Independence Australia

Till recently I don't recall hearing of Independence Australia and definitely never purchased from them yet I received a statement from them with $128.40 outstanding(private proof provided). I phoned and was told I purchased Ensure satchels, a product I don't use, but they couldn't provide proof of delivery. I asked if it's customary for them to… Read more

send out orders prior to receipt of payment and was told yes. Must be the only online seller that does that. Google reviews give them 5 stars yet on Product Review they have 2 stars. Makes one think how reliable are Google reviews

I have been buying essential nutritional Nestle branded products from IA for about two years. The web site can be a pain, it can show “in stock” delivery arrived minus stock, as obviously they were out of stock. I currently spend around $200 or… Read more

more per month and order the same drinks. My last order had the usual drinks but one particular variety was in new packaging - didn’t think much about it- upon refrigerating, shaking and opening a carton of this drink and having a sip- it was unpalatable, it tasted nothing like any of the hundreds cartons that I had drunk previously, I tried a second carton, it tasted the same bitter, medicine type yuck as the first one. Contacted Nestle who informed me they’ve changed production factories and their packing, they told me to contact IA, which I did outlining my concerns. I was advised by Cust rep at AI, I should be eligible for a refund. Well after a week’s worth of emails I got a curt message this am saying they don’t refund liquid nutritional products. So I’m out $66.72 cents because the drink is unpalatable. If the drink was the same taste as all the others I would have drunk and liked it, I wouldn’t be kicking up about it! If I didn’t like the drink I wouldn’t have reordered it! Consumer Affairs Vic is my next port of call!

10 out of 10. Reliable and prompt – I have been privately buying my supplies from Independence Australia for years. They are always prompt and reliable, not something that is easy to find these days. Being bedbound and crippled with spinal injuries and severe illness, my life is very hard. I am so grateful that I have always been able to depend upon them for the things I need.… Read more

People are all too ready to complain when things go wrong, but I think it is important to acknowledge something that is well done.

Help from Ojo – In a desperate situation regarding nappies Independence Australia customer service representative Ojo was absolutely fantastic and resolved my issues when a whole host of other people hadn't and didn't.l.mean,l wasn't ordering uranium, just a few packs of nappies,but, that's Australia.Thankyou very much Ojo.

Where are my products? – EDIT: The package was lost due to a delivery driver's ineptness. Independence Australia has sent replacements free of charge. Their communication has been excellent recently, and I do thank them for their customer service to solve this issue. I placed an order with Independence Australia 3 weeks ago. Their T&Cs state items will be shipped within… Read more

1-7 business days. I've had no communication, even after sending emails. All I want to know is where my items are; or if they do not have what I ordered, when they will; or if I can have a refund. I won't be ordering from here again due to the lack of any communication at all. You took my money and give me nothing, not even an explanation.

We have been a loyal customer for many years. Recently my mother fell ill and was hospitalised for quite a while. In the meantime we received an order at home and went to return it having paid $23 postage only for it be returned. It was, yes, past there 14 day return policy but it was unopened and hence, was brand new. No one knew it had been… Read more

delivered to her home. Now in Aged Care, she has no need for these products as they are unsuitable for her current needs.shame on you Independence Australia if this is how you treat your loyal customers.

This is a terrible company that takes advantage of customers. 2 orders were placed on my account via email by another customer. I’ve been sent goods with invoices and had to chase up IA through phone calls on their ridiculous call centre. I’ve had to deal with the problem & get the goods back to them. Fraudulent, sending anything under $200 worth of goods to people without payment & then invoicing customers, SCAMMERS!!!

Item was purchased online. Item was delivered and it was not the item advertised on their website. Returned item for them to supply correct item. Then informed they had made a mistake and item they had displayed online was incorrect. Item was nearly three times the price we paid and we could not afford to pay the difference. Independence Australia… Read more

refunded our money to us minus postage. This has infuriated me as we did not make the mistake - the company did - soon after they changed the item on the website to rectify their mistake. I am angry that they have forced us to pay postage on an item that was not according to the order we made. They should have honored the sale in my opinion but at the very least they should have refunded the whole amount but chose not to. THEIR MISTAKE!!!!! Not ours - yet we paid for THEIR MISTAKE!!!!

