AustralianSuper Avis 164

If it were possible to give no stars, I would. What a useless gutterswamp of an organisation. The worst customer service I have ever encountered in my life. I called last week after the ATO fast tracked my application due to the time constraints and urgency my doctors holiday had placed me in, in getting my paperwork processed before URGENT life saving surgery. I called Wednesday of last week and was told worst case scenario they are processed in three days. I called Thursday and Friday and it still wasn’t done. So I waited the weekend and called back on Monday. Four full business days later I called back. It still wasn’t processed. I explained I urgently needed it within three days and now it may be too late to access the funding which needed to be paid by Friday. Would you believe I was told to wait a further 24 hours and when I refused and asked to speak to a supervisor I was told they don’t take phone calls. So basically a non existent customer service team. I will be changing superannuation organisation’s after this. Absolutely appalling. My husband and parents will too. I just hope you are well aware you just lost over a million dollars of funds you manage. A very expensive phone call not to take I guess. Oh tanya is the managers name apparently. I was told I wasn’t allowed to know their last name.. but she was working today the 31/10/22.
There is this magical thing called a telephone that will help you to talk to your customers who need help. On the phone for over an hour with no help whatsoever and refusal to escalate to a senior member of staff. Pathetic.

Pathetic company, read all the poor reviews 1.2 rating is enough to know AS rips their clients. They ripped me 6 months ago and many emails later no response from Jess no surname, most likely fictitous staff
Lost over $14k in 2 months due to them not releasing my funds within 5 dsys as they proclaim. Next withdrawl took 5 days after I complained the first time, so why do they not pay back my $14k due to their negligence, why do they no have the balls to reply to my many emails?
Scam on shore so called Australian company ripping off hard working Aussies and they have no empathy to the elderly that lost their homes
Shame, shame shame Aust Super
Discusting

Trying to rollover funds out to SMSF since months and still not happening. Terrible customer service, very slow and incompetent. Has no communication and customer care does not know how long it takes, does not know what is happening. Its a nightmare.

They're ignoring a court order too release my mates money !!!
My mate has been trying to get his super out fir 4 weeks now who has rsached preservation age and australian super keep stalling the payments blaming our federal police who are also liars and corrupt as hell !!!! My mate has been ordered by the courts too have this released and they dont care !!!! My mate paul sherry has been trying fir months to get it out as i'm one if the peooke he owes money too and i recommended australian super too him !!
I won't recommend these useless incompetant jerks ever again !!!
I'm even looking at chanhing companies so this unprossiinal company can burn in hell.
Release his money and stop stalling the process !!

If there was a minus score Australian Super would certainly deserve to get it!
On the sudden death of a family member, the handling of the account has and continues to be nothing short of disgraceful with the effort to not pay out the super as the obvious strategy.
Failing to return phone calls in a timely considerate time frame
Failing to know their own product
Falling to reply to emails in a timely considerate time frame
Contradicting their own rules
No full disclosure of definitions
Disgusting lack of empathy
A formal complaint to the Finacial Ombudsman is what is needed.
Better still people to know not to be a member of this company

Awful service and if you ever tried calling their number to speak to a human you have to go through multiple layers of options. If you are lucky and do get through finally yu may have a person who can't articulate clearly and that's fine English may not be the first language but they are not familair with their own product/processes. They tells you to wait while presumably they find out more and then they cut off your line to get out of it and do not even return your call! Disappointing customer service and no help at all. You get more frustrated and livid with the poor service and cannot get anyone to explain why they sent me a letter my deduction is not allowed when I met all rules, conditions and they keep changing but to have AusSuper aggravating your concerns and then not helping adds to your stress. It's bad enough superannuation has so many If I can give a minus to them on my expereince I would and suggest others go to other industry funds instead. AusSuper wasn't like this before and the board/management should do something about it. How far they have fallen from an organisation that I previously was happy with and recommended.

Absolutely atrocious.

