The scandal threatening to engulf Australia’s superannuation industry has spread to another major operator, Australian Ethical, which has apologised for taking almost a year to process a widow’s application to access her dead husband’s retirement savings.
John Street was a member of the ethically branded fund until he died at home in Tasmania in February last year after becoming one of the first people to access euthanasia under the state’s voluntary assisted dying laws.
His wife, Mary-Cate Pickett, notified Australian Ethical of her husband’s death via her lawyer the following month.
But despite her being the sole beneficiary of Mr Street’s super balance, the fund took until February this year to transfer the funds to her.
“It was exhausting. It was very, very stressful,” she said.
“I believe that it’s had an impact on my health long term because of the ongoing stress that I had and the feelings of powerlessness that I had as a result of my interactions with them.”
Australian Ethical, which manages almost $13 billion on behalf of more than 130,000 customers, has apologised to Ms Pickett for what it described as “appalling service” throughout the processing of her claim.
“We fully acknowledge that there were several points of failure to provide the level of service that one could reasonably expect,” it told her in a letter following an internal investigation into her case earlier this year.
“Throughout our investigation, we have recognised periods of unnecessary delay, poor communication, and procedural failure.”
In a statement, Australian Ethical said following Ms Pickett’s case it had sought “appropriate and immediate change to our claims and complaints handling”.
“We would like to reiterate our wholehearted apology for the service Ms Pickett experienced throughout the process of claiming her late husband’s account,” the statement said.
“From the beginning of September 2024 all insurance claims and complaints are now handled by our dedicated in-house team.
“We continue to work to reduce the time taken to finalise all claims with the goal of resolving all claims within 90 days.”
Ms Pickett said her husband was a passionate environmentalist and picked Australian Ethical because it promised to invest his super sustainably.
But she believes he would be appalled by how it acted following his death.
“He was always so supportive and loving to me,” she said.
“If he knew what I went through he would have been so cross and angry that a company that he believed he was putting money into to do good could treat me as badly as they did.”
Like many super funds, Australian Ethical outsources parts of its customer administration to third-party operators.
At the time of Ms Pickett’s claim, it had a contract with financial services company Mercer.
Ms Pickett said she had no idea she was dealing with a separate company until she received an email about her application from a claims manager with a Mercer email signature.
“I think it should be done in-house, and if it’s not done in-house then it should be done with a company with a similar level of standards,” she said.
“And there should be better communication between Australian Ethical and whoever is doing their administration.”
� 2020 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
ABC Content Disclaimer
