By Joni BoydWednesday 20 Nov 2024Money: Faith & FinancePodcastsReading Time: 3 minutes
Have you ever found yourself in a call centre loop?
Key Points
- Jordana Brown (@ThatBritishGirl), had a stressful situation with Centrelink that went viral.
- “I think we need to have kindness to people in call centers – So, yes, my takeaway is: Be kind.”
- Listen to this episode of Money: Faith & Finance in the player above, on the Hope 103.2 app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
When you finally got through, did things get better – or worse?
Our special guest, influencer Jordana Brown (@ThatBritishGirl), had a stressful situation with Centrelink that went viral.
When Jordana moved to Australia (with some help from a well-timed visit to see her dad, and the 2020 lockdown) she was thrilled to land a job (filming melting cheese) and begin bringing in an income.
What she didn’t expect, was for Centrelink to send her a bill, despite doing the paperwork and notifying them of her employment.
She tells Pete and Ben about trying to navigate bureaucracy, standing up for what’s right and how faith and kindness improve terrible exchanges.
Jordana Brown had a stressful situation with Centrelink that went viral.
Jordana Brown is an influential social media personality known as “That British Girl” on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Before becoming an influencer, Jordana worked extensively in the production field, spending over 15 years behind the camera in a major UK church.
Jordana currently hosts the Morning Wake-up Show on Salt1065 on Australia’s Sunshine Coast.
“Six months later, I get this letter from Centrelink saying, “You owe $1,500 because you were getting money and had a job at the same time from the government,”” she told Hope Mornings’ Ben McEachen and accountant Pete Burrows when she caught up with them for Money: Faith & Finance.
In January 2021, Jordana sent in all the paperwork to show that she’d done the right thing.
Snowed under with COVID-19 paperwork, Centrelink told her they’d put the situation on pause for six months and then revisit.
“What wasn’t explained to me at the time, was that when they said pause, in six months’ time, I was going to get another letter saying I owed money, and also I should be checking up on the pause, and also once the pause stopped, any debt I owed the government would accrue interest.
“None of this was explained.”
“I think we need to have kindness to people in call centers – So, yes, my takeaway is: Be kind.”
Six months later, when the second letter arrived telling Jordana that she now owed $1,800, she waited on the phones for hours, waiting to discuss the situation with Centrelink.
Long story short, Jordana took on Centrelink, and the rest is history (you’ll need to listen to the episode to find out how it went)!
And she maintains, despite the struggles; “I think we need to have kindness to people in call centers – So, yes, my takeaway is: Be kind.”
Agreed!
Listen to this episode of Money: Faith & Finance in the player above, on the Hope 103.2 app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Feature image: Photo supplied and used with permission