15 minutes wating on IR phone and counting...

AirlieBird

chrismac1 wrote: »

On a more serious note, how hard can it be to allow e-mails? I recently dealt with the Revenue Service of Ireland on a matter involving imports from the USA and potentailly £250k of VAT if things were done wrongly. They accepted an e-mail and replied with their opinion by e-mail, all within 4 hours. That sort of thing is so totally unthinkable in the UK that it's just depressing even thinking about it.

Email is not secure. When you send an email it is not just sent from your computer to the recipients computer, it is sent from server to server around the world. When it reaches a server a copy is stored on the server. Nobody can guarantee the route that your email takes from your computer to the recipients computer or who has access to whatever servers where a copy of the email is left. I wonder how many of your clients would be happy with their personal financial affairs to be accessible to potentially unscrupulous individuals? Tell me one bank that lets you correspond with them by email?

Now, I am all in favour of HMRC developing an opt-in online account system whereby taxpayers can check their tax details on online, update their BIKs or change additional tax the need to be collected from, say savings, or reliefs from, say, pension contributions. Such a system would also allow secure online email correspondence.

jem16

AirlieBird wrote: »

Now, I am all in favour of HMRC developing an opt-in online account system whereby taxpayers can check their tax details on online, update their BIKs or change additional tax the need to be collected from, say savings, or reliefs from, say, pension contributions. Such a system would also allow secure online email correspondence.

That would be a good idea.

chrismac1

It's currently compulsory to submit VAT and PAYE online, down those exact same servers - at least in terms of their starting point on my PC. HMRC's latest scheme is that every employer, large or small, should be submitting real-time payroll over these servers by 2014.

No doubt some internet guru can point out why VAT and payroll can be transmitted down the net to HMRC, but not these other aspects of UK tax information.

TadleyBaggie

jem16 wrote: »

Why are they blocking the use of alternative 01 numbers.

I called them this week using their 01 number (from saynoto0870.com), I simply witheld my number (141 first) and I got through straight away.

The number is supposed to be used for callers from overseas, which means if you withold you number they have no idea where you are calling from.

jem16

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I called them this week using their 01 number (from saynoto0870.com), I simply witheld my number (141 first) and I got through straight away.

Yes I've used that before. However some reps that answer the phone give you a lecture about using a number meant for international callers and refuse to deal with your enquiry. The better reps just get on with helping you.

Fortunately I have 0845 as inclusive after 7pm and at weekends so I call then.

However not everyone is as fortunate.

Tarasam

We're not supposed to refuse to deal with the enquiry but we are supposed to educate the caller re the correct number. Personally I don't do this due to the fact it normally leads to a mouthful of abuse from the caller to me, this I can well do without, the jobs hard enough to bear without adding unnecessary agro into the equation.

dori2o

Tarasam wrote: »

We're not supposed to refuse to deal with the enquiry but we are supposed to educate the caller re the correct number. Personally I don't do this due to the fact it normally leads to a mouthful of abuse from the caller to me, this I can well do without, the jobs hard enough to bear without adding unnecessary agro into the equation.

Depends on the contact centre you work in. We have been given a direct instruction from SMT to refuse to deal with calls where the caller is obviously calling from the UK on the international line.

I personally do refuse the call. It about being consistent, plus it is being monitored. Advise the caller this is not the right number, give the right number and end the call before they give you the abuse. AFAIAA this has been the norm on the Tax Credits helpline for some time, with the taxes line only recently being given the same instruction.

As for the person who says dialing 141 means we don't know where the call is from, it comes up on our phones that the call is being made on the international line. All 141 does is prevent your number coming up on the call logs.

Tarasam

dori2o wrote: »

Depends on the contact centre you work in. We have been given a direct instruction from SMT to refuse to deal with calls where the caller is obviously calling from the UK on the international line.

I personally do refuse the call. It about being consistent, plus it is being monitored. Advise the caller this is not the right number, give the right number and end the call before they give you the abuse. AFAIAA this has been the norm on the Tax Credits helpline for some time, with the taxes line only recently being given the same instruction.

Very interesting, in our CC we haven't been told this at all! Isn't odd how they all differ but we're all competing. Hmmm.

jem16

Tarasam wrote: »

We're not supposed to refuse to deal with the enquiry but we are supposed to educate the caller re the correct number.

What is the reason for using the "correct number" as opposed to the number reserved for international callers?

dori2o

jem16 wrote: »

What is the reason for using the "correct number" as opposed to the number reserved for international callers?

The international number not only is in some instances cheaper it also jumps the queue.

Many people who call from outside the UK cannot use the 0845 number, the telephone exchange of the country they are calling from does not accept the 0845 prefix. Their calls are also, in the majority, far more expensive to make than calling from a UK phone (including mobiles) even when using the international number.