pension forecast

Gollygumdrops

p00hsticks said:

xylophone said:

and issues with the system however frustrating are not their fault.

No, it is not.

It is the fault of incompetent management.

Perhaps, but I think the majority of the fault has to lie with those who have had years to get their forecasts and follow up with the Future Pensions Centre and NI Enquiries - a period when the system has been operating just fine - but have left it to the very last minute to do something about it. People have to take some personal ownership of their own financial situation here - saying that you weren't aware of the possibilities until you suddenly saw a TV program or read a newspaper article last week isn't really an excuse. 

I used to work in capacity management, and however much you are aware of potential bottlenecks coming up, sometimes there is a limit to how much action you can realistically take to address the situation. Just as you don't decide to go to the expense of building an extra lane on a motorway because on the very occasional hot summer bank holiday you predict you may have some traffic jams, it wouldn't  necessarily have been the correct decision to spend a lot money employing and training lots of additional staff and putting in extra call-centre infrastructure for them just to cater for a once-in-a-lifetime surge in demand lasting a few months, as people seem to be wanting them to have done.  

One mans incompetent management is another mans sensible deployment of limited taxpayer resources. 

Just for information, as some of you seem to think I have left it until the last minute to pay for extra NI years - I have not.  I have been paying off a few years at a time for about the last 3 years but after paying the last one about 3 weeks ago I cannot now access my Government Gateway account.  I only found out when I decided to check if my money had been allocated to the correct years etc.  Hence now trying to get someone to help.
There are a lot of people on this pension site who I suspect are ex, if not current members, of the civil service because they always seem to stand up for the appalling service we ‘mere mortals’ have to put up with.  This proves to me these people have never worked in the private sector, where this would not have been acceptable.
That aside,  after waiting 56 minutes my phone call was answered by a polite lady who took all my details and then proceeded to tell me that they had been having “glitches” all day on the computer and she could not access my account.  
How frustrating and annoying is that?  
She did give me another number to try to get more technical help regarding accessing my account but the number she gave me either cut me off or was not relevant to my problem.  I tried several options only to be told my best bet was to go online and access my account via the website and then cut me off.  What a total waste of 2 hours of my life and now 14.4.23 I am in the same position I was 3 weeks ago and have still not received a reply to my email to the Technical Department, even though they stated that I would hear back in 2 working days on 29/30th March.
So yes, for all those unsure of where I stand, I reiterate this department is a total shambles. 

MikeyPGT

'There are a lot of people on this pension site who I suspect are ex, if not current members, of the civil service because they always seem to stand up for the appalling service we ‘mere mortals’ have to put up with.  This proves to me these people have never worked in the private sector, where this would not have been acceptable.'

Have you tried communicating with the 'private sector' Scottish Power recently?  I think you will find that their lack of customer service knocks any 'public sector' issues into a cocked hat!

xylophone

Just for information, as some of you seem to think I have left it until the last minute to pay for extra NI years - I have not.  I have been paying off a few years at a time for about the last 3 years but after paying the last one about 3 weeks ago I cannot now access my Government Gateway account.

I appreciated the nature of your complaint and sympathised.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79987334/#Comment_79987334

I was never a Civil Servant but did at one time work for a very busy organisation with a backlog.

Overtime was compulsory, the phone was always answered and always with courtesy - any complaint from a member of the public was taken seriously and investigated.

Considering the standards to which those in my former employment were required to work, I am appalled at the level to which they have now fallen in public and private organisations.

Have you tried communicating with the 'private sector' Scottish Power recently? 

Relative has (last week) - having heard of his experience, I can wholeheartedly agree that the "service" is dire.

xylophone

I am appalled to the level to which they have now fallen in public and private organisations.

And in this connection

https://www.icaew.com/insights/tax-news/2023/apr-2023/hmrc-restricts-use-of-the-adl-until-june

HMRC is severely restricting the use of the agent dedicated line from 17 April to 2 June. The ADL will only deal with queries on self assessment penalties and PAYE coding notices.

Good grief!

MACKEM99

MikeyPGT said:

'There are a lot of people on this pension site who I suspect are ex, if not current members, of the civil service because they always seem to stand up for the appalling service we ‘mere mortals’ have to put up with.  This proves to me these people have never worked in the private sector, where this would not have been acceptable.'

Have you tried communicating with the 'private sector' Scottish Power recently?  I think you will find that their lack of customer service knocks any 'public sector' issues into a cocked hat!

Scottish Widows is similar .. No civil servants there.

xylophone

Scottish Widows is similar .. No civil servants there.

https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/news/scottish-widows-apologises-for-poor-service-levels/

Rogerrabbit777

Maybe look at the wages these people are earning and the wages of the top bosses. Would you give a **** when earning 20k a year while the top man is getting millions? I certainly wouldnt

Pat38493

I'm always a bit puzzled by this idea that public funded services automatically provide a terrible service compared to private companies.

You can see above on this thread many examples of terrible service provided by private companies and I could list a good few more.

If you are calling the sales line and you want to buy something, generally they are pretty quick to help you, but once you are a customer, it can be an entirely different story.

But as I've posted before - if I was an operational manager in this service I would have insisted that they change the website messaging to try to make deadlines clearer and make it clear who actually needs to act on the April (then July) deadline.  Granted they might not be able to change all the references on individual line items but I'm pretty sure they could put some big banners at the top of the pages like "DEADLINE OF 6TH APRIL MENTIONED IN YOUR DETAILED REPORT HAS BEEN CHANGED TO JULY.  Our service is under unprecedented demand click here for a short guide to help you decide whether you need to call us now - you may be able to wait until after July or even later" .... etc.....

In my company I have on occasions insisted that such short term messages be placed on our service desk homepage and it had a significant impact on call volume.

Gollygumdrops

@Pat38493 Why are you puzzled.  It is the findings of lots of us that do not work in the public services, be it these offices, NHS etc.  I have seen how the NHS ‘works’ and these offices are on the same level, if not worse.
I have been trying for weeks to get some info from both the FP and someone to sort out why I suddenly cannot access my Gateway pension account, although my partner can get straight into theirs at the same time. So it is not a computer system from our side but something has been put on my account to block access by me.
Do you think we actually enjoy spending hours trying to speak someone, either to be cut off or told, after almost an hour of waiting for the call to be answered, that their computers are not working properly and so cannot tell me anything?
If they would just fix my online access I would gladly never talk to these people again. 
Those who stand up for the public offices are probably other civil service members or ex workers of those departments.  

Gollygumdrops

“I appreciated the nature of your complaint and sympathised.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79987334/#Comment_79987334

I was never a Civil Servant but did at one time work for a very busy organisation with a backlog.

Overtime was compulsory, the phone was always answered and always with courtesy - any complaint from a member of the public was taken seriously and investigated.

Considering the standards to which those in my former employment were required to work, I am appalled at the level to which they have now fallen in public and private organisations.”

Thanks xylophone. 

These others who leave “I don’t understand why people go on at government public run services, as they are no worse than others in the private sector” need to wind their necks in.  

WE are paying for these public run offices from our taxes so would these people be happy if we stopped paying our taxes until the service improved?  We are not being properly served and yes our utilities may be bad but I and all other taxpayers OWN these government offices, not the politicians and the civil servants. 

Let them try hanging on the phone, for days at a time, for several weeks, in an effort to speak to someone and let us see if they are so happy about the situation.  I have to wait on the phone now because they have somehow disabled my access to my online account, so its not as though I can just say oh well I don’t need to speak to them!