Medibank to temporarily close stores in metropolitan Melbourne

Medibank will temporarily close 17 retail stores in Melbourne from close of business on Wednesday 8 July for a period of six weeks. This follows the decision to close three stores in hot spot postcodes last week.

The decision to close these stores follows the Victorian Premier’s stage 3 stay-at-home order announced yesterday as a result of an increase in COVID-19 cases. Stores located outside the restricted areas – in Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat – will remain open. The store in Albury remains closed for the time being.

Medibank Chief Customer Officer David Koczkar said that while employees and customers had welcomed being back in the store following the previous re-opening, closing stores in the impacted areas is necessary to protect their health and wellbeing.

“The increase in cases in Victoria is disappointing for everyone, and while we have enjoyed seeing our Melbourne customers face-to-face again, closing these stores is necessary to protect the health and wellbeing of our team, our customers and the communities we are part of.”

The team members who work at the impacted stores will be redeployed across other customer support channels, including our phone and digital network, which are currently being delivered remotely.

“I want to thank these teams for their incredible resilience in doing what we’ve asked of them over the past few months,” Mr Koczkar said.

“This is the second time they have transitioned from in-store to remote working, and we are so proud of how they have represented Medibank and helped our customers navigate through this challenging time.”

Medibank remains focused on providing customers with all the support they need, and can continue to call 132 331, log onto the My Medibank app or use 24/7 web chat via the website for any enquiries.

“We know our customers need us more than ever and we thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we get through this time together,” Mr Koczkar said.

Customers can visit the website or My Medibank app to check their local store hours. All re-opened stores across Australia maintain strict hygiene standards protect the health of team and all visitors. These include daily cleaning, sneeze guards in place at all desks, touchless hand sanitiser available at the entrance, and limits to the number of people in store at any one time.