I work in this department at Medibank. The reason why some people at Medibank will say "we don't do these types of calls" is because we are an outsourced call centre, and most of the people aren't 100% sure what we do.

I know of at least two teams in the company that use this outbound number.

One is in relation to arrears, calling members who have missed a payment or have had a direct debit payment fail.

The second is a welcome call. They call to welcome you to Medibank, confirm anything that you may not be aware of, and ask any further questions, as well as ensuring things like portability forms and your rebate form have been handed in.

Yes, both departments do have to confirm details to speak about certain parts of your account.

If you are in arrears, and you do not want to do a security check, they are usually understanding. I'd recommend asking that they leave an interaction and then ask them for that interaction ID number. It will be between 6 and 8 digits.

If it is a welcome call, however, they are allowed to give you generic details without a sec check. They are NOT ALLOWED to mention the type of cover you have, prompt for an address, or give out any information, as it would be breaching privacy laws. All they need is three points of ID. if you do not want to give your address nor date of birth, you do not have to. You can offer a couple of other details.

It's definitely understandable to not want to give personal information over the phone, and they are mindful of that, and will seek alternative questions to make sure they get a successful call.

If you do have legitimate concerns about the authenticity of a call, feel free to ask the person on the line for:

* Their M number ( the letter M followed by 5 digits identifies them as a Medibank employee throughout Medibank).

* An interaction ID.

* their name.

Then, call 132 331 and give those details to the individual you speak to. They'll happily confirm that it was Medibank contacting you, providing the individual who made the call is doing their job as instructed.

Added note: the welcome team will tell you why they are calling, unless you have a hospital admission coming up, in which case they will tell you it is in regards to your membership, and they may even mention the term MiHealth. The arrears team, however, MUST be vague, because they are not permitted to let someone know a member is in arrears without doing a sec check.

If you do call this number back, there is a voice recording explaining Medibank has attempted to contact you, but it will not put you through to the department who called. Call 132 331 instead.

If you have an overseas cover, a student cover, or have already closed your membership, they are likely not to continue the call, as these are considered outdated or incorrect records, and they are trying not to bother you further. They should, however, apologise for the inconvenience.

As for people who don't have an account with Medibank, but still get the calls, it's really just an unfortunate case because it means the member they're trying to contact hasn't updated their details, or have given the wrong number on signup. :)

How can these people be stopped?
Myself and several other colleagues have been harassed by this, (03) 909 265 455 and other similar numbers in the past few weeks.
Each time I block the number a different number just calls the next day!

Fed up......Why can I not be left a message, is that not why we have a message bank.
I would have thought it polite to at least say who is calling

I want everyone to know I used to work for this horrible employer and what the staff do will shock you, staff snooping on policies, e-mailing deceases person's details to the entire call centre and grubby management, anyone who speaks up about this type of conduct is shafted, I took my business elsewhere it is one of the best decisions I made.

They ring and dont leave a message, what is the point of having a messagebank?
I bet there a foriegn outsourced centre to which i have no interest in talking to them!!! Thats all!!!!

wow, I don't know why they are calling me I don't have private health insurance with them. hopefully they give up soon

i have message bank yet they dont leave a message. some of us work and dont get to our phone until late but there are a million missed calls and no meassages. how are we meant to call back unless you leave a message!!!!

Yeh, bit weird.
I have a message bank yet, they only say "Hello?"
i am at work when they call so i am hesitant to call back in case its SPAM.

Why swear?

My premiums are paid quarterly and I received a call recently- every 15mins to be exact for 2 hours????
I called back and got a medibank message re products and services.
Invasion of privacy as when I filled in my membership about 12 yrs ago I ticked the box about no information etc being sent to me .
Even when I rang with a question about my membership 2 wks ago , I asked what ph number they have.
Surprise they have my landline only, but my mobile was rung.
Scam!

