Tax Is Easy - Here's The Proof

If you have a complex service or useless product, one of the quickest ways to find out just how wrong you have got it is by the number of phone calls or queries you get.

Here is the staggering verdict on the wonderful 'Tax is easy' TV campaigns we have seen. Last year, HMRC received a staggering 103 million calls from taxpayers - the peak at the tax credit renewal time in July. But here is the best part, 44 million of the calls were missed. So not only is tax not easy but the service surrounding querying and paying it is awful.

So that we are clear on the magnitude of how complex tax is, the 31 call centres around the country have the equivalent of 10,500 full time staff to take these calls - yet still this was nowhere near enough.

The National Audit Office called the service 'unacceptable' but this is like blaming the doorman for having only one entrance to Wembley stadium. If the design is rubbish then you will take millions of calls because people do not understand.

The growth in complexity in tax has been proportional to how much we pay over the last few years. Many people do not claim credits or get rebates because it is simply too difficult to understand who gets what and how to claim it. Also, it is very clear that even if you do work it all out, you have barely a 50% chance of getting through on the phone lines to check if you can or how to get it.

It's symptomatic of an ever more complex tax system that has spawned an industry in itself where even the lowest paid people are having to get their claims done or checked by fee-based accountants - it's a farce. And while you are hounded immediately for tax owed, don't hold your breath for payments of rebates as they come several months down the line and don't try to call as you will probably not get through.

The lunacy is that this level of service has actually 'improved' from last year with the number of missed calls down. The HMRC has responded by saying it is committed to providing a better and cheaper service - this is techno-speak for your calls will be answered by offshore people who will have access to your private details and drive you nuts because their job is to simply answer calls quicker but to fob you off not solve your problems - credit card companies like Marks & Spencer have that down to a tee.

So next year when you query your tax, you will likely have your call answered in the Philippines by someone who will confirm all your details and the amount owed and then say, 'The computer says no.'

The penny may drop, that if you decrease the complexity of the tax system, you would not need to have so many people to answer the phones as less people would call. But pigs will fly before that happens.

The Cost of Bad Service

Happy Boxing Day everyone. I hope Santa was good to you and you had a lovely Christmas.

I hate to pick on a sour note but something triggered my mind this Christmas to how poor service kills the experience of either buying things or at minimum using a service. Typically if things aren't going according to plan, our only recourse as customers or users is to call the company in question and either clarify or complain. We hit the dreaded call centre and the world of scripted customer experience, designed, no doubt, by hard nose managers who have neither ever answered a customer call nor really ever had to use their own service.

Once, at the Ralph Lauren Outlet shop in Bicester, a gentleman's credit card required some extra authorisation as a standard security check. The queue looked on in anger as the poor shop assistant went through some questions and it appeared that things were not happening for some reason - the call centre was in some foreign location and language was clearly an issue. The customer smiled enigmatically and asked for the phone as he was worked as a bank manager of the credit card company in question. He apologised to the queue generally before turning to the phone, explained who he was and then tried to clear up the situation. After several minutes of talking he suddenly lost his rag and started shouting down the phone trying to explain he was a manager and why that made a difference. The call ended a full 10 minutes later and he withdrew his card, left his purchases and stormed out of the shop as people muttered at him, 'Now you know what it's like, mate.'

But generally managers don't know. In the UK, on average, senior executives are paid around six times more than lower level staff - in the US this gap is over ten times. The closer you are to the customer, the reality is that the less you are paid. Meanwhile, the farther away you are, the more you are paid by a massive difference. It is also true that the closer you are to the customer, the less decision making power you have - stands to reason as you are less paid therefore have less responsibility.

Wrong. The closer you are to the customer the more influence you have over the company's service, brand and reputation - and therefore - it's profitability.

How many times have you called companies to complain and all you get is the euphemistically called 'Customer Service Engineer' or similarly exotic title. If your question goes beyond a scripted answer, you naturally ask to speak to their manager, or heaven forbid, a director who is responsible for the whole service. Forget it. They are not paid all that money to merely listen to customers, deal with problems or understand how their service is performing. They have graphs and reporting lines for that. As long as the colours look pretty - the business is fine.

