Client has paid the last VAT liability manually as well as DD having been taken, so wants refund. I rang the VAT helpline and told that damned robot I was calling to claim a refund.
The robot launched into a stream of completely useless diatribe, and then cut me off.
I rang back, and played the silence card (which can get you through to someone) until it appeared to get exasperated and presented me with multiple choice, one of which is "something else", so I chose that, and then went on to identify myself as an agent.
Get put through to someone and they think I'm the taxpayer, which begs the question why does the crapbot ask in the first place?
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I almost never phone HMRC. It typically wastes half an hour of your time and phone bill, and at the end of it nothing gets done. I always write or use a structured email. If they ignore it, I send a chaser letter a month later, and if they ignore that, I launch a complaint. This sequence always gets a result in the end.
Surprisingly, my experience with HMRC on the telephone recently has been somewhat refreshing , no doubt due to the fact I seem to have been put through to a most helpful & courteous northerly gentlemen
… he obviously doesnt have a future with hmrc
I confess that once I got so frustrated with it not understanding me - I think it was the PAYE robot, not the VAT robot - that I ended up shouting "oh ffs" down the phone at it. The next thing I got was "you will be connected to the next available operator". Not necessarily advocating my language but it appears that if you swear profusely at it, it puts you through to a person. Of course, it may just have given up with getting an appropriate answer but either way, I felt better!
Never speak to the PAYE robot except to say 'Employer enquiry'.
It then says you want an 'Employer enquiry' and why. You repeat yourself and say 'Employer enquiry'.
You speaking to a person soon after.