Vulnerable Australians seeking information about their superannuation are being met with unhelpful call centres, according to a new study.
Super Consumers Australia is calling for mandatory customer service standards after a mystery shopping study of 20 major super fund call centres gave the industry a failing grade.
Super Consumers Australia CEO Xavier O’Halloran said the survey found 23 percent of callers were told to “go online” as the only solution.
Mr O’Halloran said in 58 percent of calls where someone rang on behalf of a customer with limited English, funds shifted responsibility back to the caller instead of offering direct support to the customer.
He said many funds failed to provide empathy and support, with 70 percent of calls from customers experiencing vulnerability scoring 5 out of 10 or lower for empathy.
“These calls involved people urgently seeking access to super after distressing events, but funds often failed to acknowledge hardship, ask questions or explain what help was available.”
Mr O’Halloran said the study came as consumer harms persisted due to poor customer service across super funds, including delays to death and disability benefit payments, service disruptions and cyber incidents.
“Poor service can prevent people from accessing their own super and make difficult situations even more distressing.
“People don’t just need a healthy super balance to have a dignified retirement. They need to know their fund will pick up the phone when they’re grieving, need to access their money or ask a simple question, and actually help them.”
He said the findings showed the need for mandatory customer service standards across the super system, backed by public reporting, independent benchmarking and better staff training.
“Superannuation is mandatory, but good customer service is not. That has to change.”