Problems with Computershare childcare vouchers

sarahs999

My god, i wish I'd found this thread before. I have had nothing but trouble from Busy bees for the past four years, regardless of whether they were Busy Bees or the new, even more useless incarnation.

I sent a very angry letter to them after they failed, two months in a row, to pay my vouchers in, and then took DAYS to sort it out - I know this is all very familiar to you from reading this thread.

Then I got a call at home from them on DEcember 4 apologising profusely and saying they would do a CHAPS transfer THAT DAY to my carer, as they were aware my payment was now more than two weeks late. I Got a letter four days agao again apologising and reiterating that they had made the CHAPS payment.

Guess what? I went into my account today and they haven't done it. NAda. So despite all that hot air, they just failed to deliver once again. What a total shower. I would be very into organising a mass protest against this company as they are beyond incompetence.

Here's the letter I sent:

Sir/Madam,

I have been using the busybees childcare voucher system now for four years and have found it to be consistently lacking in care, sloppily administrated and generally sub-standard. I have lost count of the number of hours I have spent on hold waiting to speak to a member of your staff, who invariably cannot help me. Problems from vouchers not appearing on time to automatic payments not being set up and software not working led me to dread the time of the month when it came to paying my carer.

I hoped that when you became 'computershare' standards would improve, but it seems not.

For the past two months my vouchers have not been paid into my account forcing me to make late payments to my carer. The response time to these problems is ridiculously slow given our digital age and has required frequent intervention and chasing on my part. As I type I am still waiting for a voucher that should have been in my account prior to November 15 to be released to me.

The staff who answer your telephones clearly have to deal with many irate customers, and freely admit that this is a widespread problem and not just restricted to a few unlucky customers. What I cannot understand is that given that your company seems aware that there is a problem, why they do not put it right immediately rather than wait for me to discover the error and then have to start chasing?

What are you going to do to correct these serious issues? Your payment process to carers is clunky and over-complicated, just like the busybees one was, not to mention well-hidden - the only thing I want to do when I log on once a month is to pay my carer, and yet I have to hunt around to be able to do this. Not that I can do anything once I get there, as there is no money to be found.

I sincerely hope that one of you will take the time to think about this rather than send me a standard reply, of which I have had many from Busybees over the years. There are far more complicated digital transactions going on in the world than childcare vouchers; please sort out your priorities and get it right.

Snarf999

This is possibly the type of issue that could be taken up with BBC's Watchdog - it usually needs a number of people making a complaint about non-payment etc. They do seem to be pretty good at getting a resolution though (once they acknowledge the problem).

tina222

Is the Financial Services Ombudsman the correct route to go down, do they oversee the voucher schemes/indeed does anyone intervene in these types of dispute as i have been unable to find out so far after awaiting an outcome on my complaint for 3 months now.

After using BusyBees for 4 years with no problem at all, i requested that my vouchers be stopped in December as my child will be starting school in January and therefore i would have no more nursery bills to pay for.
Computershare Vouchers Ltd., having just taken over from BusyBees then cancelled them from October instead. I notified them as soon as i noticed the error in October in order for them to reintroduce by November and they took so long to contact me that they had already missed the deadline. I therefore missed out on 2 months worth of NI and Tax savings (approx £140). I wrote a formal complaint and they said they would arrange some backdated vouchers for compensation for their error. I explained, as i had already that my son was starting school and therefore we would not need the vouchers any longer and that would be no compensation whatsoever as i could not use them. Backwards and forwards and letter writing followed, Computershare giving dates or days when they would get back, me not hearing anything for weeks etc-very poor customer service. It has been escalated several times and is now apparently on the manager's desk for sign off-won't hold my breath. My question is, are these schemes not overseen by any ombudsman or anything. My local Trading Standards says that as it's a government scheme and not a "goods and receipt" service, they could not do anything and suggested contacting HMRC who also do not get involved. Has anyone who contacted the FSO got any help with their problems. Are the Financial Services Ombudsman the correct people to turn to or are these companies not covered by any particular legislationas to how they deal with complaints?

daveyjp

I noticed a problem last summer with Busy Bees after they sent me a statement- we were in credit with them and wanted the credit transferring to our childcare provider.

Months of e-mailing and nothing.

I gave them until after the takeover and then wrote to Chris Morris in December. It was sorted inside 3 days. I was told the payment had been made in October 2009 but for some reason they hadn't informed me.

frostyspice

Good to find this thread. I've had loads of problems with them as well. Have spent hours on the phone on hold while trying to sort things out and I'm always speaking to someone who says it's her first day there! The website doesn't do what it says and there are problems every month.

palomino2424

You guys - maybe you should check out childcare voucher solutions. My company moved from Busy Bees to them last year and I have not had one problem since. Telephone number 0845 6016020 - they always seems to answer the phones quickly and are very helpful. :T

sarahs999

IT's not down to us Palomino, it's down to who our employers choose to use. I'm sure none of us would be going near Computershyte with a bargepole if we had a choice!

Paulpc

Oh dear. This all sounds very familiar. Busy bees or whatever they call themselves this week have caused nothing but trouble for my Wife & Child Minder for almost three years! There really should be a regulatory body overseeing this scheme. My worry a parent is that the stress this may cause some carers could impact on the care of children..... I'm lucky that I have a diamond of a child minder I suppose.

Anyway for what it's worth my employer uses Parent Bond. Brilliant! I filled out two forms three years ago and that was it. Trouble free service from then on.

Good luck everyone and I look forward to see Watchdog sort them out!

Lynne_Regan

I discovered this website by chance yesterday when I was trying to research Computershare Vouchers. I am a registered childminder and I have been having problems with Computershare for the last two and a half years, during which time I have only been paid on time, 3 times. I am currently still waiting for my January payment. I am now at a loss as to what else to do, but yesterday I e-mailed our local MP and the BBC Watchdog programme and I strongly urge everyone else to do the same to see if we can get this company investigated. I was given an e-mail address for the Executive Chairman, Chris Morris, by one of the Computershare operators and copied him in tpo the e-mails, but they were sent straight back saying 'not delivered'. The plot thickens!

surreysaver

It is not only if your childcare vouchers go through these people - if you hold employee share plans previoulsy managed by Lloyds you need to watch out too -

http://corporate.computershare.com/uk/news_media/Current%20News/Computershare%20completes%20acquisition%20of%20HBOS%20Employee%20Equity%20Solutions%20from%20Lloyds%20Banking%20Group.pdf

it would seem that this unregulated, incompetent company now has your shares as well as your childcare vouchers! No doubt sold down the road by this Government to cover them buying out Lloyds / HBOS. And its funny that no one has written to me, either my employer, Halifax or Computershare informing me of this.