Countrywide Austral Reviews 

Like many others, I wish I could give less than one star.
I unfortunately clicked the "I agree" button when on the phone to these scumbags. Once I got off the phone I looked up the company and found the 1 star reviews.
This company never did any marketing for my business and 3 years later they still have their debt collector chasing me for money. I will never pay a cent.
Unfortunately most people who fall for this rubbish won't realise it's a scam until it's too late.

This was, hands down, one of the most infuriating and disrespectful experiences I've had as a small business owner and dealing with Countrywide Austral has been appalling.

It started with an unsolicited cold call dressed up as "supporting SES volunteers." It ended with me being chased for $550 over an ad I never clearly agreed to, based on a conversation I was manipulated into treating as a friendly chat about community support, not a binding financial commitment.

When I pushed back, Countrywide Austral didn't come clean. They handed me a cherry-picked 16-second clip of the call and refused, again and again, to produce the full recording. I asked for the actual record of what I supposedly clicked "I Agree" to. Never got it and this went on for weeks and caused me so much unnecessary stress and anxiety.

That's the part that actually disgusts me. If you're going to insist a small business owner is legally on the hook for $550, show your work and provide the contract I allegedly agreed to. Instead I got stonewalled, told they were "satisfied" with what they already had, and left to do all the chasing myself.

The way the sale was handled was deceptive, misleading and completely unethical. The conversation was presented to me in a way that felt heavily focused on supporting SES volunteers, not like a straightforward commercial sales process where it was made unmistakably clear that I was entering a binding $550 advertising agreement. The electronic “I Agree” step was also framed around confirming or showing support rather than being clearly explained as the point at which I was supposedly locking myself into a financial commitment.

This wasn't a business transaction gone wrong. It felt like being worn down on purpose until paying was easier than fighting. And it worked, partially. I paid $275 in the end, not because I accepted their version of events, but because I was done. I got it in writing that this closes the account permanently before I sent a cent.

What is even more disturbing is what I've found after researching the company and frankly, I don’t know how they are still allowed to operate. There are hundreds of other small business owners online describing near-identical experiences. I can't vouch for every detail in those accounts, but the pattern speaks for itself.

I run a small business. I don't have time to be fighting a publishing company over an ad I never wanted, digging through consumer law, and negotiating a settlement just because I picked up the phone one afternoon.

Avoid. If they call you, hang up. If you've already agreed to anything, get everything in writing and don't trust a word said on the phone.

I regret ever answering that call.

This company is a total scam who pray on unsuspecting small businesses and good people. They lie saying they are collecting donations for volunteer groups like the SES, I later found out that the SES have no affiliation with this company and not one cent goes to the community its group. I paid $550 to these scumbags, they said they would support my business and publish advertising for my donation which in fact they NEVER collected any info from me relating to my business. DO NOT BUY INTO THIS

Just a bs, scam and rip off pretend business..
How the heck they keep going is just sad

This review was removed because I used the name of the staff member who called trying to gaslight and harrass me into changing my original review despite me still having all the original messages, emails and the dispute outcome from paypal. So I have replaced their name with something suitable.

My previous review was 2 years ago and today I get the pleasure of writing another thanks to HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED from countrywide Austral.

Two years ago after refusing to refund me I had to dispute the charge through PayPal. PayPal found in my favour and got me my money back. I then got a bunch of harassing phone calls that lasted until I threatened to get the police involved.

Now it is 2026 and they decided to falsely try to report my review to Trustpilot as defamation (it seems they are trying the same with other peoples reviews too).
When that failed, they used Trustpilots verification system to get my phone number so HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED could call me, try to make out I was lying, tried to say they did give me a refund and tried to say their magazines are at police stations. In the 2 YEARS since our last interaction I have been in multiple police stations and I have seen this magical magazine exactly zero times. They did not give me a refund, PayPal did.

HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED if you are reading this, I am glad I got so mad on the call that I swore at you in the end. How dare you use a rating pages verification system to try and bully and harass people that your company tried to scam. You should be ashamed of yourself. And I will be going back to police community liaison officer and letting them know.

To anyone reading this, they are a scam, their debt collectors are fake, you can get your money back, but preferably avoid at all costs because apparently even 2 years later they can't let it go when they lose.

I have also been back to the police, still no affiliation with this company and no magazines. Im sure they will continue to report posts but I am blessed with the time to make as many changes as necessary for my reviews to remain. They are currently disputing the amount I said they tried to scam out of me on my other review as "personal identifying information".

We are a small locally owned business and have now agreed twice to advertising through Countrywide Austral for the SES Yearbook. Both times we were contacted by phone and agreed because we genuinely wanted to support the SES and the work they do.

