HESTA member couldn't access super for surgery due to fund outage, dozens report ongoing issues
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Despite normal services resuming three weeks ago, dozens of HESTA superannuation members have contacted ABC News, distressed and frustrated they are still unable to access their own super funds.
HESTA, one of Australia's largest super funds with more than 1 million members, went offline at the end of April for a seven-week planned outage, as the fund changed administration providers.
Despite the outage ending at the start of June, members have reported that their applications to withdraw funds have still not been processed, while wait times on the phone can be up to three hours.
Judy Flynn said she put in an application at the end of April to withdraw funds for a surgery.
"I then sent an email saying, 'look, I have a medical appointment coming up, it's urgent, I've been waiting four months for this, can you please process this $2,000 for me?'"
But she said she got no response from HESTA, and eventually needed to postpone her surgery, which was meant to be on the June 10.
HESTA had told ABC News that members could "still receive urgent and critical payments" during the period of limited services.
"I hadn't heard a thing, no response at all … and I tried to get through to them a couple of times on the phone and I couldn't get through without waiting for a long period.
"It's very stressful … I'm really angry that they've done this to me," Ms Flynn said.
"I really feel it's unfair that legally they are able to do this and just walk away from it."
Ms Flynn, who lives on the South Coast of New South Wales, said she recently separated from her husband and has had to borrow money from him to pay for things like utility bills and council rates.
"He's been good about it, but he's in debt to loan me money. It's not like he has money stocked away, we're borrowing to get me out of this hot water."
On Thursday last week, Ms Flynn was finally able to speak to someone at HESTA who processed her application, stating it should take three to five days to land in her account.
On Sunday, she said HESTA notified her that the money had been transferred, about two months after her initial application was made.
HESTA has apologised to Ms Flynn, stating its level of service was not acceptable.
In a response to the ABC, a spokesperson for HESTA said: "While we resumed online services as scheduled and many members are transacting as normal, we recognise some members have experienced long call wait times and processing delays.
"We apologise to members who haven't had the experience they should expect from HESTA and are working hard to resolve these issues quickly."
"Let's say someone's been waiting since the first week of the HESTA shutdown to be able to make this claim… now [it's] 10 weeks with no income.
"I think that would be very, very stressful from a consumer's perspective."
She doesn't think the super fund prepared properly for the influx of applications it would experience from members after the outage.
"I understand that the process is really cumbersome and they want to make sure that they get everything right because there are obviously reporting issues … but given everything that people have been through, you think that they would be a little bit more prepared.
"There should have been some processes in place at the beginning of this [to] deal with this large volume of customers coming in once they're back online."
Ms Bejah said the "additional delay" is causing unnecessary stress for many people right now.
"Australians [are] dealing with a lot at the moment, especially with the cost of living, and I think when there's a barrier between people and accessing their own funds that they might need for medical considerations … or they might be dealing with severe financial hardship.
"It's a compounding effect that's going to affect a whole range of things, not just finances."
The spokesperson for HESTA said: "We have substantially increased the size of our contact centre team and operating hours have been extended to include temporary operation on Saturdays.
"We have seen some reduction in call wait times and volumes over the past week. We continue to add more resourcing to support members and help action outstanding requests quickly and accurately."
Her husband Glynn has been acting as her carer because her short-term memory and some of her long-term memory have been affected by the disease.
He said on May 22, he and his financial adviser put in an application to withdraw all of Ms Lewis's superannuation.
But almost a month later, none of it has been processed into her account.
"I'm sort of still in limbo … it is a little bit up in the air, hopefully HESTA come good with the finances," he told ABC News.
"Hopefully we can get back to a better financial situation."
While his financial advisor has lodged a complaint with HESTA, he has concerns that if he doesn't get access to the funds soon, he will have to use his own super to pay the deposit, or risk his wife losing her spot at the facility.
"It's always a concern in the back of my mind, I'm visiting her every day, and it would be nice to have this part of it finalised so we can keep going."
The spokesperson for HESTA said: "We apologise to the member and her husband who have not received the service they should expect from us.
"Our team is reaching out to assist this morning, and we are working to resolve this today."
The spotlight was thrown on the sector in April, when AustralianSuper, Rest, Hostplus, Insignia and Australian Retirement Trust were impacted by a slew of cyber incidents.
AustralianSuper was questioned by its own clients about a security weakness in its accounts, before cybercriminals stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of members' retirement savings.
Customers told ABC News they had asked for multi-factor authentication (MFA) on their accounts but were rebuffed — one of them just weeks before the cyber attacks.
Subsequently, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) wrote to all registrable superannuation entities earlier this month, reinforcing expectations around information security and the implementation of robust authentication controls.
"This action follows recent credential stuffing attacks that exposed persistent weaknesses in authentication practices across the superannuation industry," the APRA statement read.
The regulator has advised all super funds to ensure MFA or equivalent protections are in place for high-risk activities no later than August 31 this year.
Separately, the corporate watchdog has called on super funds to overhaul the way they deal with death benefit claims, noting excessive delays, poor customer service and ineffective claims handling are leaving Australians worse off at some of the most vulnerable times of their lives, in a scathing report issued in March.
By business reporter Adelaide Miller
HESTA, one of Australia's largest super funds with more than 1 million members, went offline at the end of April for a seven-week planned outage, as the fund changed administration providers.
