Very mixed feelings

I am still one very unhappy camper. However at the same time I learned a lesson in humility today, to remember that there is always someone worse off than yourself.

A dear friend of mine in the US has just been royally screwed by their Family Court system. She fell pregnant to a boyfriend at a young age. He promptly didn't want to know. She has had to raise their son by herself with zero support from Mr Deadbeat. Out of the blue he wants to start playing Happy Daddies. Then a court application to assume custody and guardianship. A hearing where he and his lawyer present a load of lies, accepted by the judge without the slightest evidence and now she has lost her child to a deadbeat who only recently was living on someone else's sofa. If I am feeling gutted by recent events, how can she be feeling???

I feel so utterly powerless in everything.

Can Comsuper be trusted? No.

I recently posted about some harsh lessons I learned to my cost about dealing with the regulatory authority, Comsuper, and payment of my invalidity pension. Things are still yet to be resolved with matters now reaching the simply ludicrous.

I am on invalidity paid through a superannuation fund under its early exit arrangements. I did not want to go onto invalidity. I was forced, kicking and screaming out of employment and left to my own devices, denied access to rental and housing assistance, healthcare concessions and more. I have consistently been conscientious in ensuring Comsuper have been advised promptly about any changes in my circumstances. That respect has not been repaid in kind. The chronic inefficiency of this department is simply staggering. Emails and faxes are not only just lost, they see fit to deny receiving them at all even if I can prove that they did. Even the front-line inquiry people do not have access to the correct information. I was repeatedly told that their record of payments was different to what I was saying I had received. I was told I was wrong even though I was directly quoting my bank statement. It turned out that these inquiry staff do not have access to the appropriate system which lists the correct information. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

Today’s developments include nonsense such as assurances that I have been sent email confirmation of various things which I most certainly have not received. The best one however is as follows.

From the outset I was advised that I have a generous earnings allowance of monies I am allowed to receive in excess of my pension before my pension is affected. I was in part-time paid employment from May 31st to October 20th this year. My total earnings were well short of this limit. Comsuper staff first of all claimed to know nothing about being allowed to earn any monies whatsoever in addition to this invalidity. Then the story changed – that while I am allowed to earn some extra money, this does not apply if that money is earned in paid employment. Comsuper staff then denied all knowledge of any materials being sent to me that stated what this earnings limit is.

Guess what I found a copy of – a letter from Comsuper dated September 1st, 2010, confirming the exact amount that I may earn, before my pension is affected. And guess who signed this letter? The same officer now denying I am allowed to earn these monies!

How’s that for a staggering load of crap.

I am owed what is to me, a lot of money. I have been offered restitution of $400! Now I can appeal their decision to a Superannuation Tribunal however I am not allowed to even lodge that application until 60 days after Comcare have provided a formal response to the matter. I have already been advised that this will not be provided to me this week. I leave for interstate this weekend. At least I am supposed to be – provided I can find the money somewhere to pay for the tickets, seeing as Comsuper have so far failed to make good on paying me monies that are clearly owed. I do not return to Canberra until late January. I have been assured that details of the calculations regarding the back-pay have already been supplied to me when I am yet to see them. I am unable to anything meaningful about the matter for literally months!

Bear in mind, I am not talking about trying to get paid damages or some other sort of compensation. I am just trying to get paid my pension! Of course if I take things to the civil courts rather than the Tribunal, I can seek more than just the monies owed but costs and even potentially damages. But all I want is simply what I am owed in my pension, nothing more.

I think I would be justified in refusing to inform Comsuper of any future changes to my financial situation where that may to be my detriment.

Clearly Comsuper cannot be trusted to act accurately or even honestly.

This is my rant, but on this occasion it ain’t finished yet.

A harsh lesson about superannuation

Sadly, life seems to be a series of harsh lessons.

Through no fault of mine, I was forced out of the workplace and onto an invalidity pension paid by Comsuper who managed my pension fund. At the end of May, I commenced part-time work. Like a conscientious thing, the following day, having signed my work contract, I emailed a copy of the relevant part of that contract through to Comsuper, advising them of my change of circumstances.

