Australian Ethical Super

Australian Ethical have been extremely helpful - and have performed very well- for as long as I've been a superannuation customer. Given what they do for society, and the environment, i find fantastic, and it makes me feel like they are more than 'just' a manager of my funds. David - Springwood Show reply

Great investment for the ethical investor who can have confidence in the criteria of sustainable, ethical and environmentally friendly investing. The communication is also good to explain choices and to explain the process. Show reply

I joined Ethical Super as did my son because this organisation leaves the gentlest footprint on our planet, it does not engage with investing in harm to animals, the planet, military and tobacco to name but a few. Staff are all kind, friendly and very helpful Show reply

Set up for fraud. Withdrawals allowed with invalid id.only a health care card needed? That’s against the law and doesn’t meet super withdrawal identity checks for withdrawals/ my name is Kylie and I will propably get murdered for my super money as victim. Of fraud

If I could give them zero stars, I would. Their online login system has been designed by a team of incompetents. I haven't been able to check my account balance for months, trying to log in is like navigating a labyrinth—multiple stages and codes that are just bloody frustrating, especially when I think I'm almost in, and I get hit with the "your… Read more

member number and date of birth do not match our records" message. What records are you keeping? How is my birth day wrong? And I've copied the member number from your emails!! Do I even still have an account, or have you siphoned off my dismal balance with your excessive fees? I miss Australian Super and regret leaving them.

Had a terrible experience with withdrawing super due to financial hardship recently due to incompetent staff and lack of communication between ‘teams’. Even the people I got on the phones in the 10 times I called to follow things up said it shouldn’t have happened and wasn’t right of them to ask what they did which delayed and delayed the release… Read more

and caused me massive amounts of stress adding to what I already had going on. What a disappointments I chose this co for its ethics and then suffered at their incompetence.

As a Western Australian with an understanding of the role of mining in our economy, I am very proud that my long term super fund - Australian Ethical Super - has not invested in Fortescue (aka FMG), which has operated a large, destructive iron ore mine on Yindjibarndi native title country in norther-west WA's Pilbara region since 2012 with no… Read more

agreement whatsoever with the Yindjibarndi people.

In my view, it doesn't matter how good you are at saving the environment (or how much you say that you are), you are not supporting a sustainable future if you ignore the autonomy and voices of the first peoples of this country, most of whom are still facing extreme social-economic disadvantage, including in the regions where mining wealth is made.

While other Pilbara iron ore miners pay native title holders a royalty of around 0.5% of FOB revenue generated by mines on their country, FMG offered the Yindjibarndi a capped rate of $4 million a year, for a mine covering around 100sqm of their native title that generates AU$5-7 billion annually and has completely destroyed 124 of their cultural sites, damaged another 116 sites (sites estimated by FMG's archaeologists to be at least over 40,000 years old) and destroyed sacred water ways.

The Federal Court recently upheld the Yindjibarndi's compensation case against FMG, but the matter remains unresolved, and FMG remains a highly unethical investment, until the company makes a fair and respectful agreement with Yindjibarndi.

Thanks again, Australian Ethical Super, for steering clear of this company, and for having some backbone and discernment regarding what "ethical investment'" means.

Avir was so helpful and went out of his way to follow up personally, this ment the world to me as my case was unusual and not common thank you Australian ethical

I have found the staff of AE very helpful when I ring up to make enquiries and ask for assistance. I needed to access the new Portal and also wanted to make a partial withdrawal from my Super. I was in Christian Super and I loved it. I was very happy with CS. So far I have been happy with AE. I want my Super to be invested ethically in companies… Read more

that align with my Christian values. However, I am very sceptical of investing in climate change and renewable energy.

Australian Ethical was our choice as we want to be part of the solution rather than the problem. Dealing with the team has been a joy! They are polite, efficient and really know their stuff! Always upbeat and a pleasure to deal with. Show reply

The team at Australian Ethical Super have been nothing but courteous and kind and ready to reply to any of my queries. Thank you team for those personal touches you've passed on to me over the years. Now as an old one, it matters to be dealt with in this way. cheers.. Show reply

Experienced difficulties in logging into my Super/Pension account last week. So grateful that Sam & Hassan had been very patient & caring in helping me through it step by step in addition to other queries. Congratulations for such a good team of professional staff & proud of you all with God's blessings! pt Show reply

Avoid: Red-tape galore and blaming clients for all problems – TL/DR: Red-tape is so strong that it was easier and faster to create a new account with another fund than fixing a typo in my date of birth I applied to Australian Ethical Super on October 25th. They told me it would take some time because they were "currently in the process of moving to a new superannuation administration provider", and that my… Read more

"super account won’t be finalised until mid-October when this process is complete.". Even though they were already late by that point (I submitted after "mid-October"), no problem at all. Eventually, although weeks later than initially announced, on November 22nd, I received the confirmation that I was approved and could activate my account by logging online.

