Cannot believe the call handlers at the DWP .. :(

[Ryderr]

So firstly, I'd like to say that: yes, I know, noone is entitled to 'free money'....

Situation :
Daughter meets requirements for DLA.
Received her first 'annual statement' on Tuesday afternoon. Payment made Tuesday morning.
Payment didn't match what was on the letter, so I decided to ring up and ask for clarification of the letters new payment amounts (aware tax years, inflation, bank holidays, and other stuff can, and do, affect this) but wanted to clarify.
(other DWP encounters show sometimes a call is needed to make sure payments are right. Paid me over £900 quid in December when I was only entitled to a mere £4.27. So obviously I wanted to get the money to its rightful owner.)

Spend 4.5 hours on the call. Lovely music. Charged phone aswell! Nice.
Appreciate it was probably a busy day, if everyone had the same idea as me!

Call answered to a lady that sounded so fed up and tired :(
I start off nice, asking how her day had been etc. But that gets shut down.
'ref number and postcode, now' said the voice.
Call proceeded.
Get so far in to the situation and she let's out a big sigh.
Definitely not a good day to have called :(

She calls me stupid, saying how even though the payment increase happened on the Monday, the Tuesday payment was fine, and not wrong.
I then proceed to say sorry for the waste of time, thank her for the information, and wish her a good rest of the day.

I put the phone on the kitchen side , fully expecting the lady on the other end of the phone to end the call.....
NOPE.
she sits there discussing with her colleague saying how I'm 'yet another scrounging caller wanting more free money because I can't be bothered to raise my kids right'.
Meanwhile, i'm stood there, now recording her rant🤷🏻‍♀️

Few minutes pass and you can sort of hear her trailing off and then a 'ohno', and the call is abruptly disconnected.

Its now Friday.
Not sure how I feel about it all still.
No family to discuss this with.
Do I just go nurse my ego with a share bag of minstrels.?

Pretty sure I have read this exact post before on here!

It wouldn't happen in a dwp call centre. You'd be in so much shit immediately

I worked for DWP for many years - all the calls are recorded so make a complaint. She will be in trouble if she said those things to you.

Agree with some of the pp- find it very hard to believe she actually called you stupid.

This. If it happened, they'll have the recording. Not sure why you didn't end the call when finished talking.

If she did actually this then absolutely complain and have her head on the block. I would also send the recording to your local papers, MP and the disability news service for good measure.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/

Not sure how I pushed her to call me stupid?
Was only a call to clarify information.

Looks like asking anything round here equates to you the bad guy.

Thankyou to those who confirmed my thought of calling back to complain.

All the calls are recorded so I doubt this happened exactly as you said.

Not sure how I pushed her to call me stupid?

What were her exact words though?

DWP call handlers have calls randomly monitored and marked throughout the month. I cannot imagine one of them would be silly enough to call a claimant stupid knowing that there is a huge risk that call could be the one that's picked.

OP I have to ask you, were you aware that DWP record all their calls. Because it says so as soon as you get through.

I think you made this up and didn't realise that mumsnetters would know about calls being recorded.

Also, instead of saying "oh yeah guys you're right, the calls ARE recorded. Thanks." You've gone on the defensive, suggesting we're unhelpful.

I believe that could happen op. I am not sure why the responses you have got as so hostile. The DWP call handlers are just as hostile at times as I have interacted with DWP and colleagues have and we have had some terrible encounters with very poor attitudes being displayed. I have no doubt what the op described could happen.

Yes complain there is a customer complaint process for the DWP

How did you manage to be on hold for so long? The system will kick you out of the queue when the lines are overwhelmed (as they have been this past few days). It will not let a caller hold for 4.5 hours.

I'll be honest. I've phoned the DWP many, many times for various reasons. Despite the odd 'computer says no' response, they have always been unfailingly polite, even if they can't help.

This is such nonsense 😂

I work as a call handler, not for DWP, but something very similar. She wouldn't dare (a) call you stupid, and (b) slag you off unless she was absolutely sure the call was disconnected. Even then, chances are slim, she'd already be on the next call.
She'd lose her job for any of these things. If she's prepared to do the job in the first place, she wouldn't be able to afford to lose it. Trust me.

Also, believe it or not, rude callers are like water off a ducks back to us. We are so used to it, it's just a normal part of our day.

Dla is paid in arrears so Tuesday'spaynent was for the last four weeks. That's why it was still at the previous tax years rates.

I believe the OP.
I once watched a programme where they secretly recorded a DWP assessment.. even before the client went into the interview the assessor looked at the clients paperwork.. spoke to his colleague and said " well it's a big fat NO for him.. looks like another scrounger" and that was just one example .
When my friend was on a call with her selective mutism ASD teenage daughter.. . She heard the assessor say to someone.. ( probably not realising they had been connected) .. oh here we go another one trying to claim for " flaming Autism..I'm sick of it now".
There is YouTube videos of WDP interviews.. being aggressive and lying.
One asked a man with one lung.." when do you think the other lung will grow back".
There is a lot of this kind of adversity going on with the WDP.
I myself have had nasty call handlers.. as if its their money out of their pocket they are giving you.

Who secretly recorded it?

I commented earlier but just realised that you’re definitely talking out your arse.

If the phones line were that busy, a call would’ve come straight through after you had ended.
The call handler would have obviously realised and known you hadn’t hung up (which why didn’t you?! What a weird thing to do)

Hello, yes I know about recorded calls.
I have not gone on the defensive.
I'm just trying to find my way through this.

I was under the impression that asking my phone provider for a copy of the call was probably the right thing do?

And thankyou to the poster for the comment about being paid in arrears. I was unaware of that, and cannot find correspondence to confirm, otherwise I wouldn't have rang in the first place.

Great help, thanks for the input.

Am just thunderstruck by this When I called my phone provider to get a copy of the full recording they said they cannot provide this anymore - not sure what rules have changed since 2007 (maybe someone can help with a link, not sure where to go looking?)
Your phone provider records all your phone calls??

Your phone provider doesn't record your calls, surely? The DWP do though. If this is true (and I'll eat my own pants if it is), the call handler deserves to lose her job, so have at it.

They will have headsets and the calls put through by a computer.

I manage people who take emergency calls, and yes sometime people do stupid things even though they know the calls are recorded. I think you sort of forget really as you are just on the phone all day. I had to take someone off calls due to something they said to one of their callers it was that bad and I couldn’t have them doing it again - massive background to this but it does happen

That’s what I thought, too. I don’t think phone providers have ever been able to supply that, pre-2007 or now. Or surely it would come up in court cases constantly.

I have needed a phone call recording in the past.
Was asked for date/times of the call, and was provided with an audio file of it.
Haven't needed it since then, and didn't know anything had changed.