British expat’s nightmare myGov ordeal with Centrelink telling her she is accruing interest on a debt she says she doesn’t owe – and she told them four years ago

A British woman who moved to Australia was left in tears after ‘inappropriate’ questions from a customer service agent when trying to sort out a Centrelink issue.

In a TikTok video, Jordana Grace appeared distressed while explaining that Centrelink was adding interest to debt she says she didn’t owe in the first place.

Ms Grace said she spent six-and-a-half hours on the phone to Services Australia, trying to fix the problem she had regarding welfare payments, which she got during the pandemic as she was out of work.

‘The moment I got a job, I let them know. I gave them all my details. I did everything by the letter,’ she said in her 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.’ 

The Sunshine Coast, Queensland-based radio presenter was told her case would go to an appeal, but four years on, that appeal has still not been concluded.

Earlier this week, Ms Grace spoke to customer service personnel for hours, but none of them were able to  help her. 

Finally, one woman told her to call the debt line again and ask for an ‘ops leader’ because she was being charged interest on ‘the debt you don’t owe’.

Ms Grace, who more usually posts content about the differences between life in Australia compared to the UK, alleged Centrelink had even taken money from her.

‘They took money out of my account without asking me, because they can do that, but apparently they can refund it,’ she told her social media followers.

So she called the debt services number again and asked to speak to an ops leader, but said the person she made the request to was very unhelpful.

‘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’ … he wasn’t that snippy at the start.’

Ms Grace said she again asked to speak to an ops manager, but the man 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 made her feel uneasy.

She said he then started to ask questions she thought were intrusive such as ‘Don’t you have enough money? Don’t you have enough savings?’

After asking how much she earned and what she worked at, she said the man 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.’

Ms Grace said he agreed but then said she wouldn’t be getting the refund because of this. 

It then turned out that the manager wasn’t free to speak to her, and she needed to call back yet again the following day.

Adding to her distress, the radio host said it was ‘that time of the month’ and some people she loved were unwell.

‘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.

In a TikTok video, Jordana Grace was distressed while explaining that Centrelink was adding interest to a debt she says she didn’t owe in the first place. The myGov app is pictured

‘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’.’

Ms Grace thought she was being punished for asking to speak to a manager, so she has made an official complaint. 

In a statement issued to Daily Mail Australia, Services Australia’s general manager Hank Jongen said ‘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.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Grace for comment.