Australian superannuation funds have received unfavorable marks after a mystery shopping evaluation revealed widespread inadequacy in customer service across the sector’s call centers.
Conducted by Super Consumers Australia and released on Tuesday, the assessment highlighted that call centers belonging to 20 of the nation’s major funds provided erratic service lacking empathy, often failing to meet fundamental customer service standards.
However, certain parts of the industry have disputed the report’s findings and the methods employed in the study.
What did the study find?
To carry out the study, Super Consumers Australia engaged Customer Service Benchmarking Australia (CSBA), commissioning them to make 1,000 mystery shopper calls between August and October of the previous year to the 20 funds. The callers posed as potential new members, relatives of non-English speakers, and individuals experiencing financial difficulty.
The resulting average score for customer service performance was reported at 49.9 percent.
Not a single fund cracked 55 per cent — well short of the 80 per cent regarded as the “green zone”, which indicates optimal performance for customer experience across sectors.
By comparison, utilities, banking, education and local government all scored higher than the super sector.
Consistency was also a problem, with individual scores swinging from as low as 20 per cent to as high as 86 per cent, even within the same fund.
CareSuper came out on top with 55 per cent, followed by Rest Super and TelstraSuper.
Seven in 10 callers from customers in vulnerable or distressing situations rated agents five or lower out of 10 for empathy.
Two funds were excluded from the overall rankings because so many calls didn’t get through. AustralianSuper connected only 10 per cent of its calls within 15 minutes, while Team Super connected to 52 per cent, against an 87 per cent average across the rest of the sector.
“Superannuation is mandatory, but good customer service is not. That has to change,” Super Consumers Australia CEO Xavier O’Halloran said. “This pilot study shows that, right now, getting the right support can depend on who answers the phone.”
“People should not have to beg their super fund for basic help. If your fund is not listening, complain. If poor service keeps happening, consider taking your money elsewhere.”
He called for mandatory customer service standards to be implemented for super funds, as is standard in other sectors.
Funds reject report
AustralianSuper rejected the findings, saying the study was conducted while it was mid-transition to a new call centre provider.
“Our customer satisfaction scores right now are the highest they’ve ever been, and our average speed of answer is less than two minutes,” an AustralianSuper spokesperson said.
The Super Members Council, the industry’s peak advocacy body, questioned the study’s methodology — noting the mystery shoppers weren’t members of the funds they called and calls couldn’t proceed past identity verification, a safeguard against scams and fraud.
It also pointed out the study only tested phone contact, not the other channels members use to reach their fund.
Financial regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has been monitoring the sector’s efforts to improve customer service in the wake of the death benefits revelations.
While many trustees have made positive improvements in their claims handling practices, stragglers have failed to implement basic improvements, ASIC found in a June report.
ASIC has been undertaking a multi-year review focused on improving member interactions with super funds, a spokesperson said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said the government was consulting on better standards for the industry and would be releasing draft legislation soon.
— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.