HMRC are incompetent!

[solwisesteve]

Web chat with HMRC in Feb about pension contributions.
They said put it in a letter. HMRC site shows they received the letter on 22 Feb and sent me a reply in March - reply never arrived.
Web chat with HMRC six weeks ago requesting a copy of the reply.
After two weeks copy letter not received.
Web chat with HMRC again requesting a copy of the reply.
After two weeks copy letter not received.
Web chat with HMRC again early last week and the guy said he would personally send me a copy of the reply letter.
Yesterday what arrives is a copy of the letter I sent TO THEM!!!

Just had 45min web chat with them AGAIN.
First off the rep. says there was no such letter.
Then she said there was.
Then she said that a request was sent across last week for a copy of the HMRC reply letter to be sent to me in March.
So I said 'yes but you sent me a copy of my letter NOT your letter'.
So the rep. says well why didn't you say that at the start.
My reply.. look all I want you to do is do what you said you would do!
After 5 mins the reply was you haven't replied to my message.
I paste a copy of my reply.
She says why do you keep on repeating yourself?
My reply... I give in. Just send me a copy of YOUR reply letter TO ME like you promised. End Chat.


Now wait another two weeks.


This is all because I didn't claim enough tax relief on a pension payment i.e. HMRC owes money TO ME. I bet if this was me owing THEM money then it would have been sorted a lot quicker PLUS interest!

[thebuffoon]

Web chat with HMRC in Feb about pension contributions.
They said put it in a letter. HMRC site shows they received the letter on 22 Feb and sent me a reply in March - reply never arrived.
Web chat with HMRC six weeks ago requesting a copy of the reply.
After two weeks copy letter not received.
Web chat with HMRC again requesting a copy of the reply.
After two weeks copy letter not received.
Web chat with HMRC again early last week and the guy said he would personally send me a copy of the reply letter.
Yesterday what arrives is a copy of the letter I sent TO THEM!!!

Just had 45min web chat with them AGAIN.
First off the rep. says there was no such letter.
Then she said there was.
Then she said that a request was sent across last week for a copy of the HMRC reply letter to be sent to me in March.
So I said 'yes but you sent me a copy of my letter NOT your letter'.
So the rep. says well why didn't you say that at the start.
My reply.. look all I want you to do is do what you said you would do!
After 5 mins the reply was you haven't replied to my message.
I paste a copy of my reply.
She says why do you keep on repeating yourself?
My reply... I give in. Just send me a copy of YOUR reply letter TO ME like you promised. End Chat.


Now wait another two weeks.


This is all because I didn't claim enough tax relief on a pension payment i.e. HMRC owes money TO ME. I bet if this was me owing THEM money then it would have been sorted a lot quicker PLUS interest!

I don't think we've a single branch of govt/civil service that is even slightly competent, not just HMRC. The MOD is hopeless having passed all our £1bn Type 45's in dock being botch repaired and our flightless aircraft carrier. Then you've got the MOJ who have just lost the case on Employment Tribunal fees and now face massive amounts of 'loss of chance' claims along with having just had to bung a massive amount of money at the privatised probation service failure. I could go on...

[solwisesteve]

I don't think we've a single branch of govt/civil service that is even slightly competent, not just HMRC. The MOD is hopeless having passed all our £1bn Type 45's in dock being botch repaired and our flightless aircraft carrier. Then you've got the MOJ who have just lost the case on Employment Tribunal fees and now face massive amounts of 'loss of chance' claims along with having just had to bung a massive amount of money at the privatised probation service failure. I could go on...

and don't get me started on the NHS! However are we straying into the world of politics so not suitable for G&D? ;-)

[afcneal]

HMRC are woefully inefficient, slow and incompetent. Staffed by imbeciles, supported by systems that don't seem to 'work properly'. No wonder the country is short of money.

[snowman]

I don't think we've a single branch of govt/civil service that is even slightly competent, not just HMRC. The MOD is hopeless having passed all our £1bn Type 45's in dock being botch repaired and our flightless aircraft carrier. Then you've got the MOJ who have just lost the case on Employment Tribunal fees and now face massive amounts of 'loss of chance' claims along with having just had to bung a massive amount of money at the privatised probation service failure. I could go on...

I generally wouldn't disagree, but the aircraft carrier isn't actually ready to accept aircraft (in service) is it?

They're still undertaking trials.

Ahead of a service life of 50 years, the 'delay' doesn't really seem very significant.

M

[bonzo697]

If you set up an online account you can check the status of queries and elect to receive letters electronically. It doesn't mean they'll be any more competent but you won't have to wait so long for letters not to arrive.

