I became angry with myself last night for participating in a bureaucratic process. I was a defined beneficiary of Ray's superannuation but the company would not confirm that for privacy issues. Whose? Ray is dead. I was put through the hoops of paperwork, including gathering family with someone who could sign a statutory declaration. All the company needed was proof of my identify and my bank details.
Apparently Ray had a second superannuation account with a balance of $1000. Good, I'll have that too, thanks.
Superannuation company said no, until you fill in more paperwork. It will be a repeat of what I've already done. The company has all the information. I am refusing to comply and sometimes a late night less formal email can work, and that is what I am going to do now. Publish and be damned.
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They're so scared of what? International jewel thieves might fool them?? Puhlease.
ReplyDeleteIt is disgraceful that widows/widowers are made to jump through bureaucratic hoops to have access to what is rightfully theirs.
ReplyDeleteIt is a heartless and insensitive way to treat a recently bereaved partner. Shame on them.
ReplyDeleteHiss and spit. Good luck. Sometimes I think those bureaucratic processes are designed to wear us down. Which they do.
ReplyDeleteAm I in spam?
ReplyDeleteYou were, Boud.
DeleteWhat's a "defined beneficiary"? Is it different from "nominated beneficiary"?
ReplyDeleteI don't know MC. Defined sounds stronger nominated but I think they are the same in so far as super goes. It is an automatic right to inherit a person's super and it is not part of a will or estate.
DeleteWhy not engage your Centrelink consultants to attend to it? Perhaps they could do the running around for you, probably for about, um, $1,000?
DeleteThe company is very specific about what they do. The don't even do disability pensions.
DeleteNot that the money would end your pain. But that is exactly why superannuation companies push their products - to help the grieving survivor.
ReplyDeleteThis is just what capitalist do to bury you in paperwork
ReplyDeleteBureaucracy is a bitch.
ReplyDeleteBe nice to those people Andrew! They may be utter bastards but by kicking up a fuss they will just dig their heels in. It took me months to get what we were due from my brother Simon's pension pot. A lot of anxiety, a lot of emails, phone calls and recapping. I just did not need that hassle.
ReplyDeleteThe extra paperwork must be submitted because it is a separate account with a different account number. Bureaucracy is mind-numbingly tedious as well as ridiculous, but the rules must be followed if you want the money.
ReplyDeleteIt is a different account.
DeleteWhoa. It's a rare thing to see you get your hackles up! You got a can of whupass stashed someplace? If you do, it might be time to pull it out.
ReplyDeleteThey do make things difficult and frustrating for you Andrew.
ReplyDeleteDon't pass up $1000. Do the paperwork.
ReplyDeleteIt is enough to make you want to scream, I think I did scream a time or two when I was settling my father's estate.
ReplyDeleteIt's so frustrating this sort of thing, keep digging your heels in Andrew until you get what is due you.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Good Lord. It sounds like a ridiculous amount of bureaucracy for a task that should be much easier (especially for bereaved relatives).
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of frustration to get what Ray would want you to have. Why, I wonder, is it made so hard.
ReplyDeleteNothing is easy these days and there seems no way round the bureaucracy. Good luck with the form filling as no doubt whatever you say you will still have to complete another set of forms.
ReplyDeleteWow! It seems there must be some sort of ombudsman or official who can help you cut through this. Perhaps a local level elected one? Sorry you're going through all of this. I dread doing it myself and hope that I won't have to or for years. My friend just lost her wife who was a police lieutenant in the Honolulu Police department and she has had to go through a lot of hoops to get the pension benefits! Hang in there aloha my friend just lost her wife who was a police lieutenant in the Honolulu Police department and she has had to go through a lot of hoops to get the pension benefits! Hang in there? Aloha!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the inexplicable repetition
DeleteBureaucracy is a killer. I spent over an hour on the phone this morning trying to sort out a billing error on our cable tv service. The guy had to keep going and checking things while I listened to horrible music waiting for him to come back. And now he is certain if it is solved.
ReplyDeleteThe pic of the streetcar may be a bit foreshortened but it was a regular full length one, Andrew.