Does anyone renew tax credits by post anymore?

no-oneknowsme

Hi .

I received my renewal papers through yesterday and tried to get through on the tc phone lines pretty much straight away.

After being cut off half a dozen times or so I managed to get through and be put on hold . Unfortunately after around half an hour I gave up and hung up.

I had to leave for work and didnt have time to hold any longer.

I do understand that at this time of the year the tco staff are stretched to the limit so I decided to sign the declaration forms and throw them in the post.

Since phone renewals began I have always renewed in that way and it is YEARS since I renewed by post.

Im wondering do many people renew this way anymore?

Does it take much longer for the award to be finalised if you renew by post?

Last year I managed to get through to the phone lines easily enough and my renewal was sorted in a record 6 days :T. Wonder how much time the postal renewal takes?

Any one used this method this year?

mrsspendalot

Mine has just arrived today .... and there is no way I'm attempting to call them as I always end up on hold for ages! I'm posting the form back today.

fortonwhite

mrsspendalot wrote: »

Mine has just arrived today .... and there is no way I'm attempting to call them as I always end up on hold for ages! I'm posting the form back today.

Form arrived today, phoned through and despite what seems a alot more options, got through to a person within a couple of minutes, which is sort sort of record.:D

Aarons_mummy

I always renenw mine by post, never done it over the phone for reasons such as it saves costs on the 0845 number, misinformation by an employee, any mistakes on the forms are my problem not someone who has misheard me etc, comes through I would imagine in the same amount of time and takes a lot less time than sitting on hold for 45mins to get through to someone and then spending approx another 15minutes going through everything, doesn't take an hour to fill in the forms.

I understand why people do it over the phone but to be honest it's bad enough having to get through to call for a general reason without having to try and get through when they're overwhelmed with people renewing, people wanting to know what their renewal is (why waiting for a letter through the post is so hard I don't understand) and people calling for general enquires on top of this it just makes more sense doing it by post!

no-oneknowsme

fortonwhite wrote: »

Form arrived today, phoned through and despite what seems a alot more options, got through to a person within a couple of minutes, which is sort sort of record.:D

Lucky you ! Seems to be "pot luck" . At times I have needed to call tco and have managed to get straight through. At other times it is close to impossible to get through.

Although I am expecting a lump sum back this year I still decided to renew by post as the phone lines were just too busy.

kerryallc71

we may try posting ours , near enough every year they make mistakes over the telephone with us .. one year they added an extra digit to my husbands wages and a couple of times they have not deducted my husbands stakeholder pension payments .. how long does it usually take if you re-new by post ? and should i photocopy the documents for proof and send it recorded post ? .

Aarons_mummy

@Kerryallc71 from what I remember it's normally a couple of weeks, I don't send proof or recorded delivery either and haven't had any problems, with the renewal that is, not overall with tax credit