Despite the outage ending at the start of June, members have reported that their applications to withdraw funds have still not been processed, while wait times on the phone can be up to three hours.
Judy Flynn said she put in an application at the end of April to withdraw funds for a surgery.
"I then sent an email saying, 'look, I have a medical appointment coming up, it's urgent, I've been waiting four months for this, can you please process this $2,000 for me?'"
But she said she got no response from HESTA, and eventually needed to postpone her surgery, which was meant to be on the June 10.
Amanda and Glynn Lewis have lodged a complaint with HESTA, as they wait for their superannuation to pay for nursing home fees. (Supplied)
HESTA had told ABC News that members could "still receive urgent and critical payments" during the period of limited services.
"I hadn't heard a thing, no response at all … and I tried to get through to them a couple of times on the phone and I couldn't get through without waiting for a long period.
"It's very stressful … I'm really angry that they've done this to me," Ms Flynn said.
"I really feel it's unfair that legally they are able to do this and just walk away from it."
Ms Flynn, who lives on the South Coast of New South Wales, said she recently separated from her husband and has had to borrow money from him to pay for things like utility bills and council rates.
"He's been good about it, but he's in debt to loan me money. It's not like he has money stocked away, we're borrowing to get me out of this hot water."
On Thursday last week, Ms Flynn was finally able to speak to someone at HESTA who processed her application, stating it should take three to five days to land in her account.
On Sunday, she said HESTA notified her that the money had been transferred, about two months after her initial application was made.
HESTA has apologised to Ms Flynn, stating its level of service was not acceptable.
In a response to the ABC, a spokesperson for HESTA said: "While we resumed online services as scheduled and many members are transacting as normal, we recognise some members have experienced long call wait times and processing delays.
"We apologise to members who haven't had the experience they should expect from HESTA and are working hard to resolve these issues quickly."
Additional delays not acceptable, expert says
Personal finance researcher at Griffith University Whitley Bejah said the extended period of time offline means HESTA has failed in its duty of care to customers."Let's say someone's been waiting since the first week of the HESTA shutdown to be able to make this claim… now [it's] 10 weeks with no income.
"I think that would be very, very stressful from a consumer's perspective."
HESTA's website said its contact centre is experiencing "high call volumes"' after services resumed at the start of June. (ABC News: Adelaide Miller)
She doesn't think the super fund prepared properly for the influx of applications it would experience from members after the outage.
"I understand that the process is really cumbersome and they want to make sure that they get everything right because there are obviously reporting issues … but given everything that people have been through, you think that they would be a little bit more prepared.
"There should have been some processes in place at the beginning of this [to] deal with this large volume of customers coming in once they're back online."
"Australians [are] dealing with a lot at the moment, especially with the cost of living, and I think when there's a barrier between people and accessing their own funds that they might need for medical considerations … or they might be dealing with severe financial hardship.
"It's a compounding effect that's going to affect a whole range of things, not just finances."
The spokesperson for HESTA said: "We have substantially increased the size of our contact centre team and operating hours have been extended to include temporary operation on Saturdays.
"We have seen some reduction in call wait times and volumes over the past week. We continue to add more resourcing to support members and help action outstanding requests quickly and accurately."
'Still in limbo'
Amanda Lewis recently went into a dementia ward at a nursing home in Victoria and has been relying on her superannuation to pay for it.Her husband Glynn has been acting as her carer because her short-term memory and some of her long-term memory have been affected by the disease.
He said on May 22, he and his financial adviser put in an application to withdraw all of Ms Lewis's superannuation.
But almost a month later, none of it has been processed into her account.
"I'm sort of still in limbo … it is a little bit up in the air, hopefully HESTA come good with the finances," he told ABC News.
"Hopefully we can get back to a better financial situation."
"It's always a concern in the back of my mind, I'm visiting her every day, and it would be nice to have this part of it finalised so we can keep going."
The spokesperson for HESTA said: "We apologise to the member and her husband who have not received the service they should expect from us.
"Our team is reaching out to assist this morning, and we are working to resolve this today."
Super sector in spotlight on security and service
HESTA isn't the first superannuation fund to have complaints raised against it this year.The spotlight was thrown on the sector in April, when AustralianSuper, Rest, Hostplus, Insignia and Australian Retirement Trust were impacted by a slew of cyber incidents.
AustralianSuper was questioned by its own clients about a security weakness in its accounts, before cybercriminals stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of members' retirement savings.
Customers told ABC News they had asked for multi-factor authentication (MFA) on their accounts but were rebuffed — one of them just weeks before the cyber attacks.
Subsequently, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) wrote to all registrable superannuation entities earlier this month, reinforcing expectations around information security and the implementation of robust authentication controls.
"This action follows recent credential stuffing attacks that exposed persistent weaknesses in authentication practices across the superannuation industry," the APRA statement read.
The regulator has advised all super funds to ensure MFA or equivalent protections are in place for high-risk activities no later than August 31 this year.
Separately, the corporate watchdog has called on super funds to overhaul the way they deal with death benefit claims, noting excessive delays, poor customer service and ineffective claims handling are leaving Australians worse off at some of the most vulnerable times of their lives, in a scathing report issued in March.
By business reporter Adelaide Miller