Still being conscientious, having heard nothing from them by September, I contacted Comsuper again, this time by telephone. I was now advised that they had no record of any such information being received from me. Fortunately I was able to forward a copy of that earlier advice, confirming that I had made all reasonable attempts to keep them advised of such changes. However it took several attempts before being able to get that email through. I ended up having one of their staff stay on the telephone with me until, finally, an email does get through. What happened to the other attempts is unknown. All I know is that they did NOT bounce.

Eventually, my pension was reduced.

On October 16, I was advised that my services were being dispensed with by that employer. So I telephoned Comsuper to check what they needed from me to reinstate that pension. On being advised that they needed details of that cessation, it was agreed that I would fax this information through to them, as I could hardly afford a repeat performance from when I first tried to alert them to a change of my status. I faxed that letter through with a covering note explaining what it was about. I then telephoned Comsuper yet again to confirm that they had received it.

All seems pretty straight forward, doesn't it. But here is where things start getting really screwy.

A couple of weeks later, I noticed that I was paid both the partial pension plus a second, much larger amount. Ahaa, I thought to myself. That must be the backpay so things have all been sorted.

Last week I noticed that my bank account balance seemed much lower than it should have been. I examined more closely. Not only had Comsuper continued paying me only a half-pension, the latest one had been inexplicably decreased yet further.

I telephone Comsuper that Thursday. Nobody is able to make sense of the situation. They even disputed the actual amounts that I had been paid. However I was assured that this matter would be placed in the hands of the pension administration area who would contact me further the following day. I advised that I was heading interstate the following Tuesday, the 7th, and would appreciate this being sorted out before then.

The next day, Friday December 3, not having heard anything from Comsuper by lunchtime, I telephoned yet again. Initially I was told that due to an overwhelming number of calls, all they could do was take details for someone to call me back later. I explained the situation and I was transferred to someone in the pensions area. I was now told that I had not provided any such information about cessation of my employment. Yet again there was more disputing the actual amounts I had been paid. The fact that I was quoting things direct from my bank statement didn't seem to cut much ice with this man. To my amazement, he even claimed no record existed of any communications from Comsuper to me last September about the reduction of my pension. Never mind the fact that I had previously obtained electronic copies of same from them. However this man, named 'Luke', stated all they needed was an email from me confirming my change in circumstance and he would have this immediately forwarded to the administration area for actioning on the Monday. It was now that he admitted the real reason for their inability to actually do anything that Friday. It was not a matter of an excessive number of telephone calls. Most of their staff were in fact away at a Christmas Party. So in point of fact, they were telling blatant lies.

I emailed them as requested, noting in the subject line 'attention Luke' as requested and also forwarded a copy of the email containing some of their earlier correspondence that Luke claimed did not exist.

Come Monday, I decide to telephone yet again and see what is going on. And yet again, I was told that there was no record of my having contacted them last Friday. Getting increasingly frustrated I went through my story yet again. I was assured that this was to be handled by the admin area that day and a return telephone call promised that day. However I pointed out that I was going to be in a research library for a while where mobile phones were banned. I was assured that this had been noted.

Well, as you might have guessed by now, when I got out of that library around 4pm, I found a telephone message had been left at 3:30pm, when I was not available (remembering I had already told them I would not be available). So I return that call to the number advised in said message. No answer. So I call the main line and ask for the admin area. I now find myself having to go through the entire story yet again. They advise that 'Katherine' who had called me, was no longer in the office. I was further advised that nobody else would be able to assist me and I needed to speak to Katherine and only Katherine. Yet another return telephone call is promised.

I point out, yet again, that I was departing for inter-state first thing the following morning. I was assured that Katherine would be calling me at 8:30 am the following morning.

So I manage at very short notice to change the travel arrangements.

To my surprise, Katherine did indeed call me at 8:30 Tuesday morning (yesterday). Except we were now back to square one as she insisted that I was actually in paid employment and the pension I was receiving reflected the necessary reduction for that.

I admit to losing it a bit then. She confirmed that there was nothing on file to even show that I had been in contact with them last Friday, let alone details of my emails that day about this matter. Katherine now assured me that they would recalculate things and process ASAP. Except that as it takes three working days for a payment to be processed through the banking system, I would not get paid before next week.

