Yahoo Finance Frustrating Centrelink encounter for young Aussie hit with $2,000 bill: 'Actual joke'
A university student has hit out at Centrelink after being contacted months after her claim was denied.
A young Aussie whose Centrelink claim was rejected months ago has shared details of the frustrating conversation she had with a customer service agent. The 20-year-old applied for Youth Allowance earlier this year after she broke both of her legs and was unable to work.
Ashleigh Griffiths told Yahoo Finance her claim for Centrelink was denied because her mum earned too much, despite her receiving no financial support from her. This forced her to dig into her savings to pay for her medical bills and general living expenses.
The university student has now shared her surprise after receiving a call from the government agency months later regarding her claim.
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Griffiths said the worker asked her how it was “going with the payments” and seemed to think she had been receiving the Youth Allowance payments. She labelled the out-of-the-blue call an “actual joke”.
“I was like ‘I got rejected’,” she explained on TikTok, adding she told the worker she had submitted medical certificates that had been rejected.
“I haven’t been getting any money from you, I haven’t been getting anything from Centrelink, from the government.
“I paid over $2,000 out of my pocket to fix this. And that’s after private health has covered some of it... $2,000 I have spent trying to fix my legs and I will be spending more.”
To make matters worse, Griffiths said the worker then told her she would need to contact customer service if she wanted to cancel her claim.
“I was like ‘I’m not calling anyone, just cancel my claim. I have nothing to do with Centrelink anymore, I was denied, I didn’t really get any explanation’,” she said.
“I’m like ‘Seriously?’ He was like I can’t do it on the phone. I’m not going in person waiting an hour like I did last time just to cancel a claim.
“You rejected me, you should, once you reject someone, take them out unless they submit a new claim.”
A Services Australia spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Finance that customers whose claims had been rejected do not need to do anything further.
They do not need to get in contact to cancel their claim.
Do you have a Centrelink story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com
Griffiths said she had been working as a cleaner to support herself while she studied medical radiation science. But after suffering injuries to both her legs, she was unable to work the physical job for at least three months.
She applied for Centrelink to help cover her expenses in the interim. She lives at home with her mum but pays board and does not receive financial support.
Griffiths said her Centrelink claim getting denied put her in an "awful" position and meant she was forced her to dig into savings that had been put aside for an upcoming uni placement.
“Those savings were for me to be able to afford to go on placement because in placement you pay for everything, your uniforms, your food, your accommodation," she told Yahoo Finance.
“Eating into that for all my consultations is quite stressful … I still have to support myself and I still have my placements."
Aussies share Centrelink frustrations
Aussies flooded the video’s comments to share their experiences trying to claim Centrelink payments.
One Aussie mum claimed she applied for the parental leave pay three months before giving birth to her baby but wasn’t contacted until she was four months postpartum.
“Yep it takes them AGES to get back to you and it's so hard to get in touch with an actual person on the phone,” another said.
“They literally have zero idea on what they are talking about 99 per cent of the time,” another lamented.
The government onboarded an additional 3,000 staff late last year to improve claim processing times and access to services.
According to the government, the new staff have processed 1.4 million claims and answered 1.9 million calls.
In July, the government revealed it had reduced Centrelink and Medicare claims by 66 per cent with outstanding calais cut from 1.35 million in early February to around 460,000.
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