As I've hit 65 I requested a change from the accumulative phase to the retirement phase aka the Choice account. Went through the process supplied the online identification. A few days later received an email saying the request could not be actioned and that I needed to supply a selfie holding the id (driver's licence) but in the same email that I needed to supply a certified copy of the id.

At that time the account had been closed. The support provided by the call centre was just a waste of time.

I decided that it was time to get out. So I submitted the form, fully completed, for a full withdrawal. After 6 working days I call the call centre providing the reference number asking for the status and was told that it was upstairs being processed and would be done within 3 days.

Those 3 days, plus a weekend expired and nothing.

I installed their App on my phone and used the faster messaging on the app. Some 4 hours later an operative contacts me. Goes through identifying me and then has the temerity to ask what what the issue was.

The operative then says that the funds have been transferred. I said, they have not and asked for when the funds were transferred. The operative gave me the date when the funds were transferred into the Choice account.

The operative then said was it $x. I said no that was the regular payment not the full withdrawal that was $xxxxxxxxxx not $x.

I then said that the reference number for the request was AS202208????????.

The operative said, without checking anything or contacting anyone that it would be done in by the weekend.

Obviously the operative did not know and it was abundantly clear that, all they do is fob you off.

As it is obviously a matter that needs to addressed by regulatory bodies, then I also raised a compliant. No response at all.

I've raised the matter with the AFCA.

---- Additional---

Not an ideal solution, to getting some of your Money, but what I have done is increased my income-stream payments up to the maximum which I have found to be $13500 and increased them to fortnightly. So over time, irrespective of them not providing the product that has been paid for, the funds will be depleted.

Additionally I continue to submit withdrawal requests (additional as it is a just a few steps and automated, at least to the issuance of a proof of yet another instruction not followed and thus a contravention of Australian Consumer Law and a major fault with the product(sic)).

Lucrf transferred to Australian Super
Had 2 accounts now have 3 accounts
Mismanaged the transition still waiting on what accounts are accurate
Poor transparency on the whole process.
Misinformation provided on calls and emails looking for new super asap

Very poor customer service attitude. Lack desire to fix issues or understand members views.Happy for you to lodge complaint with AFCA rather than just be open minded to fix problems & take constructive action where it is obvious/ proven that their process/service is flawed.They are happy to charge you for the appropriate service but not happy to provide it.

I changed over to Australian Super from another super fund because of their good performance over many years and also their low fees, so far I have had few reasons to contact them but on those occasions, I have found their staff to be friendly and helpful.

It's disappointing to hear that some people have had negative experiences with Australian Super, I don't want to make light of any real customer service issues that some may have experienced, but maybe sometimes it is just because of a perceived lack of concern in communication and frustration, which is understandable after waiting some time on the phone when long waiting times happen, in any event, there's no excuse for poor customer service.

After reading all the negative reviews here I'm starting to feel a little concerned as to whether changing funds was such a good idea, but I will be keeping a close check on how my super account is progressing and will update my review if and when necessary, I could not give a 5-star rating because of this. Also, keep in mind this is not a good time for any investments because of Covid and the Ukraine war in 2022.

Just read a review about Australian Super and changes to fee structure so fees will be based on your super balance and not a percentage of return on investment, that does seem like a benefit to Australian Super but not for their clients, this may be a case of putting profits for the company before the interests of their customers, so I have downgraded my review from 4 stars to 3 stars rating.

Super fund operates quite well, the app is easy to use - just hope to god you don't have to deal with their so called customer support staff with any enquiries. I have not come across this level of zero care in a long while.

I wish I had of seen all the reviews on the internet before I joined AustralianSuper because it’s the same story with everyone by the looks of things.

Delay after delay in paying sort of income protection default or extra.
You can provide all the medical proof on the world and it won’t get any better.

