another ticket ... what tha hell! Now 45 mins later still waiting to hand back the completed form. BTW we could NOT do this online because of their crappy website.

I find Centrelink as an organisation to be near-completely useless. When I retired in December, I went to Centrelink and filled out the forms for the age pension (I'm 69); and now it is coming up mid-March, and my pension is not finalized. It seems to me that they keep putting up obscure roadblocks concerning technicalities, to not pay me. In the meantime, I've had to ask friends for money to buy groceries/pay bills. This is interfering with my mental health very negatively. This morning I had suicidal thoughts...I find little or no compassion, or empathy while dealing with staff; I've gone in more than ten times to try to sort these issues out, it's near-impossible to ring, because there's an hour wait on the phone, and my Internet is dodgy at best. Extremely unhappy! I have worked hard for more than 50 years, and paid thousands in tax: to be treated like a thief or scammer at my retirement is beyond belief or understanding! These ppl don't deserve a one-star rating. Angry and unhappy in the extreme.
Phil Gedye

I went to Centrelink at Caringbah this morning. I've never been there before and, based on reputation was dreading it. It was just to to confirm my id in person. The lady at the front desk was lovely. Didn't even have time to finish a game on my phone before they called me. Very quick, very efficient. I could hear another lady trying very hard to explain stuff to a man who was not easy. She had the patience of a saint

Service Australia Centerlink
Staff the majority of them are rude and lack Empathy. They don't want to listen to what you have to say cut you off when speaking.
Waiting almost 1 hour on the phone to get through to someone is a joke , then once you get through and you speak to someone they don't care.
Kylie from the Authorised Review Team in NSW- is so Rude has no Empathy it's her way or the High way.
Centerlink in general needs an over haul especially when it comes to there staffing, you can clearly see they don't want to be there.
You walk into the Centerlink office short staff it's rush rush .....

Centrelink is the ABSOLUTE imbersile institute to deal with don't have a problem your ok if not 🚭🚭 I could tell some hum dingers about my issues I have had and still having

This is the most outdated system I think I’ve ever seen. You MUST read out your CRN (possibly several times because this is like if Siri was made in the ‘90s), then “In Australia my voice identifies me”.

Once you make it through this, you have to state what your question is? Saying “Operator” won’t ever get you an Operator. You have to try multiple times before it hangs up on you.

Then once you get in, you’re looking at hours of waiting through the most depressing music, with the automated voice saying little spiels to breakup the monotony.

In an age, where the computer system is complex for most people, and most elderly people can’t use Smartphones or (in my late Nana’s experience) doesn’t own a computer, they’re at the mercy of this system with minimal expenditure in infrastructure, despite working and paying taxes for 50+ years into public services that have ALL been PRIVATISED!

I’m wanting to get Austudy, and despite our generous HELP-Loans (it used to be HECS or free for today’s Politicians), Universities have adopted a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) system instead of having libraries that have dozens of computers. Why? To save costs!

If you’re in Engineering, Healthcare, Science, etc. You need at least $2k to afford a computer (because of companies investing hundreds of billions into computational hardware to run these AI centres, export fees, planned obsolescence, some places requiring Macs, etc) that runs the COMPULSORY PROGRAMS you need.

Don’t have $2k? You can’t get a HELP-Loan to cover it. Don’t have parents that can shill out $2k? Tough luck!

Commute 2 hours to university and back, but only live in the outer-urban sprawl, no accommodation assistance.

Lucky enough to get a great paying internship? Don’t earn too much, or you’ll get deductions from your Youth Allowance or Austudy (significantly below the poverty line).

So your goal is to turn that internship into possibly $60k pa salary, to fob off this detestable system.

Meanwhile, Germany has free tuition for everyone and Denmark actually gives you a liveable income to study on.

But hey, at least we’re not as bad as America. Yet!

Officer Gloria (Centrelink Glen Waverley ) went over and above to help us solve an issue with my wife’s surname. It was our 3rd visit in 6 weeks to sort out the same issue. Gloria was apologetic that the problem wasn’t resolved earlier. She looked into the matter after we left, and called back to say that the problem has been resolved. Thank you Gloria, for your diligent help.

Been waiting on jobseeker payments for over a month. They were suppused to arrive into my account today - and lo and behold my claim has been deleted. Call up Centrelink and they tell me to call Workforce Australia, call up Workforce Australia and they tell me to call Centrelink. On hold for a total of 4 hours today - will try again tomorrow.

Just a complaint again for the services and lies they tell their clients.

Centrelink is run by idiots… their is no privacy for anyone… when I was in their I could hear the staff asking the clients about personal issues.. that shouldn’t happen…as I shouldn’t be able to hear what is being said…while going on the computer to get what Centrelink want regarding my bank account… once again anyone in the waiting room can see what is on the computer…..and I object to Centrelink seeing how much money I have in the bank….

Can someone tell me why our tax payer dollars go to 2 security guards who just tell you to go to reception. What a waste of money. Sat there for 30mins to make minor changes to Medicare.

Wheres my money centrelink?

My name is Anh Tuyen Hoang, two months ago, my Age Pension payment was suspended. It was related to CAO. I really felt panic because this is my pricipal income. I came to Centrelink Gosnell to ask for help. My helper Jessica was clear, friendly, very precise and made me feel very at ease with information. She explained everything to me in easy terms, and she worked hard to get everything in order. She assisted with some forms and sent them to the CAO team, it helped to restore my Age Pension and my payment was returned. Great service from start to finish. Thank you for making it so easy, Jessica! Keep up the good work!

Wouldn't even give Centrelink it a 1 star rating. Tried to call the centrelink number then a voice activated message asks for what it is you need but then the call is cut off/terminated. Tried calling numerous times with the same result.
Therefore had to go into a Centrelink office to submit some forms. When I approached the reception staff member I was told instead to use the self check in machine so that I could obtain a code for my visit. However I asked the reception staff why can't they help me to which she stated that in future to use the self check in machine.
After I did see a service staff member I was told that I had to make an appointment to lodge my application form which would be in several days time.
So I went to another Centrelink office and was initially seen by a staff member at reception who was chewing gum and who was very disinterested. I waited for up to 1 hour so that I could lodge this form which should have been accepted in the first place by the first Centrelink office that I approached.
Very poor work ethic by most of the staff members. They don't want to do what is expected in their job description and are very good at passing the responsibility onto another staff member.
Very unsatisfactory government organisation!

maybe if you have no compassion or empathy for people who are in desperate circumstances through no fault of their own and are very distressed , you shouldnt work at centrelink. I wonder how many people give up and kill themselves because you pieces of S are just the last straw? At least one that I know of. It's not enough to live on anyway so why bother to try .

Won’t answer the phone.

Centrelink need to stop stealing from the poor to pay the rich. They are corrupted and theives. Shame on Centrelink for putting debts on customers for no reason then saying it was an error but customers still need to pay the debts that were made in error by Centrelink until they fix the mess they made .if I could give them no stars I would

Need my Payment Summary to complete my Tax return but it's "delayed". No answers why or how long before I get it. Not one person can give me satisfactory answers or any help.

The only thing that doesn’t make it a 5 would be the wait time, but it is totally understandable :) Talked to Emrick today and he was so helpful! Helped me super quickly and answered all my questions with no doubt! Thank you Emrick!