As the deadline for submitting tax returns hurtles towards us, good luck to those attempting to contact HMRC by phone; as it is utter chaos (as usual!).
The Mail reports that eg during one call, the customer service operator said he was working from home. He told me:
“I’m upstairs, but will pass you down to my wife who is in the dining room and who works on tax codes.”
Another call was put on hold, the terminated, as the HMRC employee had to attend to her crying baby.
This chaos is down to several factors including, but not limited to, the following:
-staff are working from home
-experienced staff have left, and those manning the phones are of lower grades
-the IT systems, that are meant to reduce the need for calls are not up to scratch (am I right in thinking Fujitsu still have their tentacles in some of these systems?) etc.
HMRC will no doubt be forced to extend the deadline this year, as it is clear they are not up to the job of helping people resolve their tax queries on time!
Tax does have to be taxing.
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Yesterday I rang the Agent Dedicated line. This used to be answered within 5 - 10 minutes. Yesterday, 1 hour 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteIt would help if they got rid of AUI and trained staff properly, instead of making them rely on Ocelot
ReplyDeleteIt is an absolutely piss-poor telephone service that is so bad, even British Gas got rid of it.
DeleteIt would really help if they hadn't got rid of 6 thousand customer facing staff in the hope customers would go online. I worked there for 20+ years and quit in November. I've never known the place to be so bad. Just know the people you eventually speak to hate how bad things are too.
ReplyDeleteI hope you've found somewhere better after being institutionalised in that shit hole.
DeleteWell done for leaving the corrupt HMRC.
DeleteHMRC's multiple abuses like the loan charge scandal; reward for failure; the staff bullying culture; misconduct in public office; etc; will all be exposed soon. The DT seem to be working on a story - the heavy scrutiny they have needed for a long, long time is coming!!