"So what am I supposed to live on in the mean time?"

She did not have an answer for that.

I stated that I would be making a formal complaint about their actions and Katherine stated she would email me the necessary contact details. An email dated Dec 7, 9:09am, was indeed sent to me by Katherine, containing contact details for the complaints area. The email also included the following statement:

I have contacted invalidity so they can recalculate your benefit for you again. I have also requested that your arrears be paid ASAP.

Yet that is not all that occurred in this telephone call with Katherine. She also revealed the following staggering snippets of information:

1. that the information available on their system to people answering queries, is not the correct information about what amounts one is actually paid - hence Comsuper staff disputing with me the details of my payments received;
2. that their systems cannot cope with a pensioner returning to part-time employment and therefore they need to manually calculate and process each payment for each pensioner in that situation;
   
3. the mysterious one-off payment made to me was not backpay as I had thought but merely an inexplicable overpayment made by Comsuper; and
4. the latest reduction in my pension was because their manual calculations had been wrong and they had not been deducting enough tax.
   

In the meantime, before departing interstate, I telephoned the complaints area direct to express my dissatisfaction. I was assured of immediate investigation.

An email arrived today from the complaints area, confirming yet again that there was no record of any contact from me about the ceasing of my employment other than a note on file that I had said I would be forwarding the evidence.

On my return to Canberra, I shall be searching my records and taking a copy of the materials I faxed to them along with a copy of the fax header and delivering it in person, demanding an apology.

The complaints response however gets even better. It included the following statement.

In order to progress reinstatement of your full pension evidence is required from your employer stating you have ceased work. On receipt of this documentation the Invalidity Assessment team will approve reinstatement of your full pension and calculate the arrears owing to you which will be paid to you with the full pension.

Hold on a moment. I offered to get a copy of that letter scanned and sent to them last Friday, only to be told that they DID NOT need it, that just a confirmatory email was required from me. Yet more incorrect information being disseminated and yet more time being wasted in resolving this matter.

Don't go away just yet - things get even better. I am now told that the turnaround time for an urgent payment to a credit union is 4 days. So a regular thing takes three days, but an urgent one takes four???

Here is a reality check. It does NOT take three and four days to process things through banking systems, including going to a credit union account. My former public service employer, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, had no difficulty in arranging over-night corrections to one's pay. In that most recent part-time employment, I was paying the organisation's bills electronically not to mention the staff pays. These did not take three and four days to go through but no more than two!

So what are the harsh lessons that I have learned?

1. if you are dealing with Comsuper, DO NOT entrust them with either email or fax - it seems that registered mail may be the only safe way to get anything to them;
2. expect Comsuper to routinely lose things, failing to put them on file, entirely disregarding their legislative obligations to maintain detailed and accurate files;
3. never expect to get the same information from any two staff at Comcare - I seem to get as many different stories as the number of different staff I talk to, and so far, none of them seem to have any of it right;
4. if you are experiencing financial hardship because of their fuck-ups, don't expect much sympathy from them, just yet more stonewalling.
   

Warnie - be a man and suck it up!

Jonathan Philip Agnew

What is this nonsense between ex-cricketer Shane Warne and commentator Johnathon Agnew?

As I understand things, Warne offered Aggers a bet at the start of the tour on which bowler would take the most wickets for the Australia v England Test Series. Warne took Aussie Nathan Hauritz and Aggers selected the Pom quick, Steven Finn. The loser was to take the winner for a meal at a restaurant of their choice. However once Hauritz was left out of the team for the First Test, Warne has apparently bailed on the bet.

Fair suck of the sav, Warnie. If you make a bet, you take the rough with the smooth and don't go changing conditions after the fact to suit yourself. By Warnie's apparent logic, you should be able to bet on a horse race but if your nag fails to get a good jump from the gate, you go and ask the bookie for your money back as your horse is now unlikely to win. Yeah. Like that's going to happen.

Come on, Warnie. Stop acting like an idiot and take it like a man rather than a whiny six-year old.

Here endeth the rant.

The Thieves Gather

First up, a correction.

