Tax Refund

Butterfliesarepretty

I sent all my documents to birmingham inland revenue ages ago about claiming tax back on my redundancy payment. After redundancy in april 08 I claimed jsa till oct then was employed for a month and then on jsa again until 2 feb. Suddenly my documents arrived back with no letter or anything to explain what had been done. When I phoned my tax office they said on the system the documents should have been sent to a lothian office and they got it wrong and sent them back to me instead. so now I have sent my documents again off to the lothian office and still have not heard anything yet. I am fed up of chasing it up. Not even a letter to confirm they have received documents which I asked for when I sent them off again.
I want to ring them again tomorrow as if I get a refund I want it before end of april.:rolleyes:

fengirl_2

Sadly, your experience is an example of the poor training and lack of organisation and care within HMRC now. Experienced staff have been made redundant and replaced by new staff who get 10 weeks training, have no curiosity abut the job and there seems to be no culture of customer service anymore.
Some tax offices have 8-10 weeks post on hand, so you are unlikely to get your refund soon. Your only hope is to ring and kick up a stink and ask to speak to a manager who could expidite your claim - after all, its not your fault it was sitting in Birmingham for months. There used to be a complaints procedure where you could write to someone at regional office - not sure if this still applies, but you could ask.

Tarasam

Its not that theres no culture of customer service anymore - its more like we're not allowed to provide a decent level. I would definitely ring up and demand to speak to a manager, ring Lothians though as they must be your tax office. There is still a complaint sprocedure - do not be fobbed off.