Whats the problem?

[Mum2Romone]

Centrelink still havent paid me the immunisation allowance/maternity payment

I have been calling them since January when I received my statement showin all DS immunisations were up to date.

I have called every week since Jan. thats 16 phone calls to either medicare or centrelink trying to sort it out.

I know its not alot of money, thats not the point, the point is I should have automatically been paid it around November lastyear.

So today I spent an hour waiting at centrelink to see someone with DS running around crazy, yelling he was a dinosaur, to have then call me after i leave, (left the enquiry with them as clearly it was going to take a while) and the man says....

Because your claim wasnt assessed by centrelink until june 2010 ( weird , what claim? DS had all his shots before then) you wont be paid the money until he is 4....

Well why do I have to wait til then?
All Ds shots were up to date at 18 months and the $$ wasnt supposed to be paid until Nov 2010, so why do i have to wait? Ive asked to appeal the decision, manily because I was relying on the money,.

Same thing with CCR.
I was eligible before but since seperating from dh a few weeks aGO, now im not, I actually get less help to be a single mother than i did partnered.

This is such crap, why have an automatic payment if its not automatic, and how come they cant fix the problem.... yeah offer me an emergency payment so you can deduct my payment in the future, but dont give me what " i am apparently entitled to "

[Doing my best]

I did the appeal and they gave me the money..

I had called numerous times, and they kept saying, I have reset this, or reset that etc. But I never received the money. Then they told me that cause it wasn't sorted before DD was 2, then I would have to wait till she was 4. I questioned them, asking them to check my call history as I asked each time I called (even if that wasn't the point of my call), and the person escalated it. I got a phone call the next day, advised that person all the details again, she called back later that night, and said that it was going through..

I never got angry, just frustrated.. But at the end of the day, they are all human, and unless they have dealt with the specific problem before they might not realise the system things that cause the hold ups..

Hope your appeal goes through, cause I was the same, I was counting on that $100ish dollars to pay a bill..

[Mum2Romone]

Im not annoyed at the centrelink people just the system, they say they cant fix it in the computer.... guess theres hope for an appeal then thanks for replying

[Tinsel]

Oh my goodness, thanks for reminding me. I called about this over a month ago and she said she had fixed it and would be paid in a fortnight. Better chase it up.