Revenue delays in refunding medical costs

Kashkai

I sent off my Med1 to Revenue on the 22nd February. A month later, I rang them and was told they had a backlog and it would be a further two weeks. I rang again today and was told that it was passed on the 27th March but was then sent for further checking. It is now "in the queue and has yet to be assigned to anyone". This is bloody infuriating as friends and family have told me they got refunds inside two weeks. It's seven weeks on for me. When I ring revenue , I'm on hold for up to 12 minutes only to get some snotty reply "there's nothing I can do about it"?

Now it was a valid claim with nothing I can't stand over so I'm not worried about that. It's the inordinate delay and Revenues dismissive staff that's annoying me. Is there anything I can do about this?

As an adjoinder, I think I'm due extra tax back as I didn't claim my wires tax credits last year as she's not working now. Do you think this might be the delay, ie they don't want to have to repay me over a grand like