A CONCERNED MIA resident has been left disappointed following a meeting with HCF.
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The company announced late last month it would be closing the doors of its Griffith branch, which is still scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Many residents have been up-in-arms about the decision, including Carl Chirgwin, who is worried residents from outlying areas, such as Coleambally, Lake Cargelligo and Leeton have been let down by the organisation.
He said residents in these towns, as well as those in Griffith, will now have to travel to HCF in Wagga if they are wanting to access HCF services or speak to someone in person from the business.
Mr Chirgwin had a phone meeting with HCF southern area manager Anne Hickey on Thursday who told him the business was staying firm on its decision to close its doors in Griffith.
“It is very disappointing,” Mr Chirgwin said.
“It’s another service lost from our area and it affects more people than just those who live in Griffith.
“(During the meeting) I was given general statistics about how people are preferring to do their transactions online and not go into HCF itself, but they couldn’t give me any numbers specific to Griffith.
“They did say they are looking at having some sort of dropbox service somewhere in town, but they haven’t confirmed that.”
The Griffith HCF branch has been open for more than 25 years.
Branch network general manager Peter Schofield said there will be options to post or email claim forms to the company.
Mr Chirgwin said residents against the closure could still make their voice heard by emailing Ms Hickey at ahickey@hcf.com.au.
“The more we stay silent on these things, the more companies like HCF will think it’s okay to do this,” he said.
“Losing any sort of service from our area is not good.
“I think we all need to make more of an effort to be getting our boots in the door of businesses to show our support and to show these services are needed and necessary.”
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