Radio host speaks about ‘inappropriate’ MyGov ordeal

A woman has been brought to tears following an “inappropriate” conversation she had when trying to sort out an issue with Centrelink.

A woman has been brought to tears after an “inappropriate” conversation with a customer service agent when trying to sort out a Centrelink issue.

Jordana Grace is a British expat who works as a radio host and often posts content about the difference between Australia and her homeland.

But, in a tearful video, she laid out “inappropriate behaviour” she experienced at the hands of Services Australia’s MyGov.

She’d been on the phone for six-and-a-half hours trying to sort out an issue she’d had regarding Centrelink payments, which she was on during the pandemic as she was out of a job.

“The moment I got a job, I let them know. I gave them all my details. I did everything by the letter,” she explained in a TikTok video.

“Six months later, they were like ‘you owe us all this money’ and I was like no I don’t because here is the evidence.”

She was told it would go under appeal. Four years later, that appeal is still ongoing.

This week, she spoke to people for hours who couldn’t help her. She finally spoke to one woman who suggested she call the debt line again and ask for an “ops leader” because she has actually been accruing interest on “the debt you don’t owe”.

Jordana Grace is a radio host and content creator. Picture: Instagram/@thejordanagrace

“They took money out of my account without asking me, because they can do that, but apparently they can refund it,” she said.

She called debt services again and asked to speak to an ops leader, but the employee on the phone refused to answer her question.

“He kept ignoring me, and by this time I started to get teary because it’s been over five-and-a-half hours,” she said.

“I said, ‘Can I please speak to an ops manager. That’s what I was advised to do for this list of reasons’ and he was just like, ‘Give me your questions one by one’. Sorry, he wasn’t that snippy at the start.”

She said he refused to answer the question, and she again asked to speak to an ops manager. He asked her what she wanted and told her to “work with him” so he could help her.

“If you do not work with me, I will not help you,” she recalled him saying, which prompted Jordana to feel uneasy.

She was brought to tears after an interaction with Services Australia. Picture: TikTok/@thejordanagrace

He then began to ask her why she needed the refund and asked, “Don’t you have enough money? Don’t you have enough savings?”, which she felt was “inappropriate”.

The man asked her how much she earned and what she did for a living, and asked what medical expenses and conditions she had.

“I was like, that’s highly inappropriate. You don’t get to ask about what women’s issues I have. I asked again to speak to an ops manager, yes or no,” she said.

“He said he’d give me the refund and call me back in two days. I said I needed to speak to an ops manager because I needed to ask about this interest.”

She claimed that he agreed but said she wouldn’t be getting the refund because of this. Ultimately, the manager wasn’t available to speak to her, and she needed to call back the next day.

Jordana was visibly upset by the whole thing, saying it was also “that time of the month” and people she loved weren’t well.

“But, five-and-a-half hours? You’re the government! I asked nicely to speak to an ops manager because that is what your other departments advised me to do, and this guy would not even acknowledge my questions,” she said.

“And when I finally asked if I could speak to an ops manager, yes or no, he was like ‘fine, but now you’re not getting the refund’.”

She labelled the interaction "inappropriate". Picture: Instagram/@thejordanagrace

She felt she was being punished for wanting to speak to a manager, so she submitted a complaint. The complaint form said the service was unavailable.

News.com.au has contacted Jordana for further comment.

A Services Australia spokesperson told news.com.au: “While we can’t comment on the details, we sincerely apologise for this poor service experience which was not up to our expected standards.

“We’re contacting the customer to work with them on resolving these issues and trust our interactions will be more positive.”

According to the Services Australia website, a formal review typically takes 49 days, and they have a “high number” of formal reviews in the view processing.

“This means it may take longer than usual before we get to your application,” the website explains.

“You can ask us to pause your debt repayments while we complete an explanation of our decision or a formal review. You can do this when you talk to us about the debt decision. The pause will generally be for six months. If your explanation or formal review takes longer than six months, you’ll need to contact us to extend your debt pause.”