SMC questions SCA's 'mystery caller' report

The Super Members Council (SMC) has raised questions on the research methodology of the recently published Superannuation Call Centre Experience Report by Super Consumers Australia (SCA).

The data within the report was based on 1000 customer telephone enquiries, or 50 'mystery shopping' calls to 20 super funds between 7 August to 15 October 2025.

This study examined how frontline service providers engaged with three customer enquiry scenarios: prospective customers (40% of calls), culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) customers (30% of calls), and customers experiencing vulnerability (30% of calls).

An SMC spokesperson noted: "The research methodology has limitations. It excluded the full spectrum of service channels that customers typically use, being limited to the telephone."

By design, in no conversation was identity verification completed, or account specific information discussed, SCA noted in the report.

"Testers were not actually fund members, which means the calls did not progress beyond the member verification process - a critical first step for super fund call centres given the growing risks of fraud and scams," SMC spokesperson added.

"Real super fund members expect their funds to take identity security very seriously, and they know that funds must do appropriate identification checks with callers before having in depth discussions."

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) chief executive Mary Delahunty noted while SCA has provided some helpful information about where super funds can improve, it's important to note the experience of mystery shoppers is not same as that of actual fund members.

"Keeping members' funds and data safe from fraud is the highest priority, so funds ask rigorous identity confirmation questions which mystery shoppers will find frustrating, as they cannot successfully make their way through the member verification process," Delahunty said.

SCA chief executive Xavier O'Halloran noted prospective customers accounted for 40% of the calls and did not have to go through the verification process.

"They still perform poorly when they tested those people," O'Halloran said.

The other two scenarios of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) customers and customers experiencing vulnerability which accounted for the rest of the calls, O'Halloran said the research factored in they would need to go through the identity checks.

"What we were testing them on is what occurred in the conversation before that identity document test. So, for example, we tested someone who was in financial hardship, had lost a family member and was inquiring about getting their superannuation out," O'Halloran said.

"What we were looking for is basically for them to act like a human to say things like, 'I'm sorry for your loss, here's the process, here's what you'll need to do,' and show a bit of empathy and compassion as part of the conversation. They didn't do that. They performed really poorly on that."

While no fund achieved a customer experience score in the 'green zone' of 80% or higher, AustralianSuper and Team Super were pulled out specifically for struggling to answer the phone.

"Two funds - AustralianSuper and Team Super - answered so few of their calls, their performance was not able to be assessed in a reliable way. Calls to AustralianSuper connected only 10% of the time and calls to Team Super connected 52% of the time within 15 minutes," SCA's report read.

"Calls were made randomly at various times during the business day over a ten-week period. Long wait times compared with other funds over a nearly three-month period amounts to a systemic failure to manage normal call volumes rather than simply a busy period. Three months is a long time for people not to be able to call their fund or access their money."

AustralianSuper, however, noted the survey was taken a year ago when it was transitioning to a new call centre provider.

"Our customer satisfactions scores right now are the highest they've ever been, and our average speed of answer is less than 2 minutes," AustralianSuper spokesperson said.

"We are extremely happy with how the team is performing for members. At the time of the transition, members who contacted us across our channels were advised of delays and given advice on other ways they could resolve their queries."

Team Super declined Financial Standard's request for a comment.

The report found while two-fifths of the super funds in the pilot study insourced their call contact centre operations, the rest had it outsourced. AustralianSuper outsources its call centre services.

Care Super, which was one of the best performing super fund with a 96% call answer rate and a score of 54.7%, has two in-house contact centres based in Melbourne and Hobart.

"We know CareSuper members value responsive and personalised support. Our in-house service model helps us stay close to our members, and we continue to invest in our people, technology and service capabilities so members can access help when they need it," Care Super chief executive Jason Murray said.

Both SMC and AustralianSuper backed the government's commitment to enact mandatory service standards.

"AustralianSuper has consistently and strongly supported the introduction of mandatory service standards across the industry. Members deserve great service from all funds," AustralianSuper spokesperson said.

SMC added: "We know that funds have made very significant investments in recent years to uplift service standards, and we can see that work starting to translate into higher rates of customer service satisfaction and fewer complaints, but there is always more to do."