OMG HMRC !!!! Employ some ppl!!

OMG HMRC !!!! Employ some ppl!!

Didn't find your answer?

I have just been on the phone to HMRC for the last 40min on hold listening to there usual music. Finally an adviser who i think just got out of bed picks up, very unhelpful person with an attitude . I think a child has more communication / people skills. HMRC needs to realise  what impression its giving to the UK tax system.

I asked " My client has outstanding tax due, all i would like to know is for which tax year this is due? as he has more than one outstanding"

HMRC response was " Look on the letter"

I then said the lovely letter HMRC sent him does not have a break down on it.

She then started talking under her breath.

HMRC employ some proper people!!! I think you have the funds for that !

I would really like to give HMRC some feedback!  If a member of my staff did that id show them where the door was.

Replies (14)

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By Elnaugh
27th Apr 2015 14:04

Agent Dedicated Line?

Was this on the agent dedicated line, in my experience calls are answered almost immediately and to be fair the people I have dealt with have been helpful

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the sea otter
By memyself-eye
27th Apr 2015 14:08

If he has more than one

outstanding (presumably tax owing for several years) then isn't the letter a cumulative total and shouldn't you (or your client) know or be able to calculate what is or was outstanding for each year?

Might he not have had reminders/summaries of tax due each year?

Or have I missed something obvious. Seems like a waste of 40 minutes...

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By Kazmc
27th Apr 2015 14:38

.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tax-office-puts-callers-hold-5584718

Saw this posted by someone on LinkedIn today

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By Crouchy
27th Apr 2015 14:58

they get worse

called up he employer helpline today for a CIS refund, the HMRC minion informed me that the client wasnt registered under CIS and i should call the CIS helpline, despite the fact that the client has been registered for 10 years and gets a refund every year

 

I asked to speak to a manager to complain and low and behold said minion now can find our client details and request the refund

appalling!

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By Anne Robinson
27th Apr 2015 15:53

Was all this information not available from your client's on line account?

I find the agents tax line quite good but tax credits is a whole different story.

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By nogammonsinanundoubledgame
27th Apr 2015 16:12

MJ- wrote ...

... "HMRC employ some proper people!!! I think you have the funds for that !"

Do you have any evidence to support that opinion? I thought that it is becoming rather evident that they don't. And it is going to get worse if the Conservatives are returned in May, with a commitment to slash public spending further. Not saying whether it is or is not the wrong decision, but you can imagine which coal face will get hit.

With kind regards

Clint Westwood

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By Maslins
27th Apr 2015 16:16

"HMRC needs to realise  what

"HMRC needs to realise  what impression its giving to the UK tax system."

Or what?  Will you/your clients move business overseas?  I don't think so.

It's a horrid state of affairs, indeed our experience of the employment line in particular is that at the moment more often than not it just says "we're too busy, try again another time".

However, what incentive is there to UK PLC for HMRC to improve service?

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By pedre
27th Apr 2015 16:47

I've put this in a different thread before, but if you have a smartphone and plenty of minutes, download WeQ4U. Once you get passed the "Please tell me, in a few words, the reason for your call" and you've tried rephrasing it 7 different times and finally manage to pick your phone up off the road because you launched it out the window, you simply press 9* and they ring you back when they (finally) answer. Bingo!

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By tracey2412
27th Apr 2015 17:15

sometimes even patience isn't enough

One day last week, was on hold for 30 minutes - then got a real person on the Employers Helpline who decided that I needed Technical & 'put me t hrough'. After a further hour on hold (with that annoying sodding noise which passes for music), got cut off with the message 'the other person has hung up'. 

Unable to leave my desk for fear of missing the person picking up the call, after an hour I began tweeting HMRC & sent an email to their complaints dept. Neither has had a response.

@pedre - I end up shouting at the auto system as it seems to deliberately misunderstand my phrasing. I'm sure it does it on purpose ;)

 

 

 

 

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By Wanderer
27th Apr 2015 17:32

Agent dedicated line only

Might occasionally call the Agent dedicated line nowadays, other than that won't ever call them. Complete waste of time as even if they do answer it's often 'We'll send an email to the back office, they'll call you back within 150,000 working days". Of course you never hear a thing again. 

Life's too short to ring HMRC. If I can't do it electronically I'l just send them a snail mail letter.

 

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By Kazmc
27th Apr 2015 17:37

.
Have to say I have had exactly the same experience with Employers helpline which quite frankly is not fit for purpose, however, I have had to work quite a few weekends recently and I have called Employer helpline on a Saturday and every time have got straight through to an advisor who couldn't have been more helpful and seemed to know what I was talking about.
Maybe we all need to move the working week to Wednesday to Sunday!!

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By petersaxton
27th Apr 2015 19:19

Wanderer has the right idea

I will call the agent dedicated line and any other line I need to but if they don't answer within five minutes I just send them a letter and wait a few months for a reply.

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By mbee1
28th Apr 2015 09:22

We've had a couple of major problems with HMRC recently where demands were being issued that were not due but we couldn't get one section to talk to the other. It's amazing what a letter to an MP does, particularly when one is John Bercow, the Speaker.  Three days later the client gets a letter from Lin Homer and it's all sorted.  A few days later after Menzies Campbell got involved that case was sorted but we shouldn't have to resort to these measures.

I've made far more complaints to HMRC in the last 12 months than in the last 30 years but even now I don't always get a prompt response.

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bnfgng
By Mafftucks
28th Apr 2015 10:51

Congratulations, you are a bully

Having worked in callcentres for 10 years before retraining as a bookkeeper, it makes me so annoyed to hear staff called "minions" and comments like "they just got out of bed", "communication skills of a child"

It may be a comfort for you to hear that the call centre staff will be going through hell when the lines are as busy as this, in a job recognised as being so unhealthy call centres have been dubbed "the coal mines of the 21st century"

Shouted and and belittled by customers (who would never treat anyone like that in a face-to-face interaction), bullied by bosses, massive job insecurity, long term physical and mental health problems - remember that the next time you call.

 

"Don't hate the player, hate the game".

 

 

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