Australians clawed back $643 million last year, just by not giving up
New ombudsman data shows that when people push back against banks, insurers and telcos, they win. The only thing standing between most Australians and the money they’re owed is a letter they never send.
Write my letter →$0
refunds & compensation recovered in 2025
120%
increase in a single year
111,373
complaints, an all-time record
$0
total clawed back since 2018
That money didn’t come from goodwill. It came from people who refused to accept the first “no.”
The most common complaints weren’t even about the original problem, they were about delay, being misled, and being denied. The process itself is the obstacle, and most people give up before they ever see a cent. That’s not a glitch. That’s the design.
Reports to the consumer regulator about faulty products and refused refunds climbed past 38,000 last year, up 20%. In more than 3,000 of those cases, businesses were caught telling customers they had no right to a remedy at all, or shoving them off to the manufacturer to make it someone else’s problem.
“The system pays out when you push.”
The $643 million is only the money people fought for. The far larger figure, the refunds, repairs and compensation quietly abandoned because the process is exhausting by design, never gets counted. Because nobody measures the money you walk away from.
Every hold queue. Every “that’s our policy.” Every form that loops back to the start. It’s friction, and friction works: most people give up. That’s the business model.
ScrewTheMan exists to kill the friction.
We turn your complaint into a properly-worded demand letter that cites the actual law, the Australian Consumer Law, your consumer guarantees, the rules these companies are betting you’ll never read, in about two minutes. You don’t need a lawyer. You need the right letter, sent to the right place, quoting the right section.
Write my letter →Free to start · Built for Australians · No legalese required