Rant follows
91 year old mum has a new phone. We are helping her get it set up on Saturday. Get to MyGov app and it asks her to fully log in again. She can’t remember her password. No worries we will reset the password. Use the “forgot password process” and request reset. Then we wait, and wait and wait for the promised email link to reset the password. Never arrives. And no it was not in junk. Try again, several times. Finally after 4 hrs, link arrives - but it is expired already. And no, there is no problem with her email - she’s happily receiving other emails.
Try again today. Same result. Call them and wait 45 mins to talk to someone. Explain it all. Mum goes through her paces answering secret questions and giving her details and authorising me to deal with it. Met with total disbelief. “You should get the link most immediately”. Tell me about it. Talked through the reset process like I’m a total idiot. Patronisingly told they would wait on line until it arrived in case I needed help to work it out. Wait for 20 mins on hold. Hmm no link. Some investigation their end. Don’t know what the problem is, but will open a case and you will get a reset link by email within an hour. Ok, please make sure it’s not already expired. And please note that I am authorised to deal with this so mum does not have to be with me 24/7 until it gets fixed.
Five hours later, no link received so I call back to see what is happening. Another 30 mins on hold. Ask if the link has been sent. Get an aggressively rude response - refuses to read the case notes, refuses to talk to me, even after speaking to mum, refuses to deal with me and insists on verifying mum’s phone no, email and address. Only she can tell him those details as “they are personal and should not be shared with anyone, and I have to be sure you are not being coached. You have got to be kidding me. Her first name is Patricia, and her email is
[email protected]. It’s not that hard really. He cannot understand her email address after three attempts and skis her to spell it. She spells it (and her last name is nothing fancy at all), once, twice, three times and he still can’t get it right. She says “this is just ridiculous, talk to my daughter” and he (wisely) decides I am easier to deal with than mum and we sort out the email address. Then he wants to do ID verification manually using her passport and driving licence. Ummmmm….. we did this via the secret questions this morning, if you read the case notes for the case number I have just given you - and she’s 91 and does not have a passport or a licence. But she does have an ACT Govt issued Proof of Age card. He’s never heard of that. We explain it. Nope, that’s not a thing at all he says. We suggest he Google it. He does and says huh, well look at that, it is a thing. But I can’t accept it. It must be a passport or driving licence. Nothing else will do. We go around the mulberry bush several times. Finally, he says it can only be sorted out by attending a Centrelink office. Umm, she’s 91 and in a wheelchair chair, and the nearest Centrelink office is at least 30 mins drive, plus the inconvenience of getting her in and out of the car, and the waiting time - not going to happen mate. Finally after almost an hour of rude and frustrating conversation, he caves and says he will send the link to reset and it should arrive in less than an hour. Well I’ve heard that before. And guess what it has now been 4.5 hrs and NO BLOODY EMAIL. Probably used the wrong email address. Guess how I will be spending tomorrow.
End of rant.
Seriously the people who design these systems have no clue at all what real life is like. 91 year old people need a bit more understanding of the reality of their lives than shown by this. I am so incensed by this that I will be spending part of my admin time tomorrow writing com0lint emails. I know they won’t do anything, but I think I will feel better.
