Twitter has erupted over delays with HMRC’s helpline. During a 12 month period, between September 2014 and August 2015, over 11,500 tweets were directed at HM Revenue & Customs from furious callers following lengthy waits to speak to an adviser.
The average waiting time for individuals calculated from complaining tweets totalled a huge 47 minutes. This is over four times more than the waiting time claimed by HMRC which stands at just 10 minutes.
Waiting times could not only leave tax recipients frustrated and sometimes out of pocket as they would be unable to update HMRC regarding their circumstances but also cause excessive phone bills. An individual holding for 47 minutes would receive a bill of £4.66. This is because HMRC are 0300 helplines therefore the charges are local landline rates.
In addition, if an individual is unable to update HMRC, they may continue to receive demand for payments that are not actually due.
Although, the tax authority has criticised the technique used to analyse 34,000 tweets that mentioned the authority’s twitter account (@HMRCgovuk) and issued the following statement:
“We are sorry that some customers have struggled to get hold of us, but this unscientific and out of date survey of tweets does not represent the real picture now.”
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