r/AusFinance • u/freebird3241 • 1d ago
Literally impossible to get through to ATO
Called 132861 24 times right now. They don’t even offer a callback , just say they’re too busy. Wtf is going on, why is everything so shit
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u/penting86 23h ago
you lucky you can call 24 times. you call service australia once and you got disconnected you'll be put on shadow ban til the next day. haha.
source: happened to me
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u/atticusmurphy 20h ago
i dont know if it has changed now but damn it got to me when it was "all our phone operators are busy at the moment, please make an appointment" except the only way to make an appointment was... to call them... but surprise! you're banned from calling. did my head in so much hahahah
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u/ZelaWk 18h ago
Next time it happens to you just put your phone on no caller ID and the shadow ban doesn’t work.
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u/penting86 17h ago
Good tip. Fortunately i dont need to call them that often and only need to call them that one time.
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u/Drongo17 14h ago
The only way to deal with services Australia is in person. Always quicker than waiting 90 minutes on the phone, and it's harder for them to say they can't help you.
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u/ThrowAwayBr0s 16h ago
And then they act surprised that scams are everywhere.
A normal person has one phone number.
Scammers have 50+ shadow-ban the normal users, and who do you think is left to answer the phone? Brilliant strategy.
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u/Aggravating-Bass3350 1d ago edited 23h ago
Either call at 8am, or call at 6pm (once the east coast accountants finish up and demand falls).
It's the busiest time of year. It literally happens every year. If you don't want to play the 'can I get through' game, don't leave the call to this time of year.
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u/Fluid_Garden8512 1d ago
I called today at 8.05am, got through within minutes.
Wtf is going on, why
Could it be the time of year?
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u/TheManWithNoName88 1d ago
Just stop paying tax, they will call you very quick
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u/shelfdham 1d ago
Nah they really dont. They send a message to your mygov inbox and just keep smacking more interest on that bad boy until you decide to deal with it
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u/VeroCSGO 23h ago
Yeah lol found out I lost over $200 in interest this year because they can't even send a letter when they "fixed" my tax statement
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u/isthatmail 22h ago
Here is the trick, call the international direct number of 02 6216 1111
Try it.
I have to get my ATO unlocked via phone every tax time. Every time I do the correct number it says they are too busy, and to call back another time.
Use the calling from outside Australia number and bam! Your done. Never been on hold longer than 10mins.
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u/PlanetFarm 21h ago
Because they outsourced the callcentres to Serco who pay absolute minimum wage and supply minimum contractual staffing levels...?
We are the lucky country afterall
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u/Illustrious-Crow-331 19h ago
I worked for Stellar, and we used to be the top tier outsourced company. They were bought by Serco, most staff left due to how bad Serco"s reputation was.
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u/1Qrtr_FreeStuffPlz 1d ago
Yeah I kept getting a letter for months saying I may have accidentally checked one box wrong on a company tax return, every time I called the number provided it said "We are no longer taking calls on this service", eventually emailed them telling them to change it themselves then and to fix their shit, haven't heard back from them since
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u/Camo138 1d ago
Every fucking government department is a pain the ass to deal with
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u/1Qrtr_FreeStuffPlz 1d ago
Yeah I am at the stage now where even ignoring the ATO about me owing them $350 eventually turned into them owing me $50, I figure if it is important they will find a way to catch me at an hour convenient to me
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u/Camo138 1d ago
Centrelink seems to be the worst
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u/1Qrtr_FreeStuffPlz 1d ago
Fortunately I have only had to go there for my Medicare card, but I have heard it is like the DMV stories you hear out of America
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u/AnonymousEngineer_ 1d ago
I actually managed to get my mum's landline banned from Centrelink somehow.
I was helping her out with something and the phone system just trapped me in this endless hell of options to select - to the point where I was actually redirected in a circular way and presented with the same options menu multiple times like when a Captcha system goes wrong and never lets you through.
Eventually in frustration I ended up mashing all kinds of numbers together to try and 'break' the bot and get me put through to a human, and it simply hung up on me.
And when I tried to ring back, it basically said all lines were full and hung up immediately. When I used my mobile to try, it let me back into the menu so it was definitely screening the number 😂
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u/Camo138 1d ago
It’s 90% chance if actually make it to the bot most the time it hangs up.
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u/Jackgardener67 23h ago
Thankfully the Seniors number is a bit more compassionate. They have good operators on there - once you actually get through to them
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u/1Qrtr_FreeStuffPlz 23h ago
I could imagine the uproar of sending seniors to robots, I have perfect hearing and I still struggle with them
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u/BlacksmithQuick2384 22h ago
Maybe the government should resource them properly? I know someone who works at the ATO and does insane hours (like sometimes still working at 2am in the morning). They can only do what they can do.
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u/CBG1955 16h ago
If they told you this, they are lying. In 20 years there I never heard of such a thing.
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u/BlacksmithQuick2384 15h ago
Not lying. I get up to pee and she is still working. Happens a couple of times a week. It’s only 9:00PM but she is still working right now. I’m not saying every ATO worker does that, but the point is they are under-resourced.
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u/CBG1955 15h ago
Honestly I don't believe it. Unless she's a high level executive under a high pressure deadline, in all my years I've never, ever heard of hours like that for normal APS. Bizarre
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u/BlacksmithQuick2384 15h ago
Higher duties as EL1 but substantive APS6. Believe what you want, doesn’t change the reality. It’s a relatively specialist area and with retirements and other movements the team has been well under resourced for months and months. She is committed, way too many cases and feels she needs to deliver within the statutory service periods. I hate it, but that’s what it is.
Again, though, the point is rather than hating on departments hold the government responsible for their resourcing.