Be warned. This company took my money without first advising me they did not have my medication in stock. When I didn't receive the goods, I emailed them to find out what the problem was, and only then found out that they were advertising products which they didn't have in stock, and had placed the item on back order without letting me know there… Read more

would be a delay. I find this very unethical for a company providing a paramedical service. It's very misleading, and bad customer service. to advertise things for sale, which you don't actually possess...

I wish to convey my great displeasure with the customer service experience from IA. I am a repeat customer, albeit not a frequent one. When attempting to follow up on my order delivery by phone, as the tracking link proved to be useless, my experience with the CS person who called me back on 19/6 was a disgrace. The CS person was rude,… Read more

disparaging & condescending towards me. She told me the delivery contractor had failed in their delivery process, it was not the fault of IA & there was nothing IA could do to hasten the now estimated delivery of by 25/6.

When I complained that this was very poor service she then went on to tell me that IA received 3000 orders per day & how busy they were. She further then said that delivery would still be within IA’s delivery time frame policy? This was a local delivery from Prestons to Lane Cove.

The order was placed on the afternoon of 13/6 and I had received a delivery advisory email that it had been shipped from the Prestons warehouse on 17/6.

The delivery ultimately arrived on 20/6.

My extreme displeasure is about the way I was treated / spoken to by the CS person over the phone. It galls me to even use the term “customer service”. I shall not be ordering from IA again.

The worst painful experience placing an order, everytime without fail, with this company. Prepare to waste your day, waiting on hold. Hopeless. Loath everytime i need to place an order.

I have used this business for a few years. Originally they were excellent, the past 2 orders have items missing. The last order I was emailed confirmation and invoice. The email was undone along with the order number, making it impossible to claim the missing items. There was also no communication regarding delivery.

Absolute disgraceful service. If i could give no stars I Would!!! Placed order on 18/1/25, courier company loses the goods on the 23/1/25. I email and call, 3 times get told a replacement will be sent out. Then get email asking for my instructions after telling me said item is being sent premium delivery. I reply to state that fact and then it… Read more

doesn't arrive, I then request a refund and another couple emails arrive asking for my instructions. I then get an email saying that they called the number supplied and explained the goods were delivered on the 15/1/25. How can goods be delivered before they're even ordered. More emails and phone calls, I receive credit note for refund, but no $ into my account. I ask when the $ would be refunded into my account. No reply until the 4/3/25 stating the funds would be in my account 5 business days from the 25/2/25. Still no $ in my account. Lucky I kept records of all this and used paypal so I could claim, as no refund came. Paypal sided with me and refunded the full amount since Independence Australia didnt even reply to their requests for information regarding this matter.

They take your money easily, but make it damn hard to get it back when they stuff up.

Avoid at all cost!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S I also got an email on the 5/3/25 asking for a review of the support I got.

Terrible service- missing items- no notification of delivery – Beware that when you order it will say items are in stock. However you will only receive PART of your order. No explanation for when you will receive the missing items. It is a nightmare to get hold of them ( long wait on phone) only to be told " don't know why you didn't get them, they're in stock- should be delivered today". Indeed, the package… Read more

was on my front step but no email to let me know would be arriving today ( 1 week after original delivery) , and as I was out and don't enter house via front door, totally wasted an hour of my day calling them. Won't order again with them

Very poor – They have no physical shop and it is impossible to get through to them on the phone. Service has gone downhill over the years. Service is non existent, try elsewhere.

BAD MANAGEMENT – I have been ordering through Independence Australia for 3.5 years. I made a mistake and placed last order on line instead of with my account number. They have charged me tripple the price for my catheters which came to $562.50. Under my account it would be $171.00 - HUGE difference. When I advised them of the mistake and admitted it… Read more

was my error and advised them of my account number which by the way has the exact name address details, they have said they won't refund the difference because it was my fault. We are talking about a reverse refund which is very simple to do as I know being in business. The difference and profit they made from me is $391.50. Not bad profit for them. Robbery in my books. Wonder how many others have been court with the NO REFUND. I wish there was another supplier as I would be changing immediately. Will check out contacts.