6 months on and still no decision on income protection ha ha absolute joke guys. Stay away if you can

I agree with the other reviewers about bad customer service. I have been with AustralianSuper for a very long time. Over the years I have had a number of occasions to complain about the very rude and unhelpful customer service consultants I spoke with on the phone. The last complaint a few weeks ago sent to the complaint and resolution section only got me an email response that the complaint had been reviewed and the customer service provided was found to meet standard. If this type of unprofessional behaviour is standard, then it really is time to switch to another fund. Lots of other funds in Australia, no need to put up with such poor customer service.

If it were possible to give minus 5 stars for Australian Super I certainly would!

*Awful customer service,
*Difficulty getting information and communication responses from Australian Super,
*Delays well beyond reasonable; seemingly belligerent,
*Suspected fraudulent action by Australian Super, seemingly stealing funds.

Reading other views mirroring this awful, improper and dishonourable actions from Australian Super - it would be great to see a Class Action against this awful unethical company - there is something seemingly criminal going on here with Australian Super and they should be held to account.
Australian Super shouldn't be able to get away with mistreating their customers and customers money. This is wrong and must stop. Hold Australian Super to account.
May people see these reviews and never join Australian Super.

Worst Customer Service, they make it very difficult for the Financial advisers to get the information about clients. For any work, they take too long to provide the information. They take too long to upload the Third Party Authority on Clients' accounts. They simply hold the information and takes too long to provide it to the advisers.
If there is an urgency to get some information, then also they won't provide any information. They don't care about their customers. I will never recommend Australian Super to any of our clients'. WORST Super Fund, WORST Customer Service.

I have been with the Australian Super since 2016. They have over-charged me insurance premiums as "blue collar" for 6 years when actually I am always "white collar".

THE ABSOLUTE WORSE CUSTOMER SERVICE

Difficult from start to finish. This is just the latest bad interaction as after having enough, I try to move funds out, to a self managed fund. Meanwhile they're making it as difficult as possible. Its been lockdown so needed to find a way to get them all the additional documentation without going to get certified - as hello 'lockdown'! After much back and forth, finally agree to them checking the Voting Registry and receiving copies of passport with selfies and copy of SMSF selfie. This is all approved by a supervisor while i'm on the phone (this is my 3rd call and has taken a very long time.).

Then wait a couple of weeks only to get another, sorry, we can't rollover your money as we're missing information - and listing back all the information that was provided and checked by a supervisor. Call and said, well now lockdown is over, can i go and get certified copies. What a joke. They want to make it as hard as possible to leave. WIth their high fees and total lack of service, I can't wait to leave.

I got injured and went to the doctor to get scans, doctor did a great job found out I had a few lower back injuries but I kept getting injured and realised there was more to the injury, after many months and many additional treatments I find out I also had a hernia from working underground concrete in the mining industry, AustralianSuper have so far refused to back pay me to the time of my injury in June 2020,instead only payingme to February when the hernia was finally diagnosed, their income protection staff are paying me well less than half of my pre injury income. I currently can't afford to rent my own home and pay my bills and due to covid I have not been able to get the surgery and am struggling to find work I can do due to the injuries.
They have since I complained to the regulatory body said they will take up to an additional 90 days to review my case..so if they actually pay me correctly I will have been without a living income for almost a year and a half, including the 90 day review
I strongly suggest people move to another superannuation business as this organisation doesn't look after long membership.
I've written emails and spoken to them many times including sending then rental properties to demonstrate that the money they are giving me would only cover rent..
Seriously disappointing..

I have been with the Australian Super since 2016. They have over-charged me insurance premiums as "blue collar" for 6 years when actually I am always "white collar".

I emailed them several times and chatted online to request them to refund me the 6 years they over-charged. They refused to refund me saying "by default" they use "blue collar" and that I should have updated in form. When I asked them to provide evidence of "blue collar" I filled in and proof of them advising me to update, they didn't reply. Instead the rep was going around circles and refuse to refund. Such service is shocking and over-charging me for 6 years without providing me with proof is disgusting!! Australian Super will rip you off!! Don't bother to use them!!!