[KavKav]

It did not used to be like this! For those of us old enough to remember, the Civil Service were very much 'up themselves' and were very superior indeed BUT, they were dedicated, competent and VERY efficient in the multiplicity of operations they were responsible for.

It was not only the Civil Service though, large commercial organizations, the police, the banks, the MOD were run on a highly professional basis by professionals with long term strategies at the core of their operation. Nowadays everything seems to be run by incompetent massively overpaid chancers whose idea of 'long term strategy' is next week and 'back in the day' would only be allowed into a boardroom to polish the bloody table and then only under close supervision!

That computer system we just spent £180 MILLION on, it's crap, we need another one, who is to blame? BLAME? BLAME? Good Lord, we don't do BLAME, that is politically incorrect!!! We need to make more profit, "I know, let's increase car parking charges for our employees"! Our police force needs to save money, "I know, let's get rid of all of the CID officers with exemplary records of 20-30 odd years of thief taking behind them and replace them with 'Outreach' officers". Crime is on the increase, well fancy that!
Loyalty? Don't me bloody laugh!

Glad I am well out of it with my skin, pocket and sanity relatively intact and I feel very sorry for the poor buggers trying to carve a career for themselves these days!

Rant over and I thank you for your attention!

[solwisesteve]

I
That computer system we just spent £180 MILLION on, it's crap, we need another one, who is to blame? BLAME? BLAME? Good Lord, we don't do BLAME, that is politically incorrect!!!

Rant over and I thank you for your attention!

Spot on... you can't 'blame' anyone for their incompetence because that will upset them.

[Cynar]

The problem with the Civil Service is they try to run it like the private sector nowadays. The idea is it will be more efficient as a result. The problem is it’s not allowed to actually work like the private sector and ends up with the worst of both worlds.

[Passenger]

Spot on... you can't 'blame' anyone for their incompetence because that will upset them.

Ignorance is strength.

[snowman]

For those of us old enough to remember, the Civil Service were very much 'up themselves' and were very superior indeed BUT, they were dedicated, competent and VERY efficient in the multiplicity of operations they were responsible for.

When was that?

I worked within the DTI (As an IT contractor) in the mid 1980s.

The whole team I worked on (except the very top man) were contractors, because there was deadline...

When the coding was complete a team of Civil Service IT bods spent 3 weeks on a BASIC programming course and then came to us to take over as the support team.

I had a small change that I'd have been given 2 days to make and asked the Civil Servant if he was happy with 5 days to complete.

He replied "I expect so, but we're civil servants, so we can't be held to any deadline".

I was gobsmacked, so went to talk to the boss, who confirmed that indeed this was the case.

They were all utterly useless and wouldn't have lasted 'til lunchtime in the commercial world...

M.

[eletos]

A great deal of faith and money is being placed in the hands of highly paid contractors in the NHS at the moment. The DOH seems to have a limitless budget for highly paid unaccountable contractors who are being tasked with shaping the NHS landscape for the next decade or more. Nothing I have seen thus far fills me with any confidence.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kaiserphoenix]

The annoying thing
is that when we owe any of these bodies money, they suddenly become lightning efficient. Like councils, when i respond to an error in council tax or report an incorrect thing they take bloody ages to fix, refund etx. When i pass one no entry zone, literally NEXT DaY i get a letter with the photo of my car and everything! they can be efficient if they wanted!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[solwisesteve]

A great deal of faith and money is being placed in the hands of highly paid contractors in the NHS at the moment. The DOH seems to have a limitless budget for highly paid unaccountable contractors who are being tasked with shaping the NHS landscape for the next decade or more. Nothing I have seen thus far fills me with any confidence.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is a great deal of wasted resources and time in the NHS... let's face we've ALL suffered with the effects of lost results or cancelled appointments. Even worse when something happens but nobody is told so you get wasted resources.

Examples that have happened to me or nearest-and-dearest (and NOT a complete list by any means):

Went for a small op. Arrived early am. Gown on etc.... waited 3 hours to then be told the surgeon wasn't coming in (I later learnt that he decided to go any play golf). Mine and staff time wasted and also a bed!

Wife went for an op. All ready to go. At the last min there's a delay. Turns out someone didn't authorise the blood tests needed. The whole theatre was put on standby, empty, all afternoon trying to find out what went wrong. All the theatre staff and surgeon stood around for 6 hours until they decided to cancel. And, btw, wife was then put to the back of the waiting list, not the front, no, the back!

I went for a vasectomy. Procedure went fine. As anyone will know whose been through this, a few weeks later you have to have a sample test (know what I mean). After 4 weeks with no letter I phone up what's going on? No results. Oh the sample was lost.... I said sod it and got one of those test kits from online which arrived next day and the results were in by the evening (nod-nod).