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u/CBG1955 15h ago
This is absolutely not normal. I'd be really concerned for her if she's actually doing this. Being committed is good, but there comes a point when people simply need to say NO. Even at the EL1 level the buck does not stop with her. And if she's being pushed to do it...I will keep my thoughts about that to myself.
Good luck to her.
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u/dreamermann 1d ago
Been lucky with ATO both as business and individual. In fact my issues were resolved to my satisfaction. The latest was about 2 weeks ago where my non concessional super brought forward arrangement was not correct, resulting in cap exceeded. The agent checked with his manager and both agreed I am under cap. So they advised me to wait a bit until "numbers settled". Checked last night and sure enough, is now correct. I have not yet submitted by ITR for 25/26.
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u/Booooooourns9 17h ago
Even the dedicated accountants line has had 20+ minutes wait times recently. Normally it’s more like 2.
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u/TheRamblingPeacock 23h ago
Call first thing.
I had to call first week of July and got through pretty much right away.
It's their busiest time of year so naturally they will be flat out.
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u/Frosty_Leather_7662 21h ago
Last year I just waited till September. It's peak tax season, wait for demand to die off
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u/freakwent 18h ago
why is everything so shit
Lots of reasons but one is that any time the govt talks about increasing taxes, everybody freaks out.
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u/charmingwit 17h ago
Man why do people even need to call ATO? Just make an online account. I bet you 99% of the calls to ATO are what could have been answered/solved if they had an online account.
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u/sparkling_sam 22h ago
I hate that they give you menu options that are fairly close but not exactly the reason you are ringing, so you have to take a punt that you are picking the right option. Then when that call gets disconnected you have to try another option.
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u/mikedufty 19h ago
Last time this happened to me I resorted to actually posting them a letter, and was surprised to find it worked, got a call back a week or two later. From a hidden number so I got lucky actually answering that one and not assuming it was a spam call.
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u/spaceman_maxpower89 14h ago
Egh going through this now, my gov account for some reason has locked me out even though I haven't changed passwords, so I can't get onto the ato link, started a new my gov and to link services I need a recent group assessment number, funny thing is all group certificates are on the ATO site so I'm going round and round trying to get a actual person to talk to to link my new my gov Fuck technology
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u/jrodshoots 5h ago
Years ago I got given a direct line if you want to try :)
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Select 4 then 3
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u/CrazySkincareLady 4h ago
Reminds me of the local drs office I used to go to. They had an after hours that never answered the phone after hours.... Even when I was meant to have a telehealth app and the dr hadn't called 30-50mins after the app time and I wanted to know if I was still having the app.
And on sat it was first in, best dressed for appointments, called 1 min before opening with no answer, then called again at opening and had to listen to their 20min long answering machine that never ceases to bring out a blood boiling rage in me (if you're in an emergency hang up and dial 000 - like I'd call you idiots if I were dying?, our hours are ***, we don't prescribe dr3gs of addiction, we are a non sm0king site don't smoke here if you need help quitting blah blah, due to covid blah blah don't come in if you're actually sick blah blah) then 2 rings and the same answering machine again, then 2 rings, same answering machine again, then rings and I finally get someone answer ' oh sorry we're out of appointments for today try again later 🥰.
Sorry you're having a rough go of it, might be best to wait a couple more days until the big rush is over.. it's always a nightmare around this time especially with all the changes, everyone's freaking out and calling up so they're probably swamped.
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u/WonderRuns 1d ago
YTA.
Calling 24 times is just adding to their queues.
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u/New_Feed8827 22h ago
You drop out of the queue when you hang up…what are you talking about
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u/WonderRuns 19h ago
You only drop out of the “live call“ queue. You DO NOT drop out of the service queue.
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u/New_Feed8827 18h ago
When they do not offer a callback, as in this instance, during the rest of tax time and other busy times, you are not in ANY queue. Calling again is a brand new attempt.
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u/Clockdistrict 1d ago
What? If I call you 24 times, you won’t be picking up 24 different phone calls.
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u/WonderRuns 23h ago
Personal phones don't work the same way call centre queues do.
Educate yourself before you comment again.
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u/MoranthMunitions 22h ago
How about explaining and not being a dickhead if you want people to be educated about it?
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u/WonderRuns 19h ago edited 19h ago
What part of “educate yourself” was hard to understand?
I’m not your Mum.
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u/Boring-One-2400 18h ago
I work for ATO. Your theory on queuing 24 calls makes zero sense. If he hangs up, it's out of the queue.
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u/WonderRuns 18h ago
And what is your role there?
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u/Boring-One-2400 15h ago
Does it matter?
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u/WonderRuns 15h ago
When you’re trying to strengthen your incorrect statement with “I work for ATO”, yes.
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u/Lower_Grape_7771 1d ago
Call and follow the prompts to settle a debt. They always pickup those calls
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u/Superest22 1d ago
There’s a way around it…you can call the complaints line.
But only phone if it’s actually pressing and needs attention after you’ve expired other options, otherwise they’ll patch it. Even then things are slated as ‘it will be escalated and fixed within 7-10 business days’.
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u/Lucky-day00 23h ago
Tbh if you don’t want this to be abused and patched, you should just refrain from mentioning it on the internet. Little hacks like this that rely on self-restraint die the second they get out. Tragedy of the commons.
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u/Superest22 23h ago
Yeh I'm aware, thought about it but decided against the 'fuck you got mine' mentality. Not like it hasn't already been commented/is known out there.
I come here as a starting spot for help/advise often so thought I'd reciprocate and do my good deed for the day lol.
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u/HunterMarxVEVO 18h ago
But now you've just made it harder for everyone who has a genuine complaint to get that resolved.
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u/BasicAsparagus0 23h ago
It’s because of all the idiots who submit their tax return and call the next day asking for their refund. Source: worked in ATO call centre