MSE News: Thousands vent Twitter fury at HMRC over long call waits

Former_MSE_Paloma · 9 September 2015 at 10:51AM

Frustrated callers tweeted HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) more than 11,500 times over the past year to complain...

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Thousands vent Twitter fury at HMRC over long call waits

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ivyleaf · 9 September 2015 at 11:08AM

My husband had occasion to ring HMRC a few weeks ago and had to wait about an hour.....

MABLE · 9 September 2015 at 12:10PM

I rang first thing in the morning and still had to wait 35 minutes. However one thing I was advised by the advisor that if you are a pensioner and and its something to do with your tax code just say pension tax code when prompted and you jump the queue.

Ian011 · 9 September 2015 at 10:07PM

At least these calls are now on 0300 and 0345 numbers and not on expensive 0845 and 0870 numbers.

If you're paying a per-minute rate for calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers, you're probably on the wrong tariff or with the wrong provider. Most people call these numbers as part of an inclusive call plan.

Make sure you have an inclusive call plan that covers all of the calls you make to 01, 02 and 03 numbers.

mallard · 9 September 2015 at 10:31PM

Had to ring three times in the last couple of months to get things sorted...first time was 30 minutes, second 45 minutes and last 25 minutes.

Even worse they ignored what i requested over two years with my tax codes saying they were right and i would be fine. Then i ended up underpaying so they clawed it back through tax code so i was over two hundred worse off a month. I rang and they said it was fine and adjusted it again despite me arguing they were wrong and so i suddenly owed them more. After three more calls they have adjusted it to what it originally was two years before and suddenly i owe them two thousand less. Idiots! :mad::mad::mad:

miller · 10 September 2015 at 9:41AM

HMRC_spokesperson wrote:

An HMRC spokesperson says: "We are sorry that some customers have struggled to get hold of us, but this unscientific and out-of-date survey of tweets does not represent the real picture now.

That's alright then; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjK2Oqrgic

DKLS · 10 September 2015 at 9:43AM

17 mins today for HMRC and 22 mins for VAT.

Extremely helpful and professional once I got through.

pauljose1 · 10 September 2015 at 4:03PM

This is what i wrote to my MP back in June.......

[FONT=&quot]As my MP I want to bring to your attention the blatant disregard HMRC has for its "customers".[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Apart for the general principle that it is one of the few organisations that operates in an unjust way, that you are guilty until you prove your innocence, and proving that they are the ones who are in the wrong is a challenge ![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The issue that caused me to write to you today is one of courtesy and respect, I am full time employed and run my own business so my time is precious, and I had reason to call HMRC this morning, on a VAT issue to do with my business.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When you call HMRC you get an infernal voice recognition system, being a Welshman living in Ayrshire, and not coming from Hampshire, the accent throws the system off, so the phone nearly goes out the window, BUT then after navigating the menu, you get a recorded message saying "we are very busy at the moment, please try again later" and it cuts you off......[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As a business owner, if I treated my customers with such distain I would not have a business for long, it is simply rude, discourteous and downright annoying. To top it all off I have to navigate the infernal menu system again, without knowing if they will cut me off again, it’s just wrong.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I did this 4 times this morning, the 4th time I told the infernal menu that I wanted to complain, and it cut me off in the same way! There is no email address to complain to on the web, hence why I’m emailing you.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]What they should be doing is telling their customers how long the estimated wait is, and we can choose to hold or not, don’t simply cut us off, because it smacks of fiddling the call numbers, number of calls on hold etc. to justify an operating model.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As my MP can I ask you pass this onto the relevant people at HMRC, and telephone call from them would be nice? We the hard working people of the UK are the customers of HMRC please treat us with some respect.[/FONT]

Print_Screen · 11 September 2015 at 6:47AM

This is a win win for HMRC surely. Save money but cutting staff and then when people can't get through to correct HMRC's mistakes fine them for non compliance.
Additionally force them to prove their innocence by.....thats right calling the phone line. :shocked:

MABLE · 11 September 2015 at 10:11AM

Rang this morning and when prompted I stated private pension tax codes and got through straight away. So it does work.

50Twuncle · 16 September 2015 at 3:32PM

femalemonarchfemalecanine wrote: »

there has been recruiting, but over all the net number of staff has dropped massively. Also the new folk do not get the same standard of training as they did years ago.

There are potentially several thousand refugees from Syria etc that will shortly be looking for employment ..

MSE News: Thousands vent Twitter fury at HMRC over long call waits

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