MSE News: Anger as tax credit helpline jammed in latest HMRC gaffe

Heyman_2

Been trying for a few days now, just want to know that they've actually received my form!!! What a nonsense this is.

mama67

I had been trying on the 3900 number for a couple of days then got told on here somewhere to try 3600, this got me through straight away and this was when the 3900 number was cutting off again, as tried it immediately beforehand.

William_Blessing

I actually worked on the Tax Credit Information line as a temp when they were first brought in back in about October 2001. I got the job by seeing an advert outside Pertemps Employment Agency in Bristol's Park Street saying "immediate start, 40 advisors required now!"

At the induction in a call centre in leafy Portland Square no one knew who we would be working for until a pair of red velvet curtains opened on a screen with the words..."it's your Money...it's Tax Credits". Two members of the advertising team, a girl and a boy gave the intro to us, gawping, would be recruits. After the girl gave an efficient chat for five minutes during which it slowly dawned on us that we would working for the Tax Office, the boy got up and introduced himself as being "the creative".

At the end of his baffling speech there was silence, and being an elder person who has worked in the DHSS, banks, AXA, Bristol and West, Barclay's, everywhere, as a temp, I asked him..."Excuse me, but can you tell what a tax credit is?"

The response was like a gold fish gasping for breath! No one knew! I suggested to him that "how could a tax that took money, be a credit that gives it back at the the same time?"

Over the next nine months things just got more and more bizzare. I had worked on the Abbey National Script dividend offer as a temp with Computershare back in about 2000. On the first day we had 100 advisors, all trained up to take calls. The calls did not materialise. We received just 100 calls between us and 90 of those were from compliance officers testing our efficiency.

As an innocent, when I got a test call and was asked "go on, do you reckon this is a good deal?" I fell for it and mumbled, out of a sense of loyalty to Abbey..."well it seems a good idea". Result.... I got fired along with 95 of the 100 because "the calls hadn't been of sufficient volume."

But Computershare recognised me as a good worker and I got put onto The Woolwich Takeover by Barclay's and for 6 months, whilst it went on, I loved it. Even the boss of Woolwich rang up from inside his Bentley demanding that unless we paid him his money there and then he would take the business away from Computershare. I asked him if he had changed his address recently and if he had told us? "Er no...."

I took his number and told my team leader who told me "we never ring people back", but it was sorted. Part of the problem was that as Computershare had won the business over from Lloyds Share Registrars, no one had been passing on change of details. Why should they?

I digress except to make the point that the private sector is quite ruthless in how it spends the clients money on temps, but at the same time is still open to inefficiency.

But nothing could compare to the Kakfaesque chaos of the newly born Tax Credit Line. A story which no one could tell if they actually worked for the Inland Revenue or for the Agency that employed them as temps. Not if you wanted to work again.

A story which I am now happy to tell if, anyone out there is listening.

Former_MSE_Guy

corbyboy wrote: »

Just looking at the article, how did you time the 14 minutes to get through? You don't get put on hold you just get cut off when it's too busy. So how did you time it?

We tried around 11am yesterday morning (possibly when it's less busy with people at work).

We were not cut off and were held in a queue so we obviously got lucky. The call was answered by a human being and we timed it as our office phones list the length of each call.

cit_k

Im confused, this is clearly not a request for benefit help, and is clearly a discussion about benefit policy/issues/problems.

If anyone else had started this thread, Im convinced it would have been dumped in discussion time, as it seems clearly against the rules, as laid out in the sticky in this forum.

DX2

cit_k wrote: »

Im confused, this is clearly not a request for benefit help, and is clearly a discussion about benefit policy/issues/problems.

If anyone else had started this thread, Im convinced it would have been dumped in discussion time, as it seems clearly against the rules, as laid out in the sticky in this forum.

Get over yourself, very rarely do you post in the benefit section if you had been a regular you would know that these benefit realted discussions often pop up. What would be the point in sticking this article in DT? Especially since the majority of people who are having problems getting through to the tax credits office post here.

beanielou

Tell us more William Blessing.

Murgatroyd21

William Blessing, interesting story, but not quite sure if you are saying you worked on the tax credit helpline back in 2001 and were sacked, or are you saying you still work/worked there recently?

cit_k

DX2 wrote: »

Get over yourself, very rarely do you post in the benefit section if you had been a regular you would know that these benefit realted discussions often pop up. What would be the point in sticking this article in DT? Especially since the majority of people who are having problems getting through to the tax credits office post here.

yes they often do, and they usually get moved to DT, despite the fact they would usually be beneficial to people experiencing similar problems.

lallybroch_2

I tried to phone the tax credits helpline a few weeks ago. After 2 days of trying pretty much on the hour every hour during their opening times and getting cut off after going through their call steering platform, I had a look at http://www.saynoto0870.com . Managed to find several alternative numbers on there. Some of them also obviously went to the same place as also cut off but I got lucky on the 3rd number as it put me in a queue. I had to wait in the queue for about 15 minutes but eventually a human being answered and was able to answer my query.