Rude Border Control and HMRC staff.

[ohnovino]

HMRC aren't just rude, they're breathtakingly incompetent too.

I work in childcare, and at this time of year we get loads of enquires from HMRC about people on tax credits, to see if their real childcare costs match what they claim they're paying. Occasionally you get someone vaguely intelligent on the phone, but most of the time it's as if you're talking a foreign language.

One recent example. A single mother with three children got a very snotty phone call to say her tax credits would be stopped and they would be clawing back past payments because she hadn't been paying a penny towards her childcare. She phoned us in tears, so I got on to HMRC.

Me: "Why are you saying she hasn't been paying for her childcare?"
HMRC: "I have the statement here and there are no payments on it."
Me: "Can you see the labels at the top?"
HMRC: "Yes."
Me: "What's the label on the third column?"
HMRC: "It says 'Payments'."
Me. *deep breath* "Well, that's the column with the payments in."
HMRC: "Oh. I wondered what that was. It's not very clear what those figures are, is it?"
Me: "The figures with 'Payments' written above them?"
HMRC: "Well, I suppose it sounds clear when you say it like that..."
Me: "What did you think those numbers were, then?"
HMRC: "I don't know. I didn't really look at them..."
Me: "Did you not think it was odd that we'd give someone childcare for a whole year without getting them to pay?"
HMRC: *silence*
Me: *getting more patronising now* "Did you not think that perhaps that was something you should check before cancelling her tax credits on a whim?"
HMRC: "Ummm..."

 

[Jenkins]

Previously separate Customs and Immigration services have been amalgamated into a single unit under the UK Border Force.

You’ve been told that, as a department, you’re not fit for purpose. Previous management suspended the full checks (with or without Ministerial approval) and the reintroduction of the checks led to people being held up returning from holiday as there wasn’t enough staff available due to Government cutbacks yet it’s the frontline staff who bear the brunt of the complaints.

Your new boss (PC Plod on loan who can walk away from it at the end if it goes wrong) says you’re basically lazy and scruffy with no good points and insists on having ALL the staff bussed to roadshows to personally tell them this and to present his vision for the future.

For the employees there will be a pay freeze for the next 2 years and a 1% pay rise after that. You will also have to work longer and pay more in to receive a lesser pension despite the previous promises.

ALL the focus is on the Immigration aspect leaving the former Customs staff resentful and being forced to do work they have little or no training in.

The Olympics are coming up – because of this you’ve been banned from taking leave in that period due to all the extra visitors. There isn’t enough staff to cover the work so people are being re-deployed from all over the country to the London airports whether they want to be there or not. This leaves further shortages back at their home port/airport some aspects of which are covered by untrained contractors for which the money HAS been found!.

NOW why do you think they are grumpy?

(I am not one of the people involved before assumptions are made)

 

[User269]

HMRC aren't just rude, they're breathtakingly incompetent too.

I work in childcare, and at this time of year we get loads of enquires from HMRC about people on tax credits, to see if their real childcare costs match what they claim they're paying. Occasionally you get someone vaguely intelligent on the phone, but most of the time it's as if you're talking a foreign language.

One recent example. A single mother with three children got a very snotty phone call to say her tax credits would be stopped and they would be clawing back past payments because she hadn't been paying a penny towards her childcare. She phoned us in tears, so I got on to HMRC.

Me: "Why are you saying she hasn't been paying for her childcare?"
HMRC: "I have the statement here and there are no payments on it."
Me: "Can you see the labels at the top?"
HMRC: "Yes."
Me: "What's the label on the third column?"
HMRC: "It says 'Payments'."
Me. *deep breath* "Well, that's the column with the payments in."
HMRC: "Oh. I wondered what that was. It's not very clear what those figures are, is it?"
Me: "The figures with 'Payments' written above them?"
HMRC: "Well, I suppose it sounds clear when you say it like that..."
Me: "What did you think those numbers were, then?"
HMRC: "I don't know. I didn't really look at them..."
Me: "Did you not think it was odd that we'd give someone childcare for a whole year without getting them to pay?"
HMRC: *silence*
Me: *getting more patronising now* "Did you not think that perhaps that was something you should check before cancelling her tax credits on a whim?"
HMRC: "Ummm..."

Not unlike my conversation I had today regarding import duty charges on a parcel from my friend in the US containing his cycling stuff for me to take out to France in a couple of weeks when we meet up.

 

[User269]

Previously separate Customs and Immigration services have been amalgamated into a single unit under the UK Border Force.

You’ve been told that, as a department, you’re not fit for purpose. Previous management suspended the full checks (with or without Ministerial approval) and the reintroduction of the checks led to people being held up returning from holiday as there wasn’t enough staff available due to Government cutbacks yet it’s the frontline staff who bear the brunt of the complaints.

Your new boss (PC Plod on loan who can walk away from it at the end if it goes wrong) says you’re basically lazy and scruffy with no good points and insists on having ALL the staff bussed to roadshows to personally tell them this and to present his vision for the future.

For the employees there will be a pay freeze for the next 2 years and a 1% pay rise after that. You will also have to work longer and pay more in to receive a lesser pension despite the previous promises.

ALL the focus is on the Immigration aspect leaving the former Customs staff resentful and being forced to do work they have little or no training in.

The Olympics are coming up – because of this you’ve been banned from taking leave in that period due to all the extra visitors. There isn’t enough staff to cover the work so people are being re-deployed from all over the country to the London airports whether they want to be there or not. This leaves further shortages back at their home port/airport some aspects of which are covered by untrained contractors for which the money HAS been found!.

