It’s that time when we all have to deal with the HMRC. Usually, our accountant deals with most of it, so it’s an organisation that I’m not often involved with.
I bet you understand the pain if you ever had to deal with HMRC. Sometimes I’ve nearly cried; sometimes, it takes the worst of me. It feels like it’s designed to make people angry.
But this time, I took a different approach. I started taking notes on how NOT to treat your customers. And I managed this post. So it’s not all bad.
Don’t create a frustration loop
Now I understand and am thankful that HMRC is secure, maybe too much because you can’t recover them ever again. Most companies will have a relatively straightforward way to recover these details via email. Forgetting your details for a system you only use once a year is not that difficult.
I clicked on Lost ID and Password, and they asked me to call a number, and a machine told me the details over the phone to go to the website, which, as I said, asked me to call.
I only persisted because it is HMRC; if it were another company, I would have given up on the first loop.
Be human
I spent two days solving my problem with HMRC and have only managed to speak to one person once. However, this person could easily be a robot as she would act like one. When I managed to get through, she asked for my verification information, which I got wrong, and automatically she said sorry, I couldn’t retrieve the details. Could she not be more human and say let’s try again? Or Prompt you to a solution?
Being nice is the easiest thing to do. Requires no skills and is the most significant ROI you’ll ever find.
Let your costumes to the complaint
This is a funny one. I can’t access my details, and I feel frustrated that there is no way. I went to the complaints page, and guess what? Yes, you need your login details to complain.
No one likes to get a claim. HRMC will never know about their loop problem because there is no way we can communicate or file a complaint about it. And that is possibly why their system doesn’t improve. But through complaints, you can learn and improve.
Conclusion
In conclusion, businesses without competition have little pressure for innovation and good customer service. Why would they?
HMRC should be very efficient and helpful as they are the people who collect taxes from businesses, and businesses don’t have any choice about it.
If you have had a similar problem before, it would be great to hear about it over social media or comments below.