When trying to do just that, I couldn't. I called the support team, and we realised that my data of birth was wrong in their system. When asked to correct it, I got told I had to submit a notarised copy of my ID because of the "stringent KYC/AML process and regulations" they had to follow.

A few problems: 1) They blamed the mistake on me, of course. But what is more likely? I have a good idea what my DOB is, and never happened before. Or, an error occurred during their transition to a new provider, with new processes, new systems and probably rushing to try to catch up on their significant backlog (based on their own information). 2) If I had entered the wrong date, their "stringent KYC/AML process" should have easily picked this up. So again, either they didn't follow their "stringent KYC/AML process", or a mistake was made during the transition process (see point 1)) 3) They didn't ask for a notarised copy when creating the account, so why do so when correcting an obvious mistake? 4) They have a copy of my ID documents that were good enough to create the account, so why aren't they good enough to correct the type?

I tried to escalate the problem but could not get through to any manager. I suspect that the person I was dealing with this knew that mistakes were made and tried to bury it (and successfully did).

KYC/AML process and regulations are essential. But this has nothing to do with those. This is simply a lack of willingness to recognise mistakes, offer basic apologies, mixed with a ridiculous amount of red-tape and a gross lack of pragmatism.

It really saddens me because I share their ethos. But this proved to me that don't live by these values.

Absolutely not recommended.

Ethical by name - not by Nature – I have applied to withdraw my Superannuation from Australian Ethical Super to put into my SMSF. I applied through the ATO at the same time as my husband who was with HESTA. His application took 2 weeks, his funds were withdrawn from HESTA and transferred to the SMSF - no problems. Here I am 3 MONTHS later waiting for Australian Ethical to perform… Read more

this same action.

These are the excuses they have given thus far: 1. We did not receive the ATO paperwork (it clearly says on the ATO that they have) 2. You need to fill out these forms 3. Oh, did we neglect to mention that some of these need a wet signature? 4. The Bank Details provided which clearly showed my SMSF did not have my personal name on it - I must admit it seems strange that a superannuation fund doesn't understand how a SMSF is incorporated. In general I am waiting ~3 hours on the phone for one of their ineffective 'service' staff to give me the latest excuse

All of this just came across as speed bumps. They can, could and should release these funds immediately, that would be the ETHICAL thing to do. HESTA apparently managed within 10 business days. Instead it just feels like they are trying to keep MY money in THEIR accounts as long as they can.

If this is how Australian ETHICAL Superannuation functions for something as simple as a funds transferal then I would say there are too many red flags for you to trust your future with them.

My next step is ACFA.

Avoid at all costs – Completely unethical. I have been going back and forward between this super company and the company I attempted to roll my balance to- have lost my entire super balance in the process and remain in super purgatory 2 months on. I have filed complaints against both super companies and with AFCA. Today I received a call from Australian Ethical,… Read more

asking me to call them back and saying "HIi [wrong name]". Called them back and they have no record of the call, despite it being the correct return phone number left etc, so not likely to be a scammer. How can you claim to be ethical, when you treat your customers like this? I have spent at least 10 hours on the phone with no resolution.

Australian Ethical Super is the best – Australian Ethical Super is the best, for the planet and for its customers. Always lovely helpful people if you have any queries. Can not recommend them highly enough Show reply

bad customer service – I moved to this fund years ago because I didn't want my money to be invested in coal, oil etc. Now, however, that I'm eligible to a transition to retirement income stream (so money out more than in), It's been 2 months and my application still hasn't been actioned. So it seems it's hard to get my money back from this less-than-ethical outlet. I… Read more

tried to cancel this application to be able to move to another fund, they haven't done it either. They won't give me a slightest idea when it is going to be processed so they are basically holding on to my money for as long as they want! Their fees are among the highest!

Here I quote their standard response to my complaints:"Your feedback has been passed on to the relevant team and the complaint has been closed." So handballing the complaint is good enough for them to close it off! I advised my daughter to choose this fund now I'm going to advise her to switch to somewhere else.

IT TOOK THIS COMPANY TWO MONTHS TO GIVE ME A MEMBERSHIP NUMBER !!!! – IT TOOK THIS COMPANY TWO MONTHS TO GIVE ME A MEMBERSHIP NUMBER !!!! This company is for sure a scam. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. I approached them, because their reviews rating is so high THAT IS OBVIOUSLY A MISTAKE. They took 2 months to answer my emails. If you call them, you wait hours on the phone, then you talk to foreigners, who cannot… Read more

speak one word English. Now I have a membership number eventually. But I want to do ZERO BUSINESS WITH THEM. STAY AWAY !!!!

Belligerent, arrogant, dismissive and belittling customer service – Mark from Australian Ethical Super customer service was anything but ethical. He is belligerent, arrogant, dismissive and belittling when I had the misfortune to speak to him to sort out a major stuff up done to me by Australian Ethical. His refusal to acknowledge the fact with no empathy resulted in me closing this account immediately!

