Centrelink Reviews 

Absolutely disgraceful service. I call in at 8am on the dot and I've been waiting for nearly an hour on hold.
The automated bs you have to go through at the start of the call is the frustrating process and it's little wonder why people are pissed off once they eventually get through to an operator.

Horrible organisation, if I could give 0 stars I would.
On hold for a cumulative 4.5 hours today after trying to declare my partner to centrelink for 6 months to now be told we will be hit with a debt. (She only gained employment 2 weeks ago)
When workers finally answer 9 times out of 10 they sigh and carry on as if having to do their goddamn job is a pain. Would have been a world easier if they had just processed our request when we first asked. Go ask a nurse, doctor or community services worker if it is acceptable to mistreat clients because your workplace processes suck and you will get the same answer - Absolutely not. One of the other reviewers here was spot on when she said "suicide would be easier"

The problem is you can never get through!!! Ever!! And after waiting for over an hour on the phone they hang up on you! Absolute disgrace!

In my 5-star review, I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Kirra from Centrelink's older Australians phone service. Having called Centrelink twice before to change my income reporting date without success, I was fortunate to have my call directed to Ms. Kirra today. She promptly addressed my query, providing a level of polite and efficient service that deserves the highest rating. I am pleased to give her 5 stars for her outstanding assistance.

Disgusting phone service.I wish I would not even give 1 star due to their horrible phone line customer service system. 3 hours waiting on ph then they cut off the ph . On the other side Centrelink asked to contact with them.why Centrelink disturbing people because of this I was almost loosing my job .if Centrelink don’t give service over the ph why u asked to call and put them into trouble wasting whole day .

This department is deliberately neglecting its responsibility to its customers.

As it stands, it is impossible to call through to their jobseeker phone line. They have no que. They have no call back service. The automated answering service just says the department is too busy and hangs up, even if your call is about something serious like *payment suspension*. If you call back, it just recognizes your number and immediately hangs up.

I have personally been cut off of my payments, as I had not yet been re-engaged with a job agency by one of their agents, who was supposed to call me. I have not received their call, and my payments have been cut off regardless. I was dis-engaged from their job agency, because the job they had signed me up for was not giving me any hours, and for some reason the blame for this falls to me, despite the fact that the company I was hired out to, seems to operate by taking kick-back from Centrelink clients. Having run out my subsidies, I am not often offered shifts. Counter-intuitively, and was explained by my agent, this means I am to be exited from their agency according to Centrelink's job plan, to be called by Centrelink, and put back on one again. The job agent could not explain the purpose of this, and admitted it is completely inane.

The company operating this department is completely corrupt and inept, and plays a highly intrusive role in our government. They have absolutely no place in this country, and it is easily conceivable that their presence in our government departments is a form of foreign sabotage.

Whatever the case, they should not be allowed to continue their activities in this country, and were western democracy not at this stage in its history, they should likely already be gone.

Show Utopia would get a lot of ideas from Centrelink. As Centrelink IS Utopia!! One could think that poor service is intentional as tax office seems to work just perfectly. We’ve spent almost 6 hours all together waiting on the phone, going twice back there. Speaking to three different people who all gave different advice. Apart from being incompetent it’s really the gov system that is broken. People work until 5 but they close 4.30. That is just ridiculous. You can’t email them, wait time is almost two hours and then can can just be disconnected. It’s made to make it very hard for people to get help. I didn’t ask for help during covid though I was eligible for it as I thought there are people out there that need it more. So I’m not one to ask for help easily. I don’t blame poor people working there as the incompetent ones shouldn’t be hired first place. The ones who are good at what they do, get blamed but it’s not their fault. The blame is on the system that is made to fail. AI can fix the incompetence.

I went there yesterday to make an appointment just to let them know that I'm going overseas.
I do really think the first lady who assists me didn't know what she was doing.
Instead of putting a note on my account, she asked me to upload my sister's death certificate as I told her I'm going home for my sister's funeral. She also asked me to ring the head office (if I'm not mistaken) once I upload the documents.
I ended up seeing another lady and she fix it in a minutes. I do really thanks to her 😊🙏

I’ve been waiting for more than 4 months for my application to be assessed. I’ve tried calling through every morning for the past 2 weeks as early as 8.30am but told that all phone staff are busy —- Does not seem like Centrelink wants to assist… Poor service

I applied for JobSeeker payment on 19th July 2023 after being made redundant.

It took CentreLink until 20th September to approve it. Not only did it take this long, I also didn’t receive a Health Care Card until that date also.

2 months to approve.

As soon as I started work again the card was cancelled the next day.

Funny how it takes so long to approve payments but hours to cancel things

My 5 star review is for staff member Bailey from Centrelink - I called the Centrelink phone line on 24/10/23 as I have had issues with my Austudy claim - some issues were my fault and some were Centrelink's, without directing blame at Centrelink. He diligently went over and above to review my case file, notes and documents to double check they were all accurate for my claim and he escalated my case to another department. I have worked in customer service a lot over the years, his customer service was first rate and worth a 5 star review here. Overall I provide Bailey with a 5 star review and Centrelink with a 3 star review. Bailey for his great customer service, Centrelink for their service to Australian people however only moderate assistance in my claim until I spoke to Bailey today - as my claim has taken over 3 months so far. Thanks Bailey and Centrelink overall however as I understand 100% some of the issues of my claim were my fault, some Centrelink's and Centrelink staff are under pressure due to their workload and the staff are appreciated and doing their best! I don't know the result of my Austudy claim as of 24/10/23 however I now know the claim is in and this Trust Pilot review is completed regardless of the claim result. (Extra note 09/11/23: 5 Star review for staff member Georgia at Centrelink Ringwood for her assistance, work, empathy to me in my in Centrelink office appointment today re: my Austudy claim. She really cared and thoroughly reviewed my claim and escalated my claim to another department again, this Trust Pilot updated review update is regardless of the claim result) (Extra note 09/11/23: After 4 months my Austudy claim has been approved - thank you to Centrelink overall including the tech team)

Just the hang up on the phone. They say we have to many people on wait call goodbye.The whole system is there trying to cut back on staff. And you wonder why people get frustrated and angry. So yes those up the top need more millions of dollars. Look after there own pockets

Been phoning everyday for a month and can’t get through,Australian government should be embarrassed and truly ashamed they need to do a lot better. Pathetic service

This really is the most useless Government service not just in Australia, the world. You think Australia was a third world country.

The staff are completely rude from the second you see them until you leave and then offer no help after the extremely long waits and frustrating experience.

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.