I haven’t noticed before, but it seems that service providers (Centrelink, Canberra Connect, banks etc) have their personnel patrol queues or “greet customers” in place of getting a queue ticket. On the surface this seems very reasonable. However when I went to Centrelink Braddon about a letter threatening to suspend or cancel my 90 yo mother’s pension, the “greeter” took the letter, went to consult some computer records, talked to other officers and came back saying brashly and assertively that everything has been sorted out and I should just go back to the bank to finalise matters. This didn’t sound right and I asked a few more questions which were fobbed off. I wasn’t feeling well, felt publicly cowed and left.
Needless to say, nothing was fixed, the time limit passed and as I had nothing to prove that I was at their Office, Centrelink cancelled the pension. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience with any agency?
Patrolling queues in this way also negates the usefulness of expensive queuing machines in service management, but maybe that is the point.
PS This is not a complaint about Centrelink staff. I must add that two staff have been particularly helpful to me in this and Medicare matters
Loading ...
