taxreturned.co.uk

pearl123

I had a letter through the post today from this company
with a tax reclaim form. I came in a brown envelope so it looked a rather official at first. The letter mentioned claiming tax back for a work uniform. The irony is I'm not working. Be careful of this company as a very quick review online seems to suggest that they charge quite a large sum - 25% for doing something you could do yourself.
Also do check out the reviews on Trustpilot.
This sort of targeting from companies makes me angry. I'm not suggesting they are scammers but I do believe they are getting money from the unwary.

https://www.taxreturned.co.uk/

stuartJo1989

My partner got this through the mail too. She's not as street-smart as me so also assumed that it was an official letter about a tax rebate from HMRC.

I took one look at it and said "chuck it in the bin" - but she was still skeptical!

I had to explain in depth how it was a company like the PPI ones who help you claim back money which you are entitled to if you have a uniform and clean it etc, with a nice fat commission (you can do it for free with the government).

So yep, certainly getting money from the unwary BUT I would be eager to know whether they point out that you can do it for free yourself (some companies do + justify their commission by saying it will be less hassle for you).

takman

stuartJo1989 wrote: »

My partner got this through the mail too. She's not as street-smart as me so also assumed that it was an official letter about a tax rebate from HMRC.

How could your partner possibly think that it was an offficial letter from HMRC when it is from a third party company. I would call that ignorance rather than simply being unwary!.

martinthebandit

takman wrote: »

How could your partner possibly think that it was an offficial letter from HMRC when it is from a third party company. I would call that ignorance rather than simply being unwary!.

.......and some (including me) would say the above is rude and ignorant, what can you do eh?

takman

martinthebandit wrote: »

.......and some (including me) would say the above is rude and ignorant, what can you do eh?

Well ignorance is the "lack of knowledge or information". So thinking that an letter from a third party is an official letter from HMRC is definitely ignorant because anyone with a basic understanding of how HMRC work would know it's not.

Rudeness is a matter of opinion but what knowledge or information do you think i'm lacking based on my reply?

DoaM

takman wrote: »

Well ignorance is the "lack of knowledge or information".

Well that's one of the definitions. Oxford and Cambridge both offer that plus alternative definitions.

stuartJo1989

takman wrote: »

How could your partner possibly think that it was an offficial letter from HMRC when it is from a third party company. I would call that ignorance rather than simply being unwary!.

Ah, so you are calling my partner ignorant despite never having met/spoken to her?

Talk about endearing yourself to fellow contributors on the forum...

Besides, if you want to think of "ignorance" as simply meaning lacking knowledge etc instead of the more negative connotations it suggests to some people, my post was very clear in that regard (I educated her on what the letter meant). So I pretty much said what you said ("ignorance") but in a much nicer way..... which begs the question as to why you made your post in the first place?

Manxman_in_exile

I always use "ignorant" to mean simply not knowing, or not being aware, of something.


Unfortunately, like many other useful words, it's been misused for so long that i's often impossible to tell whether it's just intended as a factual description or as an insult. I always assume it isn't an insult.




(Maybe that's why I get punched on the nose so often!:rotfl:

takman

stuartJo1989 wrote: »

Ah, so you are calling my partner ignorant despite never having met/spoken to her?

Talk about endearing yourself to fellow contributors on the forum...

Besides, if you want to think of "ignorance" as simply meaning lacking knowledge etc instead of the more negative connotations it suggests to some people, my post was very clear in that regard (I educated her on what the letter meant). So I pretty much said what you said ("ignorance") but in a much nicer way..... which begs the question as to why you made your post in the first place?

Well this was the part where you suggested that it was simply due to people be unwary.

stuartJo1989 wrote: »

So yep, certainly getting money from the unwary...

Personally i think that it is common sense to realise an official letter from HMRC would not come from a third party. So lack of common sense, ignorance or naivety whichever of those you find least offensive can be used to describe someone who think it's an official letter.

No matter how unwary someone is they can instantly tell if a letter from HMRC or not by looking at the letterhead.

stuartJo1989

takman wrote: »

Well this was the part where you suggested that it was simply due to people be unwary.



Personally i think that it is common sense to realise an official letter from HMRC would not come from a third party. So lack of common sense, ignorance or naivety whichever of those you find least offensive can be used to describe someone who think it's an official letter.

No matter how unwary someone is they can instantly tell if a letter from HMRC or not by looking at the letterhead.

I see what you mean, but I also referred to a lack of being street-smart, and I explained how I educated her on the meaning of the letter (sort of hinting at "ignorance" in the pure sense of the word).

So it wasn't "simply due to people be[ing] unwary"

Anyways, arguing about nothing here. All that you should take away from my post is that my partner, for one reason or another, didn't understand the letter and I can sympathise with other people who do not immediately recognise how legitimate it is like me or you would.

martinthebandit

Well in the OP’s wife’s defence, someone has probably spent a lot of time and thought into making the letter as successful as possible at fooling people into thinking it is from HMRC while staying within the law.

Of course ‘some people’ are just so perfect they would never be fooled