"One thing, it's just going to take a while. These old girls, they've got old software. OK? It's just because that's what the government buys, they go for the cheapest software, that's why everything's crap, and that's why the government's so inefficient. LOL.

Don't quote me on that."

Jeremy, 'Nobody WINZ', 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH23qYXKo-s

#HatTip to @bigblen for the short film link. It's a bit surrealist, but it perfectly captures the Kafkaeque feeling of dealing with WINZ.

#WINZ #GovtIT

"One thing, it's just going to take a while. These old girls, they've got old software. OK? It's just because that's what the government buys, they go for the cheapest software, that's why everything's crap, and that's why the government's so inefficient. LOL.

Don't quote me on that."

Jeremy, 'Nobody WINZ', 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH23qYXKo-s

#HatTip to @bigblen for the short film link. It's a bit surrealist, but it perfectly captures the Kafkaeque feeling of dealing with WINZ.

#WINZ #GovtIT

Further through the looking glass of WINZ in 2025. After failing to get anyone to answer the phone so I could book a phone appointment, I girded my loins and tried to book an in-person appointment using MyMSD.

It took me through the full rigmarole of choosing a day and time and showing a confirmation dialogue (no address for the office I'm supposed to go to I note). But when I clicked 'Confirm', it said;

"Sorry, MyMSD is experiencing a problem. Please try again later."

(1/3)

#WINZ #MyMSD

This has gone beyond ridiculous. It's time to allow beneficiaries to select the social service agency we want to manage our case. Fully funded, independently of WINZ, and with the same access to MSD systems they have.

Or, as I've said before, wipe the steaming remains of WINZ from the face of the earth, hand over benefits payments to IRD ("reverse taxation"), and move work brokers etc back to an employment service with no responsibility for benefit payments.

#PolicyNZ #SocialWelfare #WINZ #IRD

I tried calling WINZ again today. This time the robot took me through the full rigmarole, including asking me for my client number, and botsplaining how websites work. It giving me every indication that someone would finally answer the phone. It really had me going.

Then, right after saying "let me hold while I transfer you", it read me the line about heavy call volumes, and hung up on me.

Pranked!

#WINZ

I tried calling WINZ again later in the day, and then I tried again just now. Same answer as the first time;

We're experiencing very high call volumes right now, and we can't answer your call.

So ... automate a callback, and hire some more fecking call centre staff FFS!

Also maybe get rid of all the pointless hoop-jumping that wastes staff time. Like making people reapply every 6 months for a benefit we obviously need, or your data-matching with IRD would have flagged fulltime income.

#WINZ

Now I have to book an appointment, so I can waste my time and that of a WINZ staff member, by going over all the same answers I just gave on the MyMSD form. But MyMSD can only book me an in-person appointment, despite the fact that I'm on a medical exemption for mental health reasons.

To get a phone appointment, I'll need to call the 0800 number and sit on the phone for an hour or 2. Waiting for a call centre worker to book me an appointment. Which they could let MyMSD do.

#WINZ #MyMSD

I'm so sick of the WINZ call centre putting me on hold, often for an hour or more. When they have the technology to automate a callback, when a staff member is ready to speak to me.

It's especially irritating when the reception bot asks me if I want a callback, and I say "yes" and it puts me on hold anyway. This has happened twice now. Why don't they just do this automatically whenever there isn't a human ready to answer the call FFS?

#WINZ