Smartsalary was appointed to the Government of South Australia salary packaging panel in 2008. During our four years of service, we were the fastest growing panel provider, and established a local presence across the state.
We were recently advised that the Government has elected to revert back to a sole provider.
As a follow-up to this announcement we sent a letter to our 3000+ customers – as part of the communication, we asked them to rate us on a scale of one to five. We were absolutely overwhelmed with the response we received, with 85% rating us a perfect five.
Attached are all of the comments our customers made.
Please note that we do not adopt the following comments as our own. We have edited some comments to remove the identity of other providers mentioned by respondents in the survey. The comments are otherwise reproduced in their entirety.
Government of South Australia Customer Feedback
Although to date we do not understand the reasoning behind the Government’s decision to move to a single provider, we are certain that it does not reflect the standard of service Smartsalary has provided over the last four years, as evidenced not only by these comments, but also by the growth in salary packaging uptake during that time.
The business continues to grow, with an absolute focus on being the easiest salary packaging provider to deal with.
We thank our Government of South Australia customers for their support – whatever the reasons for a change in the panel arrangement, at least we are heartened to learn that these have nothing to do with our service over these past four years.
For those wishing to voice their concerns over this decision, we have provided the following options:
1) Sign our online petition by clicking here
2) Write to The Premier or your local member of parliament urging them to take an interest in this matter. Please find a list of SA Government members here. Questions have already been raised in parliament by the Hon Robert Brokenshire MLC and the Hon Rob Lucas MLC into the tender process and their concerns over the outcome for Public Servants.
Below is a sample of comments made on our online petition. Click on the image to see the rest.
STOP RIPPING US OFF AND MAKING LIFE HARDER EVERYDAY..I WANT TO RETIRE HAPPY NOT SUCKED DRY OF MY SAVINGS
Whew, I was afraid that it was directed at us – thanks for clarifying with one of our team leaders. Any feedback as regards the decision by SA Gov can be directed to the petition, which you can find by clicking here.
I am new to salary packaging, since joining smart salary, i have had no problems , once the packaging was activated.Staff have been helpful, and efficient.
I have had no issues with smartsalary at all. From my point of view it is a well run company. I can’t understand why a Labor government would actively force business for an established company out? I am happy with the current arrangement and don’t see a need to change.
I am very disappointed. I have had no problems with Smart Salary and would like to have a choice. I haven’t even been advised what the fees are for Maxxia!..Having only 1 service provider can be a disastrous idea.
I have been very happy with Smartsalary and am very disappointed with the change. I am also disappointed that we have no choice whom we wish to have as a provider.
i have no issues with smart salary since joined with the company.would prefer to keep the same company as my provider.hope govt would consider our requests and do the needful.
Smart Salary have been the easiest company I have been with, been very happy with their service and the ease of using their card
dissapointed with the change i was quite happy with the current sacrificing, unsure why i had no right to choose both my super anuation group and my salary sacrifice group, are we going communist ? with no more free choice, and lack of transparency in government dealings ?
hmmm
Very satisfied with Smart Salary Does this decision to only have one provider constitute a monopoly ?
I have salary sacrificed for over 12 years now and was very happy with my provider (not Smart salary, sorry). I am furious that the Government can just dictate what I do wth my hard earned wages. When is it going to stop?
Buses, electricity, gas – the government has talked all about the importance of competition over the last 10 years. I just watched a TV ad where the SA Government is now bragging about introducing student choice to training, where students can now choose where they go to get training instead of going to TAFE.
Why then are they forcing their own employees to use a monopoly for salary sacrifice?? Especially without consulting with the people using the services.
Double standards much?