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Post by Banjo on Jan 16, 2011 19:18:56 GMT 7
This is beginning of our collection of Centrelink experiences that we will use to advise others in our situation. Please think about what you say, Centrelink officers are not to be named here and I'd like to keep the discussion general.
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Post by pauley on Jan 23, 2011 12:54:14 GMT 7
Not to sure where I should post this so please move it to the right spot
I was wondering if any one know how offten centerlink reviews peoples dsp? I got told it could take up to 6 weeks for me to be on dsp they have told me I will be on it but how long did it take for you?
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Post by ram on Jan 23, 2011 13:10:43 GMT 7
Hi Pauley. when my claim was accepted ,the following payment was for the dsp,back pay and all. So it took only a week or so. if I remember correctly.
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Post by Banjo on May 15, 2011 12:48:57 GMT 7
One of our members recently asked Centrelink for reinstatement of payments pending the result of his SSAT appeal. This was refused and he came under considerable pressure to apply for NewStart which, rightly or wrongly, he believes he is not eligible for and if granted would jeopardise his SSAT appeal. He was told that his belief that the SSAT would have a result of his appeal in two weeks was wrong and it would take "considerably longer than that". www.ssat.gov.au/iNet/ssat.nsf/pubh/afterthehearing.4.7He can only see that this an attempt to pressure him into applying for NewStart.
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Post by spaceyone on May 15, 2011 17:53:14 GMT 7
It is also a move to have your ability to work re-assessed, under their new 'guidelines'.
Once on Newstart, anytime you are unfit to look for work, let alone work, you will have to lodge a medical certificate to keep your payments. Lodging a three month medical certificate automatically generates a Job Capacity Interview. I am not sure about 1 month certificates, but possibly.
They will also try to hook you up with an employment agency, and you will be required to attend interviews once a fortnight. Another way of keeping you in the country, and an eye on you.
Even pleading being unable to work, will get you hooked up with an employment agency which employs a disability worker. This worker will then require you to retrain, look for work or even do voluntary work.
You do not want to get into their clutches. They are Centrelink apprentices.
It says at your link, that if they are going to adjourn or stall your case, they have to let you know that within a few days. I would check on them around day 10, to demand an answer within 14 days. If they won't agree to that, then demand advice in writing as to how long they are planning to take, and why.
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Post by spaceyone on May 15, 2011 17:55:20 GMT 7
Just another bastard act. Maybe we should call them bastardlink? That's what they are, a group of bastards linked by computers and branches. I personally have been using the term scumlink for a few years now, after hearing that somewhere.
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Post by Banker on May 15, 2011 18:41:20 GMT 7
One of our members recently asked Centrelink for reinstatement of payments pending the result of his SSAT appeal. This was refused and he came under considerable pressure to apply for NewStart which, rightly or wrongly, he believes he is not eligible for and if granted would jeopardise his SSAT appeal. He was told that his belief that the SSAT would have a result of his appeal in two weeks was wrong and it would take "considerably longer than that". www.ssat.gov.au/iNet/ssat.nsf/pubh/afterthehearing.4.7He can only see that this an attempt to pressure him into applying for NewStart. The person in question should be grandfathered back to when he/she was first granted the DSP more than 10 years ago I think.
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Post by goober on May 28, 2011 5:44:36 GMT 7
I returned from overseas recently arrived one day early of the 13 week rule and had my payment suspended because they sent me a letter whilst away dated to report one day after I arrived in the country which was on a weekend then had to get my payment reinstated but it was all sorted without much drama.
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Post by Banjo on May 28, 2011 6:03:52 GMT 7
I think we appreciate that any large organisation dealing with millions of people is going to make mistakes. It's when they insist they are right and screw up people lives for months that's the real problem.
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Post by rowdy on May 28, 2011 9:52:04 GMT 7
I returned from overseas recently arrived one day early of the 13 week rule and had my payment suspended because they sent me a letter whilst away dated to report one day after I arrived in the country which was on a weekend then had to get my payment reinstated but it was all sorted without much drama. Exact same thing happened to me too. Agree, was sorted out with no drama as well.
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Post by rodcourt49 on Jun 11, 2011 8:01:15 GMT 7
..Hi all..hope you're all well. I just returned from 13 week check-in..phoned in and couldn't have been smoother..no mention of residency, advanced notification or amendments to the Act...all in all pleasant and pain free experience...the easiest to date. I feel very much for those of us who are and have been subjected to other penalties and humiliation. Cheers. ROD
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Post by Banjo on Jun 11, 2011 9:14:39 GMT 7
Thanks for the update Rod, it appears Centrelink International are still handling people in a courteous way. What you have to remember with them though, is that all they are doing is acknowledging that you are leaving the country and informing you that you will lose your payments if you don't return within 13 weeks. They have no power to stop you leaving, and no requirement to inform you that you may be placing your pension at risk if you are under investigation.
