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'Compensation' from HM Revenue and Customs?
To cut a long story short HM R&C messed up my working tax credits a few weeks ago where they paid it in to an account I could not access the money from despite my previously calling them to change the account and them telling me twice it had all be taken care of.
I wrote in to complain about it but to make things worse they replied having totally misunderstood my issue which annoyed me even more so I complained about the original matter plus them not reading my initial letter correctly. All I wanted was for them to get their act together and not mess around with people's lives in that way.
Out of the blue I received a letter from them not only acknowledging they messed up both times but they have also offered me some compensation which I was totally surprised at as that's not what I was aiming for and certainly didn't hint at. I didn't even know R&C did that sort of thing.
Anyway the letter said it would be put in to my (correct) account within 28 days but I was wondering if anyone knows how long it normally takes? I'm not being impatient or ungrateful as I wasn't expecting it but any guidance would be appreciated.
I wrote in to complain about it but to make things worse they replied having totally misunderstood my issue which annoyed me even more so I complained about the original matter plus them not reading my initial letter correctly. All I wanted was for them to get their act together and not mess around with people's lives in that way.
Out of the blue I received a letter from them not only acknowledging they messed up both times but they have also offered me some compensation which I was totally surprised at as that's not what I was aiming for and certainly didn't hint at. I didn't even know R&C did that sort of thing.
Anyway the letter said it would be put in to my (correct) account within 28 days but I was wondering if anyone knows how long it normally takes? I'm not being impatient or ungrateful as I wasn't expecting it but any guidance would be appreciated.
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It's HMRC. It's their job. 'Helped' by some overly complex IT systems that executives thought could replace humans that possess common sense.
They usually try to evade or avoid it, but it has been known. If you're unlucky, they'll later tax & fine you for the compensation as undeclared income or something. If you want to push things further, you could also complain to the ICO about mistakes with their data and data handling under the Data Protection Act.
I've had repayments credited within a week, but HMRC can move in mysterious ways.
If that's not getting blood out of a stone I don't know what is !!!
In fairness they didn't refer to it as 'compensation', but "a payment not intended to put a value on the worry and stress suffered but to recognise we were the cause of it".
Having previously worked in the civil service I wasn't aware they made payments like that and again it's not what I was aiming for or expected. Without going in to unnecessary detail it was caused by human error rather than procedure or IT, but going on the rest of the letter I'm happy to consider it dealt with and now closed.
But if they could get the money to me this week I'd be even more happy
I think a call to the complaints number tomorrow (to ask) will be in order...
Anyway I won't complain too much
Don't hold your breath,, I was told in November I would get money owed. I got it in April!
How long is a piece of string? It will take up to 28 days.
All you need to be worried about is that it does happen within 28 days. If not, ring them up and get it sorted.
Well there you go. Good on you.
ETA. Kudos for getting compensation out of the HMRC. That's nothing short of a miracle IMO.
Erm....read the previous post?
Cheers but I don't deserve kudos, I wasn't expecting or asking for anything from them other than perhaps an apology. In fact I'd say kudos to them for offering it. I won't say how much they gave me but it was more than the amount I'd initially lost due to their incompetence.
Still, all's well that ends well etc
It's a well-known scam, the HMRC would never make contact via email. I get them occasionally too.