Unfortunately, after actually seeing what we received for our advertising spend, we won't be supporting Countrywide Austral again.

It took approximately three months for us to receive a copy of the Yearbook. When it arrived, the Yearbook itself appeared to have already been professionally printed, while the advertisements from ourselves and other businesses were on what appeared to be an additional A4 printed insert placed into the centre of the book.

This was extremely disappointing and wasn't what we had envisaged when agreeing to pay for advertising in a "Yearbook".

We have also never seen this publication distributed anywhere in our local community and had never heard of it before being contacted. As a local business, we simply can't see how this advertising provides meaningful exposure to the customers in our area or represents value for the money spent.

Our issue is absolutely not with the SES. We have enormous respect for the SES and regularly support community organisations, sporting clubs and worthwhile causes. In future, however, we would much rather put this money directly towards organisations and initiatives within our own community where we can see where our contribution is going.

After our experience, I looked at other reviews for Countrywide Austral and was disappointed to see a number of other small businesses describing similar concerns.

We have honoured what we agreed to, but based on our experience, we will not advertise with Countrywide Austral again and have requested that our business be removed from all future marketing and sales contact

They are the biggest scammers click the green button on the screen to look and that’s apparently signing a contract they miss lead there clients ACC need to shut this scamming company down the harassment and phone calls are on another level would not expect them his from and Aussie company disgraceful

I received an unsolicited call from Brooke and told I was being "rude" for not wanting her to call me back.

Scammers. They call asking for donations to "support the local SES" and direct you to look at their webpage for proof. Said webpage claims to produce and publish the Vic SES Volunteers Association magazine.

The VicSES Volunteers Association was shut down in 2025 and DOES NOT EXIST. This magazine does not exist. Countrywide Austral are asking for money for a magazine that does not currently exist.

Any claims that this magazine is still being produced are outright lies.

Please support your local SES unit by donating to them directly. This third party has nothing to do with them and the local units do not receive any funding from them.

EDIT: in late August 2026 I received an email from TrustPilot to advise me that Countrywide Austral attempted to have this review removed as spam. Shortly afterwards I was advised that Trustpilot had looked into the matter and restored the review, as the attempt at removal was obviously in bad faith. So I see that they remain scammers and liars.

These guys are scammers, they are pests and harrass me constantly calling on all different phone numbers, constantly being harassed for payments and they have taken down my credit card details on file and keep trying to pursue to use them and I have told them multiple times to get rid of the details and they have no right keeping them. Will never deal with this company again!!

Thankyou for the opportunities you provide Aussie businesses. Love participating in the NSESVA Yearbook each year.

the team at countrywide austral were amazing. assisting with my concerns. Will definitely be supporting again

Like many other small businesses, we were manipulated through unethical sales tactics by Countrywide Austral under the guise of supporting the SES. After receiving an initial phone call, we expressed interest in learning more. A follow-up call came shortly after, where the representative told us to “click the button in the email to find out more.” What we weren’t told was that the button was actually an approval for a $440 invoice, which was something we never explicitly agreed to or even knew about.

We were shocked to later receive emails threatening legal action, claiming that our business had already been published in their booklet! Even though we were never shown, told about, or approved any content or listing. They simply picked their own photo of our business to advertise.

To make matters worse, when we were contacted months later and politely declined to participate again, the sales rep hung up immediately after we said we were okay, without so much as a thank you. This organisation preys on good intentions and uses manipulative pressure tactics on small businesses just trying to do the right thing.

Absolutely disgraceful and immoral conduct. Avoid at all costs.

pathetic experience with this company. after completing a payment plan and paying weekly for 6 weeks, i have had an email demanding an outstanding amount or else "legal proceedings". look at whats being paid and do your job.

Flagging reviews cause they don’t like the truth, what a great freedom of speech we have
Says it all about this grubby company
They still keep calling and they still keep getting angry when you tell them no
Just check the other 1 star reviews on here and save yourself the hassle of dealing with them

Great mob, seems as though there are some misleading people in the industry, but the 3 people I have been dealing with have organised all my businesses sponsorships for years now. Shane Dale and Robbie have treated me very well and are not pushy at all like some of the other reviews say.

-Baylin

NEVER AGAIN...Very pushy sales pitch, rude on the phone when i mentioned im happy to accept the terms of the advertising but am a tradesman and ill get to it ASAP. My company has supported the police force a few times through this avenue but not again im sorry.

I was fooled into the trap as well.
I actually have volunteered as an Arborist along side the SES and other emergency services during the floods in NSW.
He started the conversation off by thanking me for that and for some reason that won me over.
550 including gst.
Sad that those people have no integrity.

Super easy to support, all done through emails, nice and easy thanks