New HMRC phone answering method ...

New HMRC phone answering method ...

Didn't find your answer?

Just had the displeasure of calling the Employers helpline - you now have to talk to a machine and say why you are calling - no way Hose, a bit of frantic button jabbing and managed to get through to a person.

When I queried this they said the feedback was that people didn't like the push button menu's options.

I said N), they want a real person to answer the call and put them through top the correct person to help them. I suggested that the public would have difficulty explianing the purpose of their call to a machine, they woul dhave a difficult enough job to a person!

I think the lunatics finally have taken over the asylum.

My son is preparing for the Zombie apocolypse and I laughed at him until he said it won't be viral or bacterial, evolution has peaked and we are now in regression - I am beginning to think he has a point!

Replies (12)

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Image is of a pin up style woman in a red dress with some of her skirt caught in the filing cabinet. She looks surprised.
By Monsoon
09th Dec 2013 13:02

Yup!

I was sat here laughing the other day when overhearing my colleague battling this new system. The 'intelligent' system doesn't have a clue what you're saying. "Problem with a National Insurance number" becomes "VAT payment query." Obviously.

My advice to her to tell the machine to **** off and let her talk to a human was (probably quite rightly and professionally) ignored! I believe she got through to a person quite quickly, but it's very frustrating.

Worse than this are the gazillion recorded messages you have to sit through before getting a menu option on other 'help'lines. "If you want information about [specific thing] you can find this on our website. There are many frequently asked questions on our website..." If the answer I wanted was on your ruddy website, I wouldn't be picking up the phone! 

Hmm, more ranty than I expected to be...!

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By Shemiltwilliams
09th Dec 2013 13:04

I was nearly in tears with this!

The new system drove me insane last week, 3 times I clearly said "payroll" and 3 times I ended up with personal tax, then they put me back to the menu again!

Apparently if you stay silent, it reverts back to the old button pushing, I tried it and it does, just resist the temptation to speak!

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Replying to Justin Bryant:
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By User deleted
09th Dec 2013 13:20

There was no ...

Shemiltwilliams wrote:

The new system drove me insane last week, 3 times I clearly said "payroll" and 3 times I ended up with personal tax, then they put me back to the menu again!

Apparently if you stay silent, it reverts back to the old button pushing, I tried it and it does, just resist the temptation to speak!

... temptation to speak other than to swear profusely!

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Replying to Justin Bryant:
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By mbdx7ja2
11th Dec 2013 16:07

@Shemiltwilliams

This happened to me the other day.  Apparently you have to say "RTI" to get through - anything else assumes you are not an employer/agent calling about PAYE and are just an individual.  

I presume they must get a lot of individuals calling the employer PAYE helpline then...

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By taxhound
09th Dec 2013 13:47

Oh yes!

I always end up shouting at it by the end of all of the stupid questions.  "IF I WAS NOT AN AGENT I WOULD NOT HAVE SAID I WAS AN AGENT WHEN YOU ASKED ME A MINUTE AGO IF I WAS AN AGENT" 

Will try the silent approach next time.

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By The Innkeeper
09th Dec 2013 13:52

Oh dear people

reach for the blood pressure pills!!!!!

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By User deleted
09th Dec 2013 13:55

Why don't ....

... HMRC put the menu's on the site so you can fast-track through?

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
09th Dec 2013 16:05

.

@OGA because that would assume HMRC gave two hoots about their 'customers'.

As with many organisations they live in a complete vacuum devoid of any sense of what their 'customer' needs or wants. 

When we call we are just something to bat away as quickly as possible. Right answer, wrong answer, it matters little just get rid and mark it down on the performance targets. 

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
09th Dec 2013 16:17

Treasury Cunning Plan

Surely this is going to be part of a two pronged cunning plan.

1. Make all taxes and their compliance even more complicated so that we need to phone up more often; policy is being pursued in conjunction with our elected representatives who have now realised that they are really good at agreeing to legislation that nobody understands so may as well make a strength out of something that was previously perceived as a weakness.

2. Commence Treasury rake off re installing premium lines to call  HMRC etc .Strategy is not caring how much tax is now collected, create a tax system where the government takes in more for compliance than it does in actual taxes collected. (Penalty system is going this way; just need to yet again make things more complex )

Plus point for politicians is that they can then lower tax rates as they raise complexity levels safe in the knowledge that total receipts will not change but on headline rates they will be seen to be reducing taxes.

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By Democratus
09th Dec 2013 17:37

Had to call today - what a palaver!

Is it best just to say nothing? This is not any better than listening to 3 minutes of "we have a website" and " press button x" before you go on hold.

 

Hopefully it's one of those learning software packages and will get better.

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By Jane S-D
11th Dec 2013 14:10

At lease you got through to someone eventually. I've just listened to the phone ring unanswered for several minutes at the Corp Tax Unit.

But by the time I'd finished with the VAT so called helpline the other day I was urgently in need of gin!

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By User deleted
11th Dec 2013 16:41

I have never understood ...

... why there are not 2 big buttons on the HMRC home page, are you an individual or are you an accountant - they could then lead to separate pages as appropriate - the current contact us link is woeful.

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