Wifes mum had to go for a procedure. Booked for the Wednesday. Hospital transport arranged plus staff to escort her there. They arrive at the place. Drop her (plus staff) off. Then find out the doctors decided to have the day off!

and how many times have you (or relative) been effected by not being able to be discharged because the drugs or script you need to take with you hasn't been done? Bed wasted for hours and hours.

I could go on and on but you get the idea. Each instance above caused wasted NHS resources and time (and money... I'm sure the empty theatre and staff must have cost a load of wasted money, I bet the surgeon still got his pay!).

If the NHS would just buck its ideas up and stop making all these stupid mistakes then they'd suddenly have a load more staff time and resources. Maybe throwing more money at the NHS would fix things but, personally, I'm not willing to do it until they stop being so incompetent!

[Filterlab]

When I sent off the birth certificate and form for my second child's child benefit claim, I received the letter of consideration and the birth certificate back on the same day.

Two weeks later I received a letter stating the claim was rejected as they hadn't seen the birth certificate.

I called them and spoke to a chap, but no matter how slowly and carefully I explained that they'd returned the certificate to me (in one of their envelopes with accompanying note and reference number), he simply didn't understand that they'd sent it back.

I posted it back to them again Special Delivery and finally after six weeks they accepted it.

If they can't do something as simple as check a birth certificate, it makes one wonder how they even manage to sort tax collection correctly.

[soundood]

they owe me around £7K, accountant is owed £1300 and has put my bill on hold for now, everyone I have spoken too has been really helpful on the phone HMRC wise, but nothing so far, should have received this around June,

the wait continues..........

[zelig]

This sums up my experience thus far this year...

After a lengthy call in August to discuss the issue I was advised to await another statement.
Then this...

Thank you for using the secure message service.
I am sorry but there are no notes on your record regarding your telephone call on 24/08/17.

Useless would be an undertatement !

z

[Mick P]

Simple answer is to privatise them. There is no need for a public owned service to do what is essentially a simple task.

[alfat33]

Like providing broadband?

[dougair]

Simple answer is to privatise them. There is no need for a public owned service to do what is essentially a simple task.

What task is that then?

[johnthemull]

Years of underinvestment in public services takes it's toll

[Wallasey Runner]

They are Civil Servants after all. I was a Civil Servant for 34 years and I can testify that it is a form of institution that gives all sorts of rejects that normal society wouldn't employ somewhere to go on a Monday morning.

Sure, the odd idiot takes it seriously and is conscientious, but they normally get promoted out of harms way. For the rest, max out the flexi, ensure that you use you full sick leave 'entitlement' and generally have a laugh when you have to be there and after years of doing very little they send you home on a permanent basis on half pay for the rest of your life.

Offset the above against having to work for a living and it makes a 1% pay rise each year seem generous.

[johnthemull]

It seems to me that as humans we are condemned to live in a world where everyone is half right about most things and half wrong about the rest. The truth remains stubbornly elusive. The plural of anecdote is data

[solwisesteve]

Going back to the original post... still waiting for a copy of the letter they sent to me back in March!! If it's not here on Tuesday then I suppose another phone call to get the 4th copy sent out!

[solwisesteve]

Going back to the original post... still waiting for a copy of the letter they sent to me back in March!! If it's not here on Tuesday then I suppose another phone call to get the 4th copy sent out!

Letter arrived yesterday post... MORE INCOMPETENCE!!!

Okay the reason why I never got the first reply or the three subsequent replies is because the HMRC has lost the original letter and, in fact, it was lost before it even got sent out or recorded! Letter received yesterday basically says we know a reply letter was written but after that it all gets a bit vague. No apologies for the fact that I've asked three times for a copy of the original reply letter they SAID they sent or any sorry for NOT sending out the first reply or for not telling me before hand or for being just a bunch of idiots. Now it's all start from scratch. I'd like to say unbelievable but, tbh, I can 100% believe it :-(

[solwisesteve]

The end to the story...

Not received any letters or communication back from HMRC about the tax refund BUT today I spotted a £447 credit into my bank with the ref 'HMRC SA' :-) Taken 10 months but finally a result! :-)

Oh and also two letters from HMRC saying in letter number one you owe us £1600 and then, in the second letter, saying this is now revised to zero.

[Dazzler]

Excellent - may I suggest Eddie's PRS-29A?

[solwisesteve]

Excellent - may I suggest Eddie's PRS-29A?

Actually I'd already spent this a couple of weeks ago; the credit card statement hasn't arrived yet though ;-)