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Geraldine Nichols

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Review of the HMRC, Personal:

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Incompetent system and staff

I would have given no stars but did not have that option. The HMRC took half my neighbour's wage off him this week with no warning. He apparently owes them just over £400 from last year and they took £180 this week from £360 gross wage - leaving him with no way of paying his rent. The incompetent I spoke to took up most of my day stating the obvious I.e. He owes us the money so we can take it without warning. The guy is polish and does not understand but is petrified as he has 2 children and could be thrown out of his house. The operative from HMRC said she didn't believe that but I know it is true because of the documents he has signed. When he was asked to give his permission for them to speak to me he even had to ask the operative to repeat herself as she had a very strong Scottish accent which I who have English as my first language struggled to understand. Why are our systems so incompetent - by anybody's standards to take half of someone's weekly wage is ridiculous and should invoke a penalty. If we don't have dedicated phone lines or letters that can be provided in different languages then surely we could make it that people with very strong accents are not answering the phone - it's not rocket science is it - how did they ever meet the criteria for customer service????? Having spent more than half the day on the phone the best I got was that they will take £9 / week in future until the debt is paid. Why couldn't they have done that in the first place! The 'manager' I spoke to was clearly punching well below the intellectual weight for her position and when I mentioned the language she stated that 'they shouldn't come into the country if they can't speak the language and that it was their choice to do that' At no point did she understand this mess is because of their incompetence and not his. HMRC - the department and staff - Not Fit For Purpose Reviewed on: 3rd August 2016

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