To think HMRC are hiding behind the sofa, ignoring the phone?

[MomsNatter]

An hour i've just spent trying to speak to someone. I haven't been this angry in ages.

Got an overpayment notice for ALL the money they gave us in 11/12. At first was convinced they hadn't given us any money but luckily the time spent on hold gave me chance to check my statements

This is not what i'm angry about, as fair enough we earned more than expected - so far so lucky. But what really pisses me off is that you ring the number they give you, go through about 5 recorded messages only to be told this line can't deal with overpayments. I then ring another number and play lucky dip with the automated sytem again - only for the recorded message to say 'goodbye' cheerily. No kidding 5 attempts and half an hour later i press a number that actually gets you through to an advisor.

Then they're not accepting calls at this time. I try again and finally speak to someone who tells me he's not qualified to deal with overpayments. He transfers me. By this point I just what to pay the bloody overpayment and be done with it (a clever ploy to grind the buggers down by them i think!) i then speak to someone who can explain why they're taking all the money back. Right can i pay you? Oh no i can't deal with debt recovery! DEBT RECOVERY?!? Bastards. The only thing 'm pleased about is that i didn't swear at the man. So i'm swearing here.

BOLLOCKS! TWATS!

God help anyone whose going to struggle to make the repayments. The whole system makes it ten times more stressful than it needs to be.

[ThreeWheelsGood]

YANBU - if they were an actual company they'd get such poor reviews for customer services! Spent hours on hold to them in past.

[greenrabbits]

If all else fails get your MP to help?

[3littlefrogs]

Indeed they are the most incompetent bunch I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

It is only going to get worse as their staff have been cut drastically to save money. (Who knows how they are going to get the Jimmy Carr's of this world to pay their taxes now?)

The only people who are worse are the VAT mob. They are known to have driven people to suicide.

[WelshMaenad]

Conversely, I had an overpayment last year and found the experience of sorting it out very painless and the staff really helpful and empathetic. I must have been very lucky!

[carabos]

I spent 30 min on hold before eventually getting through to someone this morning. Apparently their systems were down last week, they couldn't deal with any queries so everyone was ringing back today.

My query was why had my refund cheque bounced? How can a cheque drawn on HMRC bounce?

If they were a business in the real world, three days of computer failure, no telephone service and bouncing cheques would mean they were heading to the wall...

[LIZS]

18 months ago they sent a demand for over 2k underpayment dating back to 2008/9 which dh paid. On Saturday he received a statement saying it should have been more than £800 less. He rang them today (systems down on Saturday) and yes we will get a cheque for the difference "in a few weeks"

Last year my mum (a pensioner) got a refund of £1000 for one year only to be told a few months later that it was a mistake as she had subsequently underpaid due to full allowances being set against her 2 pensions , both of which HMRC knew about as they have been paying out for over 10 years. She is still having to pay this off each month via paye despite appealing.

[financialwizard]

We owed some money to them as well due to an error on their part - I just sent them a cheque (I knew they had overpaid us and how much for). They cashed it end of situation. Not quite so easy if you don't have the money though.

[TiAAAAARGHo]

We only ever deal with them in writing - and lodge lots of official complaints that they then have to deal with. They are unbelievably useless ( and we only have I contact them in order to try to pay tax).

[wheresmespecs]

YANBU. they are effing awful to deal with. I'm self employed and VAT registered and get furious about how incompetent and hard to get hold of they are.

Every time I read some bleatingly moralistic announcement by the govt about tax and tax dodges etc, I think 'get your own fucking house in order and then we'd all be better off.'

[noisytoys]

We are paying back £5900 because of an error on their part dating back to since DD1 was born. We are paying back monthly, but because it was their error, they are "allowing" us to pay only 10% of our tax credits going forward. We will be paying it off forever!!