Cannot follow instructions, website drop-outs every day – 1). Due to a disability, I request goods to be delivered to my home, not dumped at the local post office, which involves a very painful 2km return walk. Not good enough for a company that offers to the door delivery! 2). I have raised the issue of drop-outs during the ordering process several times now and all I get is another customer… Read more

satisfaction review. I search for a particular item, and as soon as I select that item (clicking on it), it drops off and I have to start all over again, sometimes even taking 5-6 attempts before the item can be added to your checkout. 3). If you can no longer source a product, let your customers know otherwise time is wasted hoping the product is in stock again. Simple honesty goes a long way.

No responses to return faulty product – So far it’s been 9 days since one of a pair of compression socks developed developed a hole after one day of wear. No response to emails, calls ring out on hold while they feed you advertising. Taking advantage of people here. Avoid. To anyone purchasing use a credit card to protect yourself and leverage charge backs to get your money back.

Thieves – Don't try and return a purchase - they give you poor instructions, charge a ridiculous amount to return and then won't refund your money. I lost my $117.00 and then they had the audacity to send me an invoice for $27.50 to return 3 items. Originally they sent my purchase in 2 deliveries and want to charge for 2 returns even though it was one pickup.

SHAME – Once upon a time efficient phone service now SLOW as a wet week. Today 1 hour 4 seconds to place an order. Last week I was travelling to Perth and on the phone waiting for 51 minutes before my phone dropped out. Even Centrelink are faster. My 1 Star is for Startrack for quick delivery. So sad to seethe demise of what was a very efficient company.

Long time waiting phone to answer – Every time I call, I wait for a very long time for customer service to answer the phone,... Big company but must have only one telephone,. Online internet we store, very slow. Ridiculous. Must be difficult for a person with a disability or elderly person to be waiting for customer service to answer the phone.

Poor after sale commumication – I ordered some compression socks for my mum- size large, I then realised that they were not right for her as her swelling in her legs means they are too small and I sent them an email immediately aslking for the oreder to be altered to a more suitable product. I had no reply to my request and the (wrong) socks arrived. My mother opened them (so we… Read more

cant return them) and they were worse quality and more expensive than the ones I got from the local chemist. Our experience was disappointing.

Communication – The time taken to reach a representative is horrendous.....should your call drop out no one returns to you - you start again. Hopeless, frustrating and a terrible waste of time. With articles that are to be retuned with Star one is given a selected whole day to have to wait and ensure a signature. For those of us who care for profoundly… Read more

disabled we can manage a time slots but not a day. The amount of business that is going through for NDIS and others, INDEPENDENCE AUSTRALIA can and should do better.

When am I going to learn not to deal with Independence – Just received catheters on the 31-01-23 with an expiry date of 01-02-23. In case your not good at maths, that's 1 day Feb 14. They have just refunded me for the expired catheters. So maybe I should have given them 2 stars.

Applied for job – Did work there & within 3 months left as it was toxic. I've been in warehousing since 1996. Never seen warehouse isles & shelving labeled like that before, so poorly organised. Machine operators on high reach, incompetent & dangerous.

Not sure if they know how to treat prospective employees – I applied for this position working in their warehouse. HR contacted me via the mobile phone and asked me to come for an interview. I felt 'odd' when I had to remind him to email the interview's details such as location, time, etc. When I finally turned up on the day, the team leader indicated he would progress my application. However, I did… Read more

not hear from anyone even though I contacted HR team to get the application status. When they got back to me, they txt 'Can you work next Monday?' I say 'Yes'. Then nothing happened after that. Are you that disorganized? Are you an honest organization? I am sorry I got bad vibes, and I don't think I will apply for jobs in your organization ever again.