Australian Ethical lets me relax about how my money is invested as it shares my values – I moved all my superannuation across to Australian Ethical a few years ago from another fund because the other fund was not investing my money in a way which would help me sleep at night. I know that AE invests only in companies which share my values and none of the ones whose direction is not in keeping with my values. I like the way AE… Read more ·  1

explains how things work, how they invest, why they invest the way they do and how proactive they are either in new investments or ditching those companies who are not in line with the stated principles of AE. I find them to be a highly principled company.

Everything is simply explained, even for somebody not used to the complexities of superannuation like me. And our shared values have paid off with good returns. I have no doubts at all about having moved my funds to Australian Ethical.

Negative experience – I am writing to express my disappointment with the customer service experience I have had with Australian Un-Ethical Super. As a member, I expected a certain level of support and responsiveness, especially when it comes to managing my finances and retirement savings. Unfortunately, my experience has fallen far short of those expectations. Lack of… Read more

Communication

I submitted a withdrawal request on early September, and despite the promised processing time of four businees days confirmed by CS staff member, my request is still pending ( almost four weeks later ). I understand that these processes can take time, but the complete lack of communication from the fund is unacceptable. I have reached out multiple times via phone and email, only to be met with long wait times and vague responses that provide no clarity on the status of my request.

Unresponsive Customer Support

The customer service team seems overwhelmed and unprepared to handle inquiries effectively. On several occasions, I was put on hold for extended periods, only to be transferred to representatives who were unable to provide any concrete information. It’s incredibly frustrating to feel like my concerns are not being taken seriously or prioritized.

No Feedback or Updates

What’s particularly disheartening is the absence of proactive communication regarding my pending withdrawal. A simple update or acknowledgment would go a long way in alleviating my concerns. Instead, I am left in the dark, wondering if my funds will ever be released or if there’s an issue that I’m unaware of.

Extremely poor returns

Over a period of almost two years overall return do not exceed 3%

Conclusion

In conclusion, my experience with AES has been marked by poor customer service and a lack of responsiveness regarding my withdrawal request. As a member, I expect better communication and support during such crucial financial transactions. Until these issues are addressed, I cannot recommend this superannuation fund to others seeking reliable service and support for their retirement needs. I will be leaving this company asap.

Great returns, great ethics – Just switched over to Australian Ethical after their prompt response to my enquiries about investment in companies that operate in Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank. They were prompt in their reply, fully transparent and have made the decision to boycott companies like booking dot com and Airbnb due to their offering of services that profit from stolen land in the west bank. Plus their returns are some of the best in the business! Show reply

Great customer service – This Super Fund has really great customer service. They are contactable by phone and a real human is on the other end to answer questions and help in whatever way is needed. Every time I've phoned the waiting time has been approximately 3 minutes - maybe less. These people have been patient, kind and helpful. Show reply

Super friendly and helpful operator – Sorry I accidently hung up on your survey. So I'll do one here. Super friendly and helpful, answered all of my questions, highly recommend. Show reply

Wonderful! – Hello! On Thursday, First of August (about 3.40pm) I contacted your agent Tommy in regard to a log in problem in regard to employer payments. Unfortunately, I accidentally hung up the phone before I could give my customer feedback. I would now like to do this. Firstly, I am generally considered to be low skill when it come to IT. Although I had… Read more ·  2

not mentioned this to Tommy. So I was very very grateful for the patient, cheerful and helpful response I had. Tommy took me through the several steps needed with good humour and grace. This was wonderful as often the reactions are sullen and there are, what seems to be unnecessary, delays. Tommy also volunteered additional information that was useful and at all times fully informed of the process. What, for me, can be a fraught process was frankly quite pleasant and reassuring.

So I would again like to thank Tommy for the help provided!

Best regards

Ethics – Following my request for information regarding whether there are any AE investments in the illegally occupied territories of the Palestinian West Bank I have now been informed that AE have recently divested their holdings from Airbnb. I applaud this decision, this is the reason I have invested my superannuation in an ethical fund. We’ll done Australian Ethical Show details ·  1

Superannuation account holders with ethical intentions beware – Australian Ethical Superannuation in my opinion are deliberately obtrusive and have no intention to provide any meaningful level of customer service. I had my superannuation with AES for nearly 20 years and at the time was proud to be a member because I thought I was doing something good for the environment. I tried to make a simple request to… Read more

make me partner a binding beneficiary and the process took almost 2 months. During that time I had to put up with the most customer unfriendly staff I have ever come to encounter. I was extremely dissatisfied with their lack of willingness to meaningfully commnunicate and apparently deliberate attempts to obfuscate and meaningful dialogue. They lost a customer and I will never return. There are more ethical and conscientious funds out there. The returns on my money were also poor and anything that was earned was reduced by excessive fees that are by no means competitive. Do you research and take you super elsewhere

A super fund that lives up to its name – Very pleased with this fund so far and easily the most ethical I've come across in Australia in terms of social and environmental issues. Show reply