A British expat’s nightmare about myGov, where Centrelink told her she had to pay interest on a debt she said she didn’t have – and that she had told them four years ago

A British woman who moved to Australia burst into tears after a customer service representative asked her “inappropriate” questions as she tried to resolve a problem with Centrelink.

Jordana Grace appeared upset in a TikTok video as she explained that Centrelink was adding interest to debts she said she didn’t have in the first place.

Ms Grace said she spent six and a half hours on the phone with Services Australia trying to resolve the issue she was having with her benefits, which she was receiving during the pandemic because she was out of work.

“As soon as I got a job, I let them know. I gave them all my information. I did everything to the letter,” she said in her video.

“Six months later they said, ‘You all owe us this money,’ and I said, ‘No, I don’t owe it, because here’s the proof.’”

The radio presenter from Sunshine Coast, Queensland, was told an appeal would be lodged against her, but four years later that appeal has still not been finalised.

Earlier this week, Ms. Grace spent hours talking to customer service staff, but no one could help her.

Eventually, one woman said she had to call the debt line again and ask for an “operations manager” because she was being charged interest on “debts you don’t have.”

British Jordana Grace (pictured), who moved to Australia, was left in tears after being asked ‘inappropriate’ questions by a Centrelink customer service representative

Ms Grace, who normally posts about the differences between life in Australia and life in the UK, alleged that Centrelink had even taken money from her.

“They took money from my account without me asking, because they can do that, but apparently they can also pay it back,” she told her social media followers.

She called the debt counselling number again and asked to speak to an operations manager, but said the person she addressed the request to was very unhelpful.

“He kept ignoring me and at that point I started crying because it had been over five and a half hours,” she said.

“I said, ‘Can I please speak to an operations manager? That’s what I was advised to do because of this list of reasons.’

“And he just said, ‘Give me your questions one by one’… at first he wasn’t so curt.”

Ms Grace said she again asked to speak to an operations manager, but the man asked her what she wanted and told her to ‘work with him’ so he could help her.

“If you don’t cooperate with me, I won’t help you,” she remembered him saying, which made her feel uncomfortable.

She said he then began asking questions that she found intrusive, such as, “Don’t you have enough money? Don’t you have enough savings?”

After asking how much she earned and what kind of work she did, the man asked about her medical expenses and what conditions she had.

“I thought, that’s very inappropriate. You can’t ask about the women’s issues that I have. I asked again to speak to an operations manager, yes or no,” she said.

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

Mrs. Grace said he agreed, but that she would not get any money back.

It turned out that the manager could not speak to her and that she had to call back the next day.

What added to her sadness was that it was “that time of the month” and some of the people she loved were not feeling well.

“But, five and a half hours? You’re the government! I politely asked to speak to an operations manager, because that’s what your other departments advised me to do, and this man wouldn’t even answer my questions,” she said.

In a TikTok video, Jordana Grace was upset as she explained that Centrelink was adding interest to a debt she said she didn’t have in the first place. The myGov app is pictured

“And when I finally asked if I could speak to an operations manager, yes or no, he said something like, ‘Fine, but now you’re not getting your money back.’”

Ms Grace thought she was being punished for asking to speak to a manager, so she filed a formal complaint.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Hank Jongen, general manager of Services Australia, said: ‘While we cannot provide details, we sincerely apologise for this poor service experience, which did not meet our expectations.

“We are reaching out to the customer to work with them to resolve these issues. We are confident that our interactions will be more positive.”

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Grace for comment.