I can't believe all the positive reviews – Where to start ??? Logged into "myaccount" ... recent order not recorded. Received "Freight Despatch Notification" that "goods have just been despatched" Courier has not received parcel. Cannot contact company. Phoning is a waste of time. Nobody ever answers. CANNOT RECOMMEND. People who rate this company positive must surely mean another company.

Perfect supplier – I can't speak highly enough of independence Australia. Simple to order online, even if NDIS managed. ALWAYS receive order within 2 business days if ordering ! Unheard of compared to other providers..

They don`t care about you – I recently complained to their Customer Service when placing an order. My complaint was to advise them that the catheter drainage bags that were supplied were leaking. About 1 in 3 had leaked overnight. Not a word from them about the problem, just told me not to send too many emails. I also asked that they phone me, not a word. You only get to talk to a machine.

Zero after sales service – Ordered from this company online. Received the wrong product. Unable to contact them by phone on their 1300 number, by online enquiry, or by direct email to their customer service. Will never order from them again.

Don't Go There - Customer Service Is Non Existent – No wonder the NDIS is in trouble with suppliers like Independence Australia. My husband who has a diabetic ulcer on his leg needed Mesalt Dressing for the treatment protocol. Independence Australia web store listed Metsalt Dressing Ribbon as “IN STOCK” so the order and payment was made 11.25 am 18/5/2022 an order confirmation was received.… Read more

Expecting delivery in 2-3 days. However, as at 23/5/2022 no further delivery communication on delivery so decided to call the Customer Service. This is where I ran into a real problem – Delivery was 2-10 working days. I was dumbfounded – there was no mention of this delay on the ordering section of their webstore. I was naturally disturbed, became quite annoyed, especially when I was informed that after placing the order, I should have scrolled down to FAQ to find out what their delivery terms were. So, I did so and found what I thought should be the answer. Quoted directly from their webstore site. “Delivery We understand your time is important, which is why we use our nationwide network to ensure your order is delivered to your door as soon as possible. How long will it take for my order to arrive? Independence Australia can deliver products to your door step Australia wide. Once you have placed your order it will be dispatched within 24 hours if the product is in stock*. From the date of your order, you can expect the following estimated delivery times for products that are in stock: For metro locations, approximately 1-2 working days; and For regional locations, approximately 2-5 working days If you haven't received your order within the above timeframe, it may be on back order (ie. out of stock). For approximate delivery timeframes for products on back order, please contact our Customer Service team on 1300 788 855 or via email customerservice@iagroup.org.au. * If an order is placed on a weekend, it will be processed the next business day. Do you have set delivery times? No, as delivery companies are third party contractors, we generally have no control on delivery times. These companies will service your area up to 4 times per day.” NOT SO – this is not the FAQ I needed so followed the further instructions to find the correct delivery information and found thus again quoted directly from their webstore site: “Independence Australia can deliver products to your doorstep, Australia wide. Once you have placed your order it will be dispatched within 24 hours if the product is in stock*. From the date of your order, you can expect the following estimated delivery times for products that are in stock: Due to current delays related to COVID19, deliveries may take two weeks to arrive with you. Our standard delivery timeframes are: For metro locations, approximately 1-6 working days; and For regional locations, approximately 2-10 working days. You can also find your shipping tracking number by signing into your online account, navigating to 'Web Orders', clicking on the order number you wish to see shipping information for and clicking on the consignment/tracking number on the top righthand corner of the page.” One would assume that considering I live in Brisbane Metro area 1-6 working days could be taken as the norm – but not so I now have a delivery date of 1/6/2022 – 11 days from date of order, or course its all COVIDS fault not poor customer service. At this information I decided to cancel the order asked for a refund – to which I was informed that I had to wait until I received the product then return it and they would then start a refund process. I became extremely angry and said they were useless to which the customer service representative asked if there was anything else she could help with – my response “you haven’t helped with anything so no thanks and good bye.

No delivery no customer service – order of catheter equipment after 14 days not received. called independence 30min hold x2 no one can assist. called Aramex couriers, fastway emailed no reponse!! Debited credit card and cannot advise where or how long it will be until delivered do not recommend do not purchase from them