Centrelink

Hey all,

Well as of the 2nd of Feb I started studying contacted centrelink a week or so after that to get Austudy, DP and i split up at the start of march. I had to go to centrelink to drop off my lease for the house im in for austudy.

The woman i spoke to said I need to apply for parenting payment single which i had planned on doing anyway. I asked her if applying for PP would affect my austudy she said no you will be able to austudy while your waiting for PP to go through.

19th march still waiting after i have sent off everything for both claims etc. I call up and spoke to this woman she informed me the lady was wrong and i cant get austudy while im waiting for pp to go through she will call my local office and get pp claim through ASAP and get it back dated from the 25/2/12.

Well i go foro my interview yesterday ( god knows why ) the guy gave me all these forms i told him i had filled them out when i came in to bring my paperwork for austudy & and the woman said apply for pp etc. Filled out all these forms etc. The guy was going on saying they dont deal with austudy they only do PP grrrrrrr i was had to tell him 4 times i have already filled out PP forms.

Eventually i filled out all this other crap and then he said to me i was given the wrong info the can only back date my claim to when DP moved out not when we broke up at the start of feb. I said to him well i was told i could austudy while waiting for pp as i have a *** load of text books to buy etc. He informed me you will be backpayed till the 2nd of march and your pp claim will take another 2 weeks!

FFS its been a month back paying me isnt going to get me my damn text books and help me catch up on 5 weeks worth of work.

I wonder if its as hard for the people telling centrelink porkies or if they just get their bloody money. I think they really need to work on communication and training being given 5 different lots of information is ridic esp when i really need this money

grrrrrr im really sorry for the rant i know it prob doesnt make sense

If your on PP single, and studying, you can apply for Pensioner Education Supplement, and it takes 21-28 days for the claim to be lodged/approved. It took mine nearly 2 months. So I wouldnt expect anything in a hurry from them. Your best going into a branch, and asking to sit down and speak to someone to get it all sorted out, as you do get so many different stories from the call centre.

If your on PP single, and studying, you can apply for Pensioner Education Supplement, and it takes 21-28 days for the claim to be lodged/approved. It took mine nearly 2 months. So I wouldnt expect anything in a hurry from them. Your best going into a branch, and asking to sit down and speak to someone to get it all sorted out, as you do get so many different stories from the call centre.

yeah they gave me the paperwork for that, i was more annoyed at the amount of incorrect information i have been given. even the guy i spoke to at the office was useless, I feel sorry for mums who are really tight and waiting on a claim to go through you wouldnt want to be waiting around for food lol

As much as I appreciate all the help we get from Centrelink, by the gods they infuriate me!!
Have to jump through twelve different hoops to make them happy, then it still takes yonks!

And those forms you have to fill out are soooooo painful!! lol