I have mentioned this before, at Genesys Conferencing some years ago we came up with a radical idea as customer 'incidents' were increasing and, in general, people were getting angrier. For once, we looked beyond the graph and listened - I don't know what possessed us to do it. It seemed that customers who had more incidents subsequently spent less with us and some even left us - all resulting in lower profits from that customer. Often, the incidents were over minor losses to the service or billing mistakes (like continuing to bill an account after a person had left, which on the face of it should be the customer's fault for not closing the account and making sure no one used that service on that account again). So we decided to give discretionary powers to the customer service 'engineers' to actually give refunds for the service to the value of the incident that went wrong or up to £1,000, usually by offering a credit to be consumed as they carried on using.

The effect was astonishing. Instead of getting customers leave us, they stayed. As MD, I would get calls praising our customer service team and account managers who helped solve problems but at the financial end, we lost less profit. This seems daft as surely we were giving some away. It turned out that not all customers rang with the purpose to get a credit so when offered it they felt it was not required but at least someone had listened and done something about it. While for others, by giving a small credit instantaneously, we never felt any further losses from less usage or customer churn. Better still, by understanding what caused the problems rather than simply turning people away, we got procedures in and looked at technical faults more closely which fixed the base problems causing the incidents. By listening and acting we were able to find the real problems more easily and fix them. Eureka!

This was not rocket science. Recently, my wife used my car and drove into London. She entered the Congestion Charge Zone for approximately 5 minutes before parking and then left after charging had stopped. She used her account to text her charge of £8 that day but mistakenly paid for our other car which was being used in Basingstoke by me for the day. It was the second time we had made that same mistake. This was on 5 November this year. On 12 December, we received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), which had been issued on 7 December and took 5 days to arrive even though they have our email addresses.

I called to complain that this delay was unreasonable as I had not used the car that day and my wife assured me she had paid and even had the text response to say she had. The menu service at Transport for London - TfL -(or CC London) on the call handling device clearly says 'if you want to complain, press X' and I did so. The customer service person said they only handle complaints in writing - I pointed out the taped call handling said differently and they said to write to complain about that too. As you only have 14 days after the date of issue to challenge the PCN, I wrote via the website complaint email service and explained what had happened the same day. I got a telephone message on 21 December from a lady who gave a number that did not exist to respond to which curtly said they had reviewed my case and tough - no explanation.

I called again on 21 Dec to the customer service line which did answer and asked to speak to the lady in question, who was unavailable but the person said they could handle it. I explained I thought it unreasonable to be sent a notice after 4 weeks on an incident and it made investigating at my end difficult - tough was the answer as there are NO LIMITS on the length of time that a PCN can be sent out after an incident. TfL can send them out as long as they liked after. The person did offer that a system upgrade had caused delays but that was that. I explained that was not my problem, I surely had a right to defend myself as clearly we had paid £8 for something and we wanted an explanation, not realising the mistake was ours. I explained I was in our other car that day and gave the registration number but they would not check if that car had been paid for - it was irrelevant.

As the call ended, the lady then said, 'Do you want to pay now?' Haughtily, I said I had until 23 Dec according to the PCN and she said, nope - I had 14 days from the date of issue, 7 Dec and so 21 Dec was the limit. It was now a point of order - the PCN clearly stated that I had until 23 Dec, she said she did not have access to the PCN and she doubted if that's what it said, and, in her own words - 'I don't care'. If I did not pay that day, I would be charged the full amount.

I paid there and then. But it was a classic example of rubbish systems, not joined up and little attention to the customer experience. Capita, who operate the service for TfL assume this is a penalty or tax service and so these are fines - punishment and so customer service is not required. The onus of paying the charge or fine is on the customer even though account details and direct debit mandates are in place and number plate recognition has been available from the start. In our case we have two accounts, one for each car but with one payment method - surely we could operate as one account? The final point of principle is that we HAD paid £8 that day for the right to drive a car in the Congestion Zone and if we got the wrong car, surely we had the right to get at least a credit for the one wrongly paid for?

It seems CC London has the right to steal money and impose unreasonable fines plus have an indefinite period to impose the fines making defence of such fines as impossible as it can. But it is the glee with which the customer service people take in telling you there is absolutely no way that you can get relief on a charge and no matter what happened it is your fault and your responsibility and crap service is not an excuse.

