WINZ fail.

[Ypawa]

Sorry to hear of ya hassles @WINZ > ys
WINZ can be damned difficult at times too much paperwork NOT enuff listening to the plights of the public. FFT - word of mouth in my area - they give a $1500 grant to shearers wanting to relocate where works is(oh & they also give bus fare, ferry fare etc thats not included with the 1500-=so your lukn at almost 2gs) ..namely down south - this money is to buy new handpiece,combs,cutters..blah blah. My son n law took that grant,went down south for 5mths-got back 3wks ago. My point> there was 9 others that took advantage of this- ONLY 3 went! Im guessing the other 6 pocketed the bux,cos I knew 1 of em and seen him still here(not working ) well after they got the bux so its kinda SAD to hear what you are going thru. Heapsa crooked-ripoff-lazy-useless peeps that get help with a platter. Sorry i know this is just wanted to spit that out

[Delerium]

So true... My girlfriend was working for the university and they stuffed up her pay. They paid her for half a weeks work one week, then 1 and a half weeks work next week. She called them to tell them about it, they said that's fine. Later they turned around and said no it isn't fine, you need to pay us back. Then a bit later again they said oh, and by the way you owe us 10k because you never should have got it in the first place due to getting ACC income as well (which doesn't count according to their own guidelines). Severely impacted her quality of life for a few weeks until it turned out that yes, they just had their heads up their collective asses.

Also, if you're over 25 and claim student allowance, don't move in with anyone you're in a relationship with. Even if it has only been a month or two and you tell them you're in a relationship, they will start demanding to see your 'partner's' income and if it is higher than sweet-fuck-all will dock your allowance. Start dating a flatmate? Sorry, you're screwed unless you keep quiet. Gotta love it.

Sounds similar to what happened to me. Now they are demanding I pay them $900 becuase I have earned too much. They can wait untill I get my reimbusement from my employer at the end of the year

[jono035]

Sounds similar to what happened to me. Now they are demanding I pay them $900 becuase I have earned too much. They can wait untill I get my reimbusement from my employer at the end of the year

Yeah, they're normally happy to get you set up to just garnish your wages by $20 a week or something. A lot more flexible in how they get the money back than anything else, that's for sure.

[ynot slow]

Have put an email to the local MP,who is Labour,not that that is a problem with me,in this case I am just seeing what he can offer,as is his job to work for the constituents.Not sure if the email went as was sent via his email from parliament,when clicked send it came up internet connection lost.Will phone and check.Was going to go to top,haha the minister,but don't want my details spread to all and sundry from a pissed off minister/mistress(is that female version).

Don't think it is an ethnic thing.I did say and reiterate if I was a school drop-out about 19,no work experience,no education(i.e illiterate)I can get on a course.Which is great in theory,but what employer is going to hire a person turning up to interview dressed scruffy(clothes and presentation)with a new license,and might work today,tommorrow,and not next day.

The annoying thing is class 4 is over 3 days,forklift is over 2 days,so can do in a week from starting.Forklift is done 3rd Monday/Tuesday of month.

Not giving up yet.

[Forest]

Sheesh, not totally clued up on the purpose and practice of WINZ but you'd think they'd be glad to give a leg up to someone that wants to make an effort rather than an habitual dole sucker. Man!

The problem is that 95% of the people who use WINZ services really are habitual dole suckers or malingerers.

After a while, the WINZ staff stop seeing the difference between the two groups and they begin to treat everyone the same.

Don't take it personally. You're just being lumped in with the other 95%.

[Beemer]

Try being self-employed and having the recession see your government client base dry up overnight. Husband isn't on a big salary, no kids, not a lot of savings, so I rang WINZ to see if I could get any financial assistance. The answer was no, but I was welcome to apply for an accommodation supplement. Worked it out online how much I would get - $1! Yes, no bull, a whole DOLLAR.

Needless to say, I didn't bother going through the humiliation of providing bank statements, records of our outgoings, etc for $1.

Thankfully things have picked up now, but I'd been studying extramurally for the two years prior to my work slowing down (for that read 'disappearing') so in addition to having very little money coming in, I also had a debt of about $8000.

I called in to see WINZ a few years ago when looking for some part time work to supplement my self-employed income (which was very low when I first started out) and was told there was little they could do for me. They said there were no jobs going for journalists (true, but I'd also worked in retail and in offices doing marketing and admin work and was looking for ANYTHING) and the one part time retail job they had (which sounded exactly what I was looking for) was only available to those who had been unemployed for more than six months.

It pisses me off that the government is more than happy to take taxes from both of us when we are both employed, but when one of us has no money coming in, they aren't prepared to help out. We were lucky we had a fully stocked freezer and pantry and a lot of crap we managed to sell on Trade Me - and I got some ongoing work about a month before our money would have run out completely.

If my husband was my flatmate I'd be eligible for the assistance - so how come the fact that we're a couple means we can survive on one income when we we had two coming in before and the bills haven't dropped by half!

[ynot slow]

Beemer totally agree,makes people do dodgy stuff.You hear about couples living in two homes.My cousin was caught up in similar circumstances,they hired a farmworker,he said am seperated,had great references,and worked well.He was going home on days off(30km away),his partner and kids stayed with him once a week.Turned out it was all ok,he was paying child support but she got benefit.Cousin was grilled by WINZ when they asked if they could get any employer subsidy if they wanted a worker.In the end they said stuff this,we'll just employ without going through them.