Retirement Essentials

my experience with Retirement Essentials has involved great frustration and a total lack of consideration or professionalism . I am 83 years old, I am in poor health and feel vulnerable. After my conversation with the representative from Retirement Essentials on the 10th August 2023 I felt happy to pay the $550 they charged for them to complete my claim. They assured me they would take all the responsibility all I had to do was give them copies of all my bank accounts.I did this and they confirmed they had everything they needed to get me the result they promised. Later that day I had a phone call from The rep. He said he needed to talk to me but before he could have a conversation I would need to place another $150 into the account of Retirement Essentials and he would send the claim to Centrelink. This was not the original agreement but foolishly I transferred it into the bank of Retirement essentials. After this I heard nothing from retirement Essential and it was impossible to get them on the phone. It just rings out therefore in October 2 months later I phoned Centre link they told me that up to that time they had received nothing from Retirement essentials.i emailed Retirement Essentials and they responded to say no we haven't sent the claim in we need more information I was aghast as they had assured me they had all required.After endless emails from me and sometimes a curt rude response from Retirement Essentials, Centrelink called me in February to say they still did not have the relevant information. This was 7 months after my initial communication with Retirement Essentials. I took photographs of all my information and sent it to Centrelink. When I impiied Retirement Essentials had done nothing in fact i had to work with Centrelink their defence was that they had a receipt for one phone call made. I am claiming a refund of $700 but this falls on deaf ears. I urge anyone to be very wary before signing with Retirement Essentials. From my experience I would deal with Centre link directly. They were very polite and helped me as much as they could over this period. They themselves said that they found it impossible to make contact with Retirement Essentials.

I've Read many reviews from disgruntled clients who have paid upfront and got no service from them, but it seems they just don't care. I paid $650 upfront, expecting slick service and avoid going to Centelink in person as i used to work there. Boy was I wrong! I got an email asking questions that had no place in my claim. I phoned RE ansd asked for another consultant to take my case but Katie had to check with management although she understood and agreed with my thinking. I then called Centrelink and found that I have no record as I have never made a claim until now (age pension) so I would have to go see them to sort that before I could claim a pension. Then I get a 2nd email from RE saying they have completed my claim forms ready for submission??...really,?..no record, so no nominee status for RE, they have no idea what they are doing other than exploiting potential customers. They also refused to refund my $650 as they did not 'err' and I changed my mind but would refund $200!..again Really??. . Local Member will hear about this.. .what a scam, preying on the unaware. DO NOT ENGAGE WITH RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS. ( And I was a Centelink employee for 22 years before retiring).

I have to agree with the other reviews. My wife and I decided to use the services provided by Retirement Essentials to smooth out our application for the Aged Pension. It all started well until we paid our $650 and then the problems started. Lack of communication being a huge issue. We found Centrelink much more professional and easier to deal with directly than Retirement Essentials and removed their nominee status accordingly. We decided to write off the payment of $650 and just put the whole sorry episode down to experience and a lesson well learned. To anyone thinking of using this service, I would strongly suggest that you try Centrelink directly. You might be pleasantly surprised. John and Judy

Unfortunately this company does no seem to live up to its promises. We decided to use their services because our interactions with Centrlink were fraught with difficulty and we had to travel to visit Centrelink. We paid Reitrement Essentials $650 on the understanding that they would be able to get us a National Health Card and a partial pension. Things started out well. We were able to fill out the appropriate forms and "Sam" seemed to be asking for all the right information. Then - no communication from "Sam". Four weeks of asking what else was required and had "Sam" received the information we sent him were met by silence. We checked with Centrlink and they said this company was legitimate but I would warn people that I think it is a scam. I agree with the previous reveiw. It accurately reflects our experience. Doug and Sue

BEWARE...I had a disaster experience with this company. My pension application date was coming up & as I had other matters to deal with put the application process in RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS capable hands...so I thought ! All did not go well. As per other comments here, they do not answer their phone ('they only take calls in the afternoon') they do not answer email. From the beginning, don't be fooled by the low advertised price. Mine was straight forward however the fee was $550. I completed the profile, paid the fee & submitted the claim. Several days past & finally I was greeted by an email from my 'advisor' (I won't name him in a public forum...but PM if you would like it)...part of that request involved arranging Centrelink to deal directly on my behalf with RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS. That was all done from my end within 30mins & confirmation sent to my advisor the same day. Here I will shorten what transpired after that. My advisor then when quiet. Nothing came back for several weeks DESPITE my now daily reminders. I wrote to their complaints department (twice as they didn't answer the first request) & 5 weeks later I was left frustrated & any confidence I had in this process with RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS had evaporated. I couldn't let this company deal directly with Centrelink not knowing what was going on...do they ghost Centrelink like they did me. Probably. So here is the outcome. Finally RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS customer service manager contacted me by email. It was a nice email filled with apologies. Apologies aside all trust had been lost. I/he agreed that we would part company at that point & in all fairness to RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS, they did the right thing & refunded me for the full amount. So I will leave RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS experience at that & move on to what I did next. I went to MyGov Centrelink on my PC & I filled the forms in myself. It was a very easy process which took, all up with scanning the required documents, less than 2 hours to complete & submit. The Centrelink form has most of your information to start with & the balance of the questions are prompted in a manner that are straight forward & easily answered. Give it a go yourself before being disappointed with RETIREMENT ESSENTIALS poor service.