CC London is law unto itself. But poor customer service and stupidly imposed systems by highly paid management makes matters far, far worse. It is derived from the first principle that the customer must not be refunded no matter what. If that is challenged, pull down the 'Iron Curtain' that says managers and directors do not take calls and that will frustrate the hell out of people and in the end they will give up.

Utilities are classic for this and only recently have we got enough choice to change suppliers as you should do in the real competitive world but CC London has a monopoly to impose whatever it likes as you have zero choice in the matter. It is a licence to print money and they do so with complete impunity.

No wonder the mangers get paid so much more than the people on the phone - they are clever bunnies. If Boris Johnson had a real brain, he would put out to tender the running of the service - and the first stipulation should be that the call centre should be located in London and run by Londoners rather than Coventry as they should know what they are talking about having used the service at minimum. Secondly, he should combine cars and accounts so that people can pay for any car with one text. Thirdly, he should review the fairness of the system as a flat £8 charge is imposed even if you drive around polluting and congesting all day or enter for only a few moments.

Come the revolution! Make Customer Service mean what it says - remember we are customers after all.

Power At The Speed Of Light

Yesterday afternoon I was sifting the internet and reading the referenced article on the future of energy prices. The news was bad - Ofgem are predicting steep rises anywhere up to 60% over the next 7 years.

To my surprise the doorbell rang as I was reading the very article and once I had calmed the dogs down I found a clean cut, nicely suited young man brandishing an identity card as if he was from the FBI. It turned out he was from npower. I suspiciously looked back toward my PC thinking the worst of conspiracy theories, how could he have got here so fast?

'Hi, I'm from npower and this is my identity card,' he said with a pleasant smile. 'And how are you this cold day? Winter is on its way, isn't it?'

I have read that the power of suggestion is remarkable and an involuntary shiver ran down my spine to confirm it. The coincidence, if it was such, was suspicious.

'What are you doing here?' I asked warily.

'To save you money on your energy bills, as I have done for....' he reeled off the names of all my neighbours, even the two people I knew were away in Majorca and Ireland respectively. It made me fear the worst and I envisaged them tied up in their lounges, gagged and unable to call for help having been forced to sign a new power deal. Either that or he was lying about speaking to them.

'Prices are set to rise,' he continued. 'You probably would want to protect yourself against such rises and by signing up with npower you can not only protect yourself from those rises but we guarantee a saving on your current bill. You couldn't refuse an offer like that, could you?'

The last bit was delivered with a smile but it sounded a mixture of mafia-style threat and the suggestion I must be stupid if I refused. I panicked.

'I'm only the janitor,' I blurted out. The chap looked bemused.

'This is this address,' he said pointing to his clipboard. I nodded it was pointless lying, he knew everything - he even had the number of my gas and electric meters down there. 'You are Nigel Dunn, aren't you?' It was an obvious threat - deny it and I would disappear like my hapless neighbours. I caved in, bowing to his superb interrogatory techniques.

'I am,' I said.

'Good, got that sorted,' he smiled again. 'A lot of people think we are trying to sell something and so fib. But I am not selling you anything.'

'What would you call it then?' I asked. It just came out, I don't know why I said it. His face seemed to darken for a second.

'No, people only think we are salespeople,' he smiled, his teeth slightly more clenched. 'But we are energy consultants. We are here to help you save money. There is a difference, you know.'

Clearly the debate was over. 'To qualify for the savings now and to lower your current bills and then protect yourself from future rises, all you need to do is sign here,' he continued, pointing to a line next to my name which was currently blank.

'Don't you want to see my bills first and check you can get be lower?' I asked. 'That's what the last guy wanted.' He laughed.

'Of course, but it's just a formality,' he said. 'We know we are cheaper than your current supplier, Eon.' It was the last throw of the dice of a desperate man on my part. Then I remembered.

'Wait a minute, we are on a 10 year price capped deal,' I said excitedly. 'I have already signed one of these daft contracts and I am already protected against future rises.'

He suddenly recoiled and almost held up his hands as a vampire might do at the sight of a cross. He shrank back into the shadows and said something about that would be OK then, I had already taken precautions. He did not say goodbye, I just caught a glimpse of him scuttling across the courtyard. I closed the door with a smile, for once I had one over on a door to door salesman. I waited but there was no sound of a car engine and when I looked out, he had gone.

