This blog is a rant against HESTA, the health and community services sector superannuation fund.
I have an account with them into which my former employer made its nine percent compulsory payments.
Upon starting at the Kalgoorlie Miner I transferred my main super account seamlessly from ING to the WA News company fund without any hassle. That’s how it should be. Just fill out a form, sign it, send it away and everything is done.
HESTA though wanted extra proof of my identity. My name, address, signature, account number, birthday, phone number, etc wasn’t good enough. They demanded a certified copy of my licence before they would transfer MY money to the the account of my choice.
A cynic would say they just want to hold MY money for as long as they can. That’s me. I’m a cynic. If they had doubts about my ID they could have called my mobile number or my workplace.
Privacy is one thing but service with respect should be paramount. They’ve got it wrong. Avoid HESTA if you want service.
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Interesting. A friend recommended Hesta to me as an alternative to my current employer fund (State Super)… I’ll give it some more thought after this, although State Super is just fine, really.
Michael Gorey would not like Federal Government super. He raises a concern common to the modern corporate world, the overzealous fixation on "privacy" at the expense of service and efficiency. But, hey, he should try Federal Government super| It provides income support for cessation on serious injury and other health grounds, or does it?
The legislation (both schemes) says it does, there is a common belief that there is a right to payment, but, the Fund does not have to pay a cent if the Fund or its agents do not want to pay. Who says that? The Court of course. The case law is quite clear, and how did that arise? Simple, all that was required was that the Fund/agents went into Court and submitted that if they did not want to pay, they did not have to. The Court agreed, and it is now case law.
Does anyone disagree with that position? Certainly not the pollies, and not the former Public Service Merit Protection Commission which said some years back that there was a discretion, and that it was the intention of the legislation. But what is ARIA’s position – it is silent, even in its Product Disclosure Statement, stating the obvious in regard to medical considerations, but silence on the fact there there is unfettered discretion regarding about 99% of cases going to it. I thought there was a legislative requirement of full disclosure, but ARIA and F&A apparently do not. Makes a great appendage to Work Choices, especially regarding its own staff.
Michael, Hesta is probably one of the better Funds. Fortunately it is not a Federal Government scheme.
Hesta. Great at exercising the letter of the law to the ultimate degree but B A in showing interest to members telephone calls trying to sort out Hesta account errors.
On receiving a payout and roll over to a different fund 2 years ago, I was advised that they still owed me money and a cheque had been sent to my previously nominated fund. I rang to advise them I was no longer with that company and had a self managed super fund. Over the past 7 weeks I have spoken to several different people, and have been receiving inconsistent and inaccurate information about how to get the cheque deposited into my self managed fund. Staff have failed to return calls, allow me to speak to a Complaints person other than the supervisor who was part of the problem. Have lost faith in the concept of courtesy, customer service and we will get back to you.
Hesta has the worst admin service- As a financial planner for over 15 years their in my top 3 of worst super funds for admin. Performance over the last ten years has been average (which is good) with occassioanl top of the pops one year performance. They’re ok if you’re 18 and not going to look at your super until you’re 50. It’s typical for them to loose forms, misplace switch requests. It took Hesta over three months to process a withdrawal- they misplaced part of forms we sent in and each time returned all forms to the clients. insurance definnitiions are poor and therefore likely be difficult at claim time. definetly do not start a pension with Hesta for above admin reasons.
It has taken me more than five weeks to get my super from Hesta. I had other funds that paid out very quickly but not Hesta. Hesta wants you to jump through hoops to get your money. After submitting the form twice and countless phone calls it finally went into my bank this morning. An overnight express postage bag takes 4 days to get to them. DO NOT even look at Hesta as your superannuation fund – they love to take your money but when it comes to getting it back, they hang on for dear life.