{"id":1794,"date":"2023-08-28T11:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T11:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2023-08-28T11:38:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T11:38:08","slug":"how-many-times-can-you-say-customer-and-still-be-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/how-many-times-can-you-say-customer-and-still-be-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"How many times can you say ‘customer’ and still be wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Thursday 27th<\/sup>July HMRC issued it\u2019s \u201cProfessional Standards for compliance\u201d.<\/a> I know I\u2019m batting zero when I say that I\u2019m fed up with being called a \u201cCustomer\u201d, it\u2019s never going to be changed back to taxpayer despite the fact that I am a taxpayer that engages with HMRC who are the correct recipients of my taxes. I am not a customer of HMRC because customers have choices don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new modern HMRC love the idea that they are some sort of open all hours shop run and managed by a kindly Albert Arkwright and that they and they alone truly understand the shopper. Rather than provide what the shopper actually wants they will supply a set of Standards about how they will deliver the goods that their customers cannot buy anywhere else because it\u2019s good publicity and shows them in a nice bright yet worm light.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their standard comprises 4 standards split into 6 key requirements and these standards are getting things right, being aware of our customers\u2019 situation, being responsive \u2013 communicating with customers and finally treating customers fairly. All laudable standards that anyone would have a hard time arguing against after all \u201cgetting things right\u201d and \u201cbeing responsive\u201d and \u201ctreating customers fairly\u201d shouldn\u2019t really need saying let alone writing down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet I\u2019m drawn to Standard 2. \u201cBeing aware of our customer\u2019s situation\u201d it starts by saying \u201cwe will make it as easy as possible for our customers to engage with HMRC compliance activity\u201d but how is that achieved or even achievable when they unilaterally close down the telephone helplines for their customers? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do the standard writer\u2019s feel when on Saturday 29th<\/sup> July a concerned individual is forced to write to a National Newspaper consumer section for help with the following \u201cHelp! How can HMRC shut it\u2019s contact centre?\u201d  they go on to say \u201cI have tried on numerous occasions to phone HMRC on 0300 200 3310 without success \u2013 I simply get the message that they cannot take calls at this time. On the HMRC website, it now states that the service is closed until 4 September 2023\u201d the paper\u2019s consumer champion replies includes this \u201cMy first reaction was that there must be some sort of mistake. But you are right: HMRC has shut it contact centre\u201d I\u2019m thinking he must have read the standard when it was issued and couldn\u2019t believe that shutting the contact centre was in line with \u201cwe will make it as easy as possible for our customers to engage with HMRC\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announcing the closure on 4th<\/sup> June HMRC said \u201cThis will free up 350 advisers (full-time equivalent) to take urgent calls on other lines and answer customer correspondence. If focused on urgent calls, these advisers will answer around 6,600 each day, ensuring more customers who really need to speak to an adviser can do so.\u201d Think on this for a moment, the poor newspaper correspondent had an urgent call but 6,600 souls with problems had more urgent and compelling problems than his own and of course he didn\u2019t \u201cReally need to speak to an adviser\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seriously, HMRC should stop with the \u201cSpin\u201d and concentrate on the job in hand and recognise that their \u201cCustomers\u201d want to call and talk to a human whenever they have a problem, not all of them, not all the time, but sometimes when it suit\u2019s them when they need an answer. If HMRC cannot provide that because of budgetary restraints than say so and be upfront and honest. They may well find that their customers understand and will back them, I for one would for sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Thursday 27thJuly HMRC issued it\u2019s \u201cProfessional Standards for compliance\u201d. I know I\u2019m batting zero when I say that I\u2019m fed up with being called a \u201cCustomer\u201d, it\u2019s never going to be changed back to taxpayer despite the fact that I am a taxpayer that engages with HMRC who are the correct recipients of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1854,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}