The rankings are drawn up from across a range of many businesses where a comparison is made of ‘please press’ option menus, the time taken to reach the actual service wanted and customer feedback.
According to website PleasePress1.com, which offers lists of phone option menus to frustrated consumers and which produced the list, HMRC beat all other companies with a potential 400 different menu options over just six services.
However, as Mike Down, head of tax risk and investigation management group at Baker Tilly points out, no “mention is made of the time spent waiting for the phone to be answered or of the frustration of never speaking to the same person twice”.
Down also wonders whether tax agents are in a better position as they have a dedicated agent line.
“What if agents want to contact HMRC about their own tax affairs? Can they use the dedicated agent line? Apparently not, because we know of one instance where – to get through on the special line – a tax agent had to register himself as an agent for himself. Let’s hope HMRC will receive the phone rage message loud and clear,” added Down.
