Absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to contact HMRC by phone... correct?

Pennywise

The sad thing is that the technology is available for calls to be diverted throughout the country according to whoever is free, so if they'd kept the old local office network with real, knowledgeable people, technology allows people calling a nationwide helpline number to be put through to whoever was available at that time. Every HMRC worker, anywhere in the country could have access to taxpayers records via the internet, just like they do in a call centre. There's just no need for call centres at all now that we have the internet and modern telecoms technology.

I've seen first hand a similar system for holiday bookings for a well known tour operator who turned their backs on the call centre model and now have individuals working at home or in small offices all over the UK. Phone calls and emails to the general helpline and booking lines are automatically re-routed according to whoever is free at that time, and based on an algorithm to distribute new enquiries fairly across the network. The advisors have full internet access to the company's systems so can offer advice and take bookings just as easily as if they were in a call centre or sat in at a High Street travel agent's desk.

By bringing in call centres, often in relatively deprived places to make the unemployment figures lower, they made massive redundancies of knowledgeable and experienced people so there's been a massive brain drain. Now that the average length of service is far less, far more mistakes are made and poor advice given, meaning even more phone calls and letters back to HMRC to get them to sort out their errors. That means even longer delays.

Such a shame that HMRC brought in call centres at the time when many other organisations were walking away from them!

Pennywise

purdyoaten wrote: »

The service is bad enough on the dedicated agents number - I cannot begin to imagine what it is like on the main number. A gradual deterioration of service over the last twenty-five years (round about when I left :rotfl:)

It really is bad.

Re ROI service - I can concur - different approach altogether. Quick turnaround of everything but the downside is the greater resources to carry out investigations - and they do!

Yep, the dedicated agent's number has certainly deteriorated over time - it was quite good at first with calls answered quickly and a knowledgeable person to talk to, but now doesn't seem to be much better than the normal call centres, either by speed of answering nor quality of service. We've started dealing more with agent account managers recently to problem-solve as we found the dedicated agent's numbers just can't sort things out these days.

I've never dealt with the ROI, but I have dealt with Jersey and France and found them both far easier to deal with and far quicker. Jersey in particular was an absolute breeze - one quick phone call, the person who answered didn't know but quickly put me through to someone who did and a few minutes later, all solved, with paperwork coming through the post within a couple of days!

redux

Parts of it used to be efficient, but the proportion seems to have decreased.

I once made a phone query to one place, and was transferred or given a new number to phone 6 times, the last being back to the beginning.

They made me an appointment to discuss it with someone in the local office.

I got there, was put at a table with a phone, and given a number to call.

The person at the other end refused to answer the questions I had. I managed to extend the conversation to nearly 5 minutes, but it was like negotiating with a dry stone wall.

I told this to the receptionist in the office I was in, who would not give me any other number to call, and said my time was up and the next visitor was waiting to use the phone.

I was tempted to send them a bill for travelling expenses.

Pennywise wrote: »

The sad thing is that the technology is available for calls to be diverted throughout the country according to whoever is free, so if they'd kept the old local office network with real, knowledgeable people, technology allows people calling a nationwide helpline number to be put through to whoever was available at that time. Every HMRC worker, anywhere in the country could have access to taxpayers records via the internet, just like they do in a call centre. There's just no need for call centres at all now that we have the internet and modern telecoms technology.

Just before the saga I mentioned above, I once phoned the number in the local telephone directory, and spoke to someone hundreds of miles away in Livingston, who said they only deal with people in Scotland, so had no access to my records.

purdyoaten

Yes redux - this happened to me this year when I called in to a Halifax branch to discuss the account my recently deceased father. I was asked to sit a desk. A 'member of customer services' came to see me and, after listening to my query, picked up the telephone, dialled a number before handing me the telephone and walking off.

redux

The Contributions Agency used to be worse.

I sent them a letter. After 3 months of no response, I rang up.

They had not received my letter. I pointed out that it had been sent recorded delivery, signed for at 3 pm on a certain date, and as well as a letter the envelope included a cheque, which my bank account statement and someone at the bank told me had been paid about a week later.

I was accused of lying. I offered to try to obtain copies of the delivery receipt and my cheque, and where was the complaints team to send them to. The person hung up the call.

I received a reply to my letter 16 months later, apologising for the delay, but not actually answering the points. I phoned and spoke to the letter sender, who was very apologetic and said she had forwarded it to the relevant place.

Twenty years later, I have just discovered I have two years national insurance contributions missing.

I'm wondering if I still have a copy of my letter ...

redux

chrismac1 wrote: »

HMRC are rubbish for 90% of the year and the other 10% they are worse than rubbish. The official statistics are that on average 35% of callers during 2014 waited over 10 minutes just to get their calls answered, and nearly half of those were cut off completely before being dealt with at all.

See one of my other posts in the last week or so for the best times to try calling these jokers.

Presumably they measure on a per call basis, without noting that some people, like me and the OP, may have called half a dozen times.

frank777

Have you tried SAYNOTO0870.COM for an alternative number - I did this 2 years ago and got through in seconds on a local rate number - had to use it twice and on both occasions I was asked if I was phoning from outside the UK, when I said NO. I was told not to use this number again, they dealt with my issues on both occasions.
Superb Customer Service and no waiting:money:

purdyoaten

frank777 wrote: »

Have you tried SAYNOTO0870.COM for an alternative number - I did this 2 years ago and got through in seconds on a local rate number - had to use it twice and on both occasions I was asked if I was phoning from outside the UK, when I said NO. I was told not to use this number again, they dealt with my issues on both occasions.
Superb Customer Service and no waiting:money:

The HMRC music line number is 0300 200 3310. This means that it is now cheaper to listen to music for 30 mins before you are cut off.

agrinnall

chrismac1 wrote: »

In my view Alan's comments are perfectly reasonable, is it really too much too ask in the 21st century that someone picks up the phone within the first couple of minutes - a real person?

Of course that's what should happen in any organisation, but the blame must be squarely levelled at the politicians of all colours who have cut the number of staff available to answer the phones - if there are 6 phones ringing and only 3 people to answer them then of course half of them will go unanswered.

Pennywise

agrinnall wrote: »

Of course that's what should happen in any organisation, but the blame must be squarely levelled at the politicians of all colours who have cut the number of staff available to answer the phones - if there are 6 phones ringing and only 3 people to answer them then of course half of them will go unanswered.

But you can blame *some* staff if there are 6 people ringing because their tax affairs aren't right because, previously, other staff have made mistakes. Sadly, that's the reality. A lot of the phone calls and letters that HMRC receive wouldn't have been necessary if previous calls and letters had been dealt with properly and had mistakes not been made by HMRC staff.

You can also blame HMRC management who set up crazy illogical systems that add to their workload because of sheer inefficiency. For example, they are painfully slow at setting up internet-based services meaning accountants and taxpayers have to phone up or send in paper forms (both requiring human intervention) for very simple administrative matters that could easily be dealt with by an online form. Or how it was virtually impossible for years to see an account online for an employers PAYE or a business VAT record whereas online-viewable accounts were available for self assessment and corporation tax! Or how they've taken years to set up a simple online request for the issue of a SA302 form to prove income - something else that people had to phone up for when a simple online request form could have saved probably tens of thousands of telephone requests. It's not rocket science, just complete inefficiency from a management that clearly have never been at the sharp end.

Throwing more (inexperienced/unqualified) staff at an inefficient organisation will never solve these problems. All it ever does is paper over the cracks.