The energy scams are a softer sell than they used to be. Having been persuaded by Eon some time ago to put both gas and electricity with them, I signed a ten year price cap deal. Some quarters later I saw a man wandering around the courtyard with a clipboard and identity tag around his neck but he did come near my house. A few days later I got a shock as Eon had claimed to read my meter and after several estimated bills previously they found I now owed them a lot of money - hundreds of pounds which they were going to charge me for.

I noticed that the estimates carried back to beyond when I signed up and there was something strange about the sudden rise in the number. I went outside and checked the meter and the number I saw on the gas meter was far, far lower. I called and they said that they had read the meter and we checked the dates which appeared to be the day I saw the chap wandering the courtyard. It was meant to be the guy who had read the meter. Even though it was now patently obvious he had not read the meter, they then said that legally they were required to read it only once every two years and in between it was my responsibility to check the estimates were right or wrong. I pointed out that the estimates went back to before when I swapped over and they said that was still my responsibility.

Call Centres are a dreadful invention. You ask for an escalation of the problem and you are stonewalled and if you are very lucky you get to speak to the daily supervisor who repeats the same message in more firm tones, being careful to speak exactly when you speak to drown you and then accuse you of talking over them, then ending the call as they did not need to take that kind of attitude or abuse even though you had not said anything. In most cases, the matter ends there as there are no obvious ways of raising this to management. Customer Services may be a number on the bill but you end up in the same place and if you are very lucky, someone who may take a few days to get back to you and then say exactly the same thing again. It happened here and it made me more annoyed. I felt I had been sold a pup as when I told them that I was on a 10 year capped deal and on the bill it said my prices were rising, they outright denied I had signed anything of the sort.

My only recourse was to write in and make my complaint official. I did so and to my horror, for some reason they raised the bill again with some excuse about the readings. At this point the red mist descended. I rang and asked to speak to someone with a title of Director. No chance, such people in many companies today never, ever take calls from customers. It's in their contracts and they are defended by an army of call centre operatives, customer support goons and highly trained receptionists who are automatons who simply say, 'Directors do not take calls.' Not even from their spouses, I suspect.

Years of sales experience kicked in. If there is one thing a salesperson can do, it is to get around gatekeepers as we call them. The first step is to do your research and the internet is so handy for that. Take a look at their website or Companies House and get the Board Directors' names. Then use several permutations of nomenclature of potential email addresses and send a well written email, without anger but with a slight implied threat. The threat I used was 'misselling' and Ofgem were mentioned too.

I got a reply from the CEO's PA within a day. Profuse apologies, they were a special task team who handled complaints to the CEO and my case was being reviewed. I called and spoke to the lady and she wanted to turn it back on me. Then I told her the exact date I had signed the 10 year deal and she suddenly went quiet. The 10 year deal and misselling apparently have some kind of link - it was the magic word. Suddenly all that I had said took on real meaning. Eon should have checked my meter at the start of the contract, that was their responsibility, they should have had a proper reading within 2 years and the chap who came should have done it - of course, she claimed he was an untrustworthy third party worker not Eon. My prices should not have fluctuated and I was not liable to changes in the period I had been with them. In fact, when they read the meter again and sent a new bill - THEY OWED ME MONEY. Further, they even paid me a small sum in compensation - basically hush-money as it was fairly clear they had over-charged badly, not implemented the capping plan, failed to read the meters when they should and there was just a glimmer of a whiff of misselling of the 10 year deal.

I have found such an approach to call centres the only way. I have also had issues with O2 Broadband for business and when I got poor technical service, they moaned it could not be them. Eventually, I did the same and got a reaction form the CEO's PA who personally saw to it the problem was rectified with engineers coming from BT who informed me the practice by broadband suppliers to tell customers to dismantle the sockets to plug the ADSL wire into the ADSL test socket is effectively the exact wrong thing to do and invalidates anything BT does. Thankfully, the guy put it right and my broadband speeds are now acceptable. Again, O2 gave me several free months to compensate when really they did not have to.

My advice, take your complaints to the top. It's the only way you get action. It also serves a purpose and service to these suppliers, as Directors should not be shielded from the real problems in their business and these Directors should take responsibility for poor service.

That's their job.

However, a small amount of empowerment at the Call Centre Operative level would actually remedy most situations without huge cost. That's really worth thinking about for these organisations.