Centrelink Reviews 

is this a record? on the phone for so far 1 hour and 20 minutes and still no response. I know they're looking at pay rise - but hey, how about a rise in customer service as well? absolutely hopeless!!!

Numerous times I have called Centrelink, early morning, late morning, middle of the day, late afternoon and just before they close. Each time EACH TIME i have waited over an hour!!!!
When I have spoken to someone I've been transferred 2 or 3 times, time leads to over 2 hours with no resolution because I work full time and don't have the time to be online. I am now waiting on a call, 3rd time transfer time is 2 an half hours

The Centrelink phone service is absolutely disgusting. I called everyday for one week and no one answered my call. I was on wait from one hour to four hours and in that time I got all my house work done. Centrelink is lazy they get paid for doing nothing in the offices all day long. I’ve submitted a claim and I have been reporting but Centrelink hasnt paid me for a few weeks and I’m in financial hardship atm and I’ve tried to submit a new claim for Covid and I can’t since on jobseeker claim without getting paid 😠

My wife submitted her claim for a Commonwealth Senior Health Card on the 13/7/2023 and as of 14/9/2023 she has not heard from Centrelink. She tried calling them but did not have any luck. The "voice" on the other end of the line hung up on her!!!!!!!!!!

Becky ID:RHK983 and Chipra ID:CLY026 were amazing. Both were very helpful and understanding. Truly great experiences

1 Week after a bad experience with service Australia, this week I had a good outcome. I was greeted by a very different reception, this person was friendly and easy to talk to. Also the Centrelink 2 people who helped me were great.

Australian Government should be ashamed of themselves, Centrelink is the worst service ever encountered. You call 100 times (no exaggeration) to use a bot to FORCE you, into recording your voice to ID you, even though it tells you not to do that if it's not your account. NO THANKS Then the bot hangs up on you before ever coming into contact with a Human. Do better Centrelink, Do better Australian Government, no wonder we had the Robot Debt disasters, those poor people that killed themselves because of not being able to speak to a human. This is not a community service it's a National disgrace.

I applied for age pension for my wife and myself in early June 2023. I had to wait for a period of time until they notified me that I had “undeclared investments” from a superannuation account which I closed and notified them of in 2016! I again advised them IN WRITING of this and was given an expected completion date of 10 August. It is now 31 August and my claim is still “in progress.” We have been living on fast dwindling savings and have very little left. I have been forced to consider re-entering the work force while this bunch of inept individuals sit on their collective hands. This is a service I have helped to fund by working and paying tax.
If minus stars were possible, I would give them minus 25 for their indifference to the Australian public.

Absolutely pathetic customer service, unreachable by phone. Now you can't even stay on hold to wait for service, you have to keep ringing up. How the hell are you supposed to try and discuss matters that can't be dealt with online.

3.5 hour wait to speak to someone about an elderly customers pension to arrange a meeting, absolutely woeful

She gave me wrong information about my payment she needs to be trained beter i saw someone this morning around 12 or 12.30 28/8/23 not agood service at all i have seen other employees they're experienced and know what they talking about they gave me good information how centrelink works

First, is very hard to believe that this kind of service/issue happens still in Australia after so many people complain about about it. Unbelievable.
After my husband waited 1:40 Min in line to get through they asked me to authenticate my identity and after 8 questions they asked how much I pay in rental, and I said I don't pay rental since April instead I pay my mortgage. She said that the call has to ended as they couldn't identify the right person for the account as I couldn't tell how much I pay in rental. They asked us to go with identity in person to a centrelink station. And guess what? . You go there and they say that the family and child care department is only online or by the phone.
And the most frustrating part is that no matter what the problem is, you always have the same kind of frustration to get in touch and try to solve it. (if it is only by the phone how about to put much more people working on phone? Not everyone has spare hours to wait on phone.
And by the way what we are trying to solve is a problem that looks more like a scam as every single person I know has been telling the same. We are always owning money for this department, no matter how much you already pay per week.
Great way to collect money and not even them can explain why to charge what they charge. Failed of system.
If I could it would be 0 starts.
I still have my hope for this part to work well in Australia.