Imagine ringing someone and asking for personal details. I think it is very suspicious. WATCH OUT SCAM.
So you'd be happy if anyone claiming to be you could mess around with your account? with no security check or verification of details you've just made it real easy for them.
I'd be nervous if I rang my bank and they didn't perform some kind of security check but you apparently not.

ive got an call from this number and it was a legit call from medibank just checking that i had handed in my rebate form. thank god i answered otherwise i would be paying more so i happy to answer this anytime for their help

To all those people sayiong that it is Medibank private, its not. It is a scam ... Simple! I have never been with Medibank private in my lifetime and neither has anyone member of my family. So there is no way that they would have my number and no reason why they should call me. Plus, if it was medibank private, they would not ask for ANY of your details (including surname, dob, etc) as they are not allowed to do that over the phone.

Did not answer this missed call but I have recently signed up with medibank so I expect that this is legitimately a medibank call. Doesn't seem very suspicious to me and don't believe it would be sales related given I am already signed up.

5 calls - all hang ups not ringing them back - very sus - not medibank

I got 2 calls from this number today & when you pick up you can tell it's switching you through to an operator. I don't have an account with Medibank so it's obviously a selling call.

PS: I had plenty of credit & called thenumber back, the recorded message was very unprofessional. The woman sounded like she was from Boganville, gawd ya know???

i keep ignoring it, i receive mail notification and i have online access for medibank so i dont need to do anything over the phone.

I dont know what to think about this calls but they are really annoying. By June 20 sth, I started to receive calls from this number and when I answer the phone they just hang up couple of times, and missed many aswell.

After I don't know how many calls, they decided to talk to me and asked me about some personal information which were Date of birth and surname. I am an overseas student from latin America, therefore my my surname is not easy understood at once when I mention it; so I have to spell it out; but the person who was calling didnt even think about or asked me to spell it for her; she just started to talk and say that my last payment was received on the 11 of May 2011 and that I was uncovered on my premium membership which I dont have because I am an overseas student. Further more she said You can make the payment by the phone I just need you bank details. At this point (I have to say that by the time I received the call I was asleep) are you paying with your debit card and I genuinly said yes, is a debit card from savings account, then she asked me if it was a Master card or a visa Card, then I said to her is a debit card, it is not master or visa card... for what she replyed roughly saying that if it was a debit card has to be a Master or Visa card, that made suspicious and I sad to her, honestly I dont have that information with me at the moment and told her to call me later.
Obviously that woke me up and went straight to check mi Medibank card, which expiry date is on the 14 of January 2012.

Due to this call, I decided to go to a Medibank store and talk to them. They confirm me what I suspected, they DON'T make that sort of calls asking for card numbers on the phone. Thanks God she was roughly and made me supicious about the call and I DIDNT give them any details. They called me bak that day when I was at Medibank and I told her where I was and that I was sorting everything out, and I wasnt giving them any further information.

After that, they did stop calling me until the beginning of this week. When I missed the first call I logged on the internet and check the number on this website and I was very surprised when I found out it was them again, and missed couple of calls during the week.

Today the 21 July 2011, By 5 sth, I received the call and finally they decided to talk, and telling me again that I was uncovered, that my last payment was on the 14 of May bla bla bla, then she asked me again for the details, DOB, surname etc, which I just gave her the DOB and Surname, and I dont know what made her realize, and she said aaaa no ignore the call you are a student aren't you? she asked me, I said yes I am, Please Ignore the call, so, I said to her, hold on, I have received a call from this number before, asking me my card numbers etc, telling me I am uncovered and so on, and Im not uncovered, Im covered til the 14 of January 2012. Then she said It could have been a misunderstanding bcause is about your extras that are close of, if you want you can give me your card numbers. I in a high tone told her I am not giving any information you are not medibank ec etc.

Obviously after that I went to check my coverage on Medibank website and both the Extras and OSHC are active. I am going to a Medibank store to reconfirm that but I DO NOT BELIEVE, they are Medibank They are a big pain in the neck.

missed 2 calls from this number. find it weird that they dont leave a voicemail like most professional companies would. hard to decide from the rest of the comments if its a genuine call or not.

I havent been paying my monthly insurance premium with medibank private so that makes sense