Why the F**K is HMRC so BL**DY incompetent?
Discussion
I'm on hold on the telephone right now. To HMRC VAT department.
Why?
Because, having submitted my VAT return online, I was told "this service is unavailable right now." After I had put in all the figures.
So I called the 'help'line. Took a few details off me, I pointed out that the details were irrelevant to my enquiry (which was "when will this service be back up?"), to be told that the service was unavailable but the submission may have happened successfully and I was just unable to get a confirmation number.
Me: How do I tell whether this has worked?
HMRC t
t: Well sir, you need to try re-submitting the return and seeing whether it will accept it. If it won't, then it has been submitted successfully already. But it may take 24 hours to be submitted.
Me: OK, so how do I tell NOW whether it has been successful?
HMRC tt: I can tell you sir.
Me: Oh, OK, well ... care to tell me then?
HMRC tt: Well sir, I will need the entry from Box 5 of your last return to confirm your identity. (NOTE: I had already given them company name, address, VAT number, my name. What one figure from one box on a previous return will confirm is nothing more than that someone else can see my VAT returns.)
Me: Well I don't have my previous returns with me. (They are in another office.) And I may add that I don't take kindly to being pissed around looking for details when all I need is for you to confirm to me that your system is working as it should.
HMRC tt: Sir, I will have to ask you to stop using that language with me, otherwise I will have to terminate the call. Can you confirm the number in box 5 ... yada yada yada.
Me: No, I can't, as I said. I don't have the details, and I would check them on-line but it appears that the system is down.
HMRC tt: Well in that case we can't confirm your identity so we can't confirm whether the submission has been received, sir.
Me: I'd better speak to a supervisor then, hadn't I?
Two points to note:
1. I can well believe everything I read and hear about the fking abysmal incompetence of HMRC.
2. The proposals to let these clowns get hold of everyone's pay, tax it and then pay it to the people in question would be quite funny, if they weren't so utterly, utterly tragic.
3 months ago I was hopeful that Cameron et al would sort out disgraces like HMRC. Of late, this hope has diminished significantly.
OK,
P.S. Still on hold. The call is now 17 minutes long, and counting ...
Why?
Because, having submitted my VAT return online, I was told "this service is unavailable right now." After I had put in all the figures.
So I called the 'help'line. Took a few details off me, I pointed out that the details were irrelevant to my enquiry (which was "when will this service be back up?"), to be told that the service was unavailable but the submission may have happened successfully and I was just unable to get a confirmation number.
Me: How do I tell whether this has worked?
HMRC t
t: Well sir, you need to try re-submitting the return and seeing whether it will accept it. If it won't, then it has been submitted successfully already. But it may take 24 hours to be submitted. Me: OK, so how do I tell NOW whether it has been successful?
HMRC t
t: I can tell you sir. Me: Oh, OK, well ... care to tell me then?
HMRC t
t: Well sir, I will need the entry from Box 5 of your last return to confirm your identity. (NOTE: I had already given them company name, address, VAT number, my name. What one figure from one box on a previous return will confirm is nothing more than that someone else can see my VAT returns.) Me: Well I don't have my previous returns with me. (They are in another office.) And I may add that I don't take kindly to being pissed around looking for details when all I need is for you to confirm to me that your system is working as it should.
HMRC t
t: Sir, I will have to ask you to stop using that language with me, otherwise I will have to terminate the call. Can you confirm the number in box 5 ... yada yada yada. Me: No, I can't, as I said. I don't have the details, and I would check them on-line but it appears that the system is down.
HMRC t
t: Well in that case we can't confirm your identity so we can't confirm whether the submission has been received, sir. Me: I'd better speak to a supervisor then, hadn't I?
Two points to note:
1. I can well believe everything I read and hear about the f
king abysmal incompetence of HMRC. 2. The proposals to let these clowns get hold of everyone's pay, tax it and then pay it to the people in question would be quite funny, if they weren't so utterly, utterly tragic.
3 months ago I was hopeful that Cameron et al would sort out disgraces like HMRC. Of late, this hope has diminished significantly.
OK,
P.S. Still on hold. The call is now 17 minutes long, and counting ...
I sincerely hope that you have better experiences with them than I do. However, I suspect I hope in vain ...
Nope. An eMail arrived telling me that I had successfully submitted my VAT return while I was waiting for the supervisor toget his fingers out of his arse and talk to me, so I hung up.
I wonder how much of the UK tax bill is represented by the cost of running HMRC? I'm sure that figure isn't that hard to find out, if you can look up the right sources ...
Oli.
Nope. An eMail arrived telling me that I had successfully submitted my VAT return while I was waiting for the supervisor to
I wonder how much of the UK tax bill is represented by the cost of running HMRC? I'm sure that figure isn't that hard to find out, if you can look up the right sources ...
Oli.
14-7 said:
zcacogp said:
3 months ago I was hopeful that Cameron et al would sort out disgraces like HMRC. Of late, this hope has diminished significantly.
So you think in 3 months Cameron should be able to sort out the HMRC, Police, Fire, Amblance, tax system, vehicle excise licences, unemployment and pretty much everything else that labour left knackered?
No. Not realistically. Perhaps I am just becoming disillusioned about the coalition, but my hopes of stupidity like this being ended swiftly are ebbing away.
Oli.
DonkeyApple said:
Simpo Two said:
Arging with computers is pointless.
Reasoning with unaccountable civil servants is pointless.
Add the unnacountable civil servants to the computers and there's your problem.
Maybe it would help is civil servants were switched off and back on again when they stop operating properly? Reasoning with unaccountable civil servants is pointless.
Add the unnacountable civil servants to the computers and there's your problem.
Oli.
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