If I could leave a 0 star review I would. I have been trying to contact regarding my child’s CCS set up as she attended a new child care centre
I was on hold for 1 hour and 20 minutes thinking the lady on the other line had helped me.
I got another email from the centre saying that Centrelink had not yet fixed what they had to. I tried calling 6 times for hours only to say that they are busy to call back again. The call Would not let me speak to an operator either. Absolutely disgraceful!
Shortly after, I physically walked into a Centrelink centre only for the lady to say they have “no one” from family services working today. How hard could this be?
I am yet on the phone with Centrelink on hold for over an hour for a customer rep to do their job correctly and help me. This is absolutely disgusting. Hire some staff and do some proper training to resolve people’s issues. I am wasting hours of my day trying to sort this out!

I would give ZERO STARS if I could. BEEN WAITING 6 Months for Dad + Partner Pay. THANKS FOR NOTHING AND THANKS FOR LEAVING HARD WORKING AUSSIES OUTTA POCKET.

You can even talk to someone on the phone the system keep telling you that they are to busy then it hangs up, but you might have a pressing measure or be like my mother and not be able to leave the house. I've called Centrelink with small problems and they drive to yo depression and think why even both trying to go on. I would like to know how many people have committed suicide after trying to call Centrelink and the phone system just hanging up on you. They hold people 110% accountable for everything and they can even answer a phone to help you. If it was a public company no one would use it, but it's a NEEDED government department that causes mental harm to our elderly and disabled people.

Shoutout to Tanya at Portland VIC office.
Not only did she take the time to speak to me without an appointment, she also called me back as soon as the situation was resolved.
This happened after i waited over two hours for someone to pick up the phone, then was put on hold three times and then cut off altogether.
Tanya could see how stressed i was and was able to fix the problem in no time. So my five stars go to her..not the woman who answered the phone and clearly had no idea what she was doing.
Cheers Tanya.

I had been sent a debt from Centrelink 2 years back about a payment which was overpaid. I had clearly stated at the time to the representative "what is this payment for?" he replied "it's your childcare and family tax benefit money for the financial year". These payments usually come after you receive your tax return from the previous year. We all know that payments usually balance out between the 7th-15th of august which it was paid. Last year i had a call from a Centrelink representative claiming i owed money from the previous financial year. I had clearly stated why did you pay me that amount? knowing that I owe money. Then they continued pay me after your organization had seen my tax balanced which was paid 2 or 3 weeks prior to payment. They then continued to say that I didn't report the correct figures for the last EOFY 21-22. I than asked if that was the case "why did you pay me knowing that i didn't report correctly?". You're contacting me about a debt i had no idea about? If you contacted me as soon as you paid me this call would have never happened. Why would you freeze a debt and not tell anyone about? It sounded like the Centrelink organization was looking to scam people for money that owed that people had no idea about.. I have contacted multiple times in relation to this and all i had as a response is that we will freeze it for 6 months and get a case manager to get back to you in relation to this. 1 year and 6 months later still yet to receive a call from the Centrelink with clarification about my dispute. This is the 4th time i have tried to resolve this issue with this organization. Please call me asap and DO NOT deduct any money unless this issue is resolved. STOP SCAMMING people for money!

It's very hard to contact them. Phone options send you in circles and even when you can finally speak to an operator, you're told everyone is busy and "thanks for calling" before it hangs up. This is nothing new, but it's hard to believe it's still a problem.

It said average wait time was 50minutes I ended up waiting over 2 hours, didn’t help that the person over the phone when it got through was rude as hell.

Typical Centrelink….

The worst service I’ve ever had to deal with. Their customer service line never lets you speak to anyone, just hangs up on you. The robot on the phone has no idea what you’re saying when she’s asked you a simple question and got a simple answer. Services Australia make the entire process so difficult and lengthy as they pray you will give up so they don’t have to pay you. I’m 6 weeks on from surgery, I cannot walk, I cannot work. I haven’t received a cent and I am struggling to live. No help whatsoever.