NOW why do you think they are grumpy?

(I am not one of the people involved before assumptions are made)

Spot on! We pay our taxes, these organisations are endlessly reorganised, cut back, and expected to do more and more. I had over 30 years in the NHS trying to get on with my job while all this was going on every few months.

BUT..............and because I believe the NHS continued to deliver against all the odds, there is a culture in Border Control and HMRC of incompetence, inefficiency and failure to deliver an acceptable level of customer service. The extent of my own personal gripe was having some 12 year old oaf calling me 'mate' when wanting to check the boot of my car at Portsmouth ferry terminal, but what I took issue with was the staff who in full earshot of me and the victims were clearly heard saying "check those wogs, checkout those wogs" with regard to the two young boys who were behind us in the queue.

 

[Glow worm]

Nuff said!

 

[Thomk]

I've never had any issues with the above mentioned officials, and have always found them to be courteous and efficient

This from someone who lives a stones throw from Luton Airport!! I've been the victim of rude drongo's in the USA, Moscow and even East Germany before the wall came down but Luton Airport customs takes first prize in the "who can be the rudest, stupidest, ugliest, interbred smelly socks competition" by a long way.

 

[Globalti]

Grumpy cold behaviour is what people default to when they're not sufficiently confident in themselves that they can judge their customers and relax with them.

Not many public servants (and I include waiters and hotel staff) know how to achieve the fine balance between formality and being relaxed with clients, guests or customers. Generally the French are better at it than we are, in my opinion.

 

[User269]

Nuff said!

If only I could be welcomed by such a friendly and helpful face as this on my return to the UK! Dream on!

 

[Alun]

Spot on! We pay our taxes, these organisations are endlessly reorganised, cut back, and expected to do more and more. I had over 30 years in the NHS trying to get on with my job while all this was going on every few months.

BUT..............and because I believe the NHS continued to deliver against all the odds, there is a culture in Border Control and HMRC of incompetence, inefficiency and failure to deliver an acceptable level of customer service. The extent of my own personal gripe was having some 12 year old oaf calling me 'mate' when wanting to check the boot of my car at Portsmouth ferry terminal, but what I took issue with was the staff who in full earshot of me and the victims were clearly heard saying "check those wogs, checkout those wogs" with regard to the two young boys who were behind us in the queue.

I wouldn't let him check the boot of my car if he was only 12, are you sure you haven't made a mistake there? I'd want to speak to his parents !

 

[colly]

Friedrichstrasse, East Germany. Faced sprayed with spittle, strip-searched, buttocks parted with the barrel of a gun. Left naked for half an hour in a cell, .

Ok that's an interesting insight into your personal jollies but what happened at the customs office?

 

[slowmotion]

I have never had many problems with Immigration/Customs. The US people are humourless robots these days, but they were not always that way. Coming home from Mexico with a connecting flight in Miami, I was asked all the usual questions by a very, very large lady with a gun on her hip, in about 1976. " I have a pineapple in my bag", I declared. She looked at me...."Sorry could you repeat that?" I did. She asked again, and I obliged.

She grinned broadly, and then threw back her head and roared with laughter.

" I just love the way you Brits say "Pineeeyappple"

 

[perplexed]

I've had a run in with HMRC.

I had a somewhat "blunt" letter from them saying I owed about £2000 in tax.

WTF! I'd always paid on time, the full amount which they'd worked out!

Naturally I phoned them.

HMRC: "But the figures you gave were wrong, so it was worked out incorrectly."

Me: "Do you mean the figures where it says "use these figures for your tax return"?

HMRC: "Yes"

Me: "So I shouldn't use the figures which you say I should in black and white, here on the page in front of me?"

HMRC: "No".

Much arguing later, and I still have to pay the cash. Which I haven't got.

Can I pay it over a period of time?

No. And we charge interest. Daily. Starting now...


Words fail.

 

[Andrew_P]

I would go back to them, or if you dare wait until it gets passed on to debt management.

Not 100% sure on the interest quote, but every case I know of where someone has debt to HMRC under 5k they should offer to adjust your Tax Code to a lower but still sensible level. Then if you are employed and paying PAYE it comes out of your salary naturally.

I would always ask them to put it in writing.

 

[Red Light]

I haven't witnessed any problems, although I don't see them smile very often. I don't think they are exempt from a code of conduct and if you have any issues perhaps you should detail them in a letter of complaint.

Not a good idea. I recruited someone from the Far East and had a specialist law firm handle all the immigration paperwork. Recruit arrived at Heathrow with his family to be told his papers were out of order, he and his family would be deported on the next plane, sat for hours in a room while they were investigated and I had the law firm intervene and get them admitted to the country. When I discussed it with the law firm the next day they confirmed the papers were all in order but it happened a lot and was illegal. I suggested filing a complaint and they recommended strongly against unless we wanted to be targeted by Border Control for special attention in future.

Any yet despite this and all the stories and experiences in this thread, there is no shortage of people standing up to defend the public sector against attempts to reform them. In my experience those who deal with the unemployed and disadvantaged in society are equally as bad for the way they treat people.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Any yet despite this and all the stories and experiences in this thread, there is no shortage of people standing up to defend the public sector against attempts to reform them. .

Your political prejudices are showing. It's not really just because the border agents are from the public sector, but rather more to do with the fears generated and powers conferred by 'security' in a world when everything and everybody is presented as a potential threat - those pressures will of course be made worse, as people have remarked above, by restructuring and job stress. If you have ever had to deal with private security in similar kinds of capacities, you will realize that it is certainly no better, and in many cases much nastier and less well trained.