In my wrath the other day, I incorrectly stated that the Commonwealth Bank had raised its base variable interest rate by 0.45% more than the recent Reserve Bank increase. In point of fact, the CBA's total increase was 0.45%. But that is still a long way over the actual RBA increase.

All of the Big Four Thieves have now increased their base rates considerably more than the recent RBA increase. They continue to argue that this is a result of the cost of raising funds to lend out.

Give me a damn break. The F.B.T. are all making literally multi-billion dollar profits. They are purely and simply profit-gouging.

Blubberguts Joe Hockey, Shadow Treasurer, is naturally blaming the Gillard government for this, claiming it to be proof that they are useless, pathetic etc etc. OK Joe - just exactly what do you expect them to do? The Gillard goverment is operating under the same conditions that your lot did. So you would not have been any more successful than Gillard and co. And don't forget that in your time as a junior finance minister, you were no more successful in pulling banks into order despite your public 'putting them on notice'.

It is interesting to note that of comparable economies, Germany is the only one that similarly allows banks to have variable interest contracts ie charge what they want, when they want. The US, Japan, Korea, Canada, Spain, France and Holland - those countries do not allow banks to engage in this variable rate profit gouging. The Brits only allow it to happen in certain circumstances.

The reality is that both main political flavours have failed the Australian society at large by creating this monster and refusing to do anything to pull it back into line.

With the mining industry making massive profits as a result of high commodity prices, the Labour government wanted to introduce a super-profits tax on the miners. How about penalising the banks for their making excessive profits that are being taken straight out of the pockets of ordinary Australian consumers, not taken from foreign multinationals who are purchasing minerals etc. Of course this would need to be done with care to avoid them simply passing that straight on to consumers.

How about a massive fine per basis point above rate increases that the banks institute? Make it non-tax deductible. And give the ACCC or another authority the power to monitor and implement further retrospective major fines for any increases in charges beyond reasonable CPI-related increases in fees. Then another whacking great fine for every basis point that banks fail to pass on when prime rates are reduced by the RBA.

These thieving bastards MUST be brought into line. This profit-gouging CANNOT be allowed to continue.

I reiterate a statement I have made before: the objective of de-regulating the banking industry was not intended as a free ride for profit gouging.

C'mon Ms Gillard - give us something positive in response to this unconscionable behaviour. And you too, Blubberguts Hockey - quit grandstanding and offer up some positive suggestions.

And that's my rant.

Calling all pedophiles

This is simply unbelievable - except that it has in fact actually happened.

Amazon are selling an ebook entitled The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct.

Unbelievable. Un-be-fucking-lievable. But it gets worse. Amazon have defended their selling this piece of filth. Don't believe me? Here's the report.

What in the blue blazes of hell is Amazon thinking about? There is the possibility that it is a sting operation, but all the same... Amazon even agree to have their name associated with this garbage?

Not happy, Jan. Not bloodywell happy.

The Chief Thief Speaks!

From the front page of today’s Daily Telegraph:

Commonwealth Bank CEO Ralph Norris has conceded his bank’s mammoth 0.45 per cent interest rate rise will cost some of his customers their homes, a reality he says causes him immense angst.

But in defence of his bank’s Melbourne Cup Day rise, Sir Ralph said it was better to see “a few” foreclosures than have an economy hamstrung by a low-profit banking system.

In an exclusive interview yesterday, the $16.2 million a year man also urged customers feeling mortgage stress to contact the bank and seek temporary relief from their monthly payments.

On what planet did the CBA find this dipshit? Let us review a few facts:
1. A bank is admitting that its actions will be forcing people out of their homes;
2. Since when is making multi-billion dollar profits, a low-profit banking system?
3. Since when would failing to increase rates 0.45% more than the last Reserve Bank increase, hamstring the Australian economy?
4. What the fuck does someone on $16.5 million a year know about the reality of making ends meet?
5. What ‘temporary relief’ will the CBA be giving? One thing is sure as shit after breakfast – they will be making sure mortgagees catch up any payments and don’t forget that any slackening on making your mortgage payment just increases the amount of interest being generated on the balance, to the bank's benefit of course.

How much more is it going to take before our piss-weak governments will act on these thieving bastards?