What really IS online at HMRC?

Why is a refund showing on a PAYE submission online not repaid with the same certainty of 5 days as the SA system gives?

A client has been waitnig since April for £3500 CIS tax more than his deducted PAYE. Correspondence being worked on in District is the beginning of July. The kind ladies on the 'phone say they email the District for instructions but nothing happens. It's bizarre.

I am also baffled that the Collectors on the phone told me that I could view a client's PAYE payments account online if I submitted an FB something or other authorisation from the client (allow three weeks). Since we check what clients have paid regularly, I thought this might help the process cutting out the telephone wait. After all, we can see SA payments with just a 64/8. The helpful lady also said we could authorise a client online.

So as not to stir the punters into a frenzy of phone calls, I sent a test one to an in-house company payroll to see what came, so I could tell the other punters what's coming and what to expect. After 10 days, the letter arrived with the authorisation code, which I duly entered on the site.

It made not a blind bit of difference, even after waiting some time. I STILL cannot see client's PAYE payments and the helpline staff were somewhat bemused that I needed this info. 

Am I missing the point here and have failed in my dotage to press a vital but bijou tit to get to the appropriate nirvana?  Is it all just too much to ask for consistency in HMRC? What do you all do out there