If you are under investigation they could very well not be aware of this, Centrelink staff claim they have no access to Centrelink Investigations files and records. I think that if you were under scrutiny you would have heard by now; do you have access to your Centrelink mail while you are away? All the best anyway, enjoy that lovely tropical weather, you've got no idea how much I'm missing it. :-(
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Post by Banker on Jun 24, 2011 14:33:01 GMT 7
I just pulled this from another forum so I'm not sure how much truth is in it.... It has nothing to do with pensions but if true just goes to show how careful one must be when dealing with C/L.
30/10/2010. One of my favourite `times' back when I was on the dole for a few months after losing my job after a motorbike accident They had introduced the `dole diary' a while back before I went on it I was cut off because I supposedly hadn't handed in the fortnightly jobsearch form. I told them that I had indeed been in that day, because my jobdiary was full and I had been issued a new one - on that same day!
I was told to my face- `You are lying- you never came in that day' I asked to be excused for a couple of minutes as I had to retrieve something from my car (my dole diary) I went back to the interviewing `clunk' and handed her my newly issued dole diary and asked her to open it to the first day. There in black and white was the date it was issued- the day I `never went in' Even then she insisted that I was mistaken, and that I hadn't handed my form in.
THEN she asked to take the dole diary away to send to the manager- I saw straight away that if I let that incriminating evidence leave my sight it too would be `vanished' She was very rude when I asked to hold it at all times and I said I would accompany it to whoever would be reviewing my case, threatening me finally that if I didn't hand it over to her and leave, she would call security on me!
That was when I decided to leave while I still had my evidence, and immediately went to a family friend, who happened to be a J.P. and asked him to take several photo copies of it, including the incriminating date, and asked him to make a notorised copy for his own records and as proof I had actually had it.
because...
I was going to set them up for a fall.
I went back in and saw them again and this time I allowed them to `hold' the diary for the review commitee Can you guess what happened? Go on... Guess?
After several days I was told that I had not been reinstated as I had not given them any evidence that I had attended the office that day! I asked how do you explain the fact the new dolediary was issued on that same day I was never there?
I was told that I was `mistaken' that I had been issued the dole diary the previous fortnight according to their records!
I asked to see the diary and was told that it had been sent to the local head office...
I pulled out one of the photocopies (minus the J.P. stamp which I had blanked out when I photocopied it) and showed it to them, and was again accused of being a liar I showed them the notorised photocopy and they again said I was lying, and that I could be in serious trouble for faking the notorised photocopy! (What a nerve- they were the ones who were lying and faking things!)
Finally I said I would be informing the J.P. of their statements and letting him take the necessary steps about what they were saying, I was then `escorted' off the premises by an armed guard for `threatening a DSS employee' (well I suppose technically I was indeed threatening them by exposing their misconduct LOL)
The funny thing was, my fortnightly form arrived again, so I filled it out and handed it in, and nothing was ever said of the entire incident again (although I noticed that employee wasn't seen at that office again), and I later found out from my mums J.P. friend that they had indeed contacted him, and he had confirmed my story, and I had also told him about what they had said, and he was following up on both my case and several others that I had told him about
I bet the paper shredders must have run long into the night when he told them that!
So that was my experience with Centerlink (well actually it was one of many run-ins with them I had) and many others who have had the misfortune to have had dealings with them will have their own tales of misfortune inept, liars, inept liars, cheats and scoundrels seem to be far too common in the Centerlink staff I then pulled out the
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Post by wbmania72 on Jun 24, 2011 15:23:44 GMT 7
its all depends on the person on other side of the phone or desk in C/L when you call them or wall in.that individual person can make your life much more easier or more harder. depends on how thoughtful and understanding she/he is.
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Post by spaceyone on Jun 24, 2011 18:20:23 GMT 7
Lol, love it. Had a similar experience on the day I got a copy of the medical report my disability service provider was trying to hide. I had to go to C/L for other business, and when I waved it in an officer's face, she asked me to give it to her to 'put with my DSP application'. I declined, especially since the Osteopath had told me it was the original and only other copy. She then told me that she was the manager of that branch, and that she would be the one deciding my claim. I again declined to give it to her, stating that I was on my way home to email it to the JCA officer. I later noticed that her name never appeared on correspondence from the manager of the branch. She then overruled my next medical certificate, and misrecorded its content. She turned out to be a Senior Customer Service officer. She panicked when I had lodged my 2nd DSP application, at a different branch, and rang me offering to revoke her overruling of the certificate, and let me have a month off seeking work while I recovered from my torn shoulder tendon afterall. When I ordered her to obey the FOI forms I had lodged locking staff from her branch out of my file and therefore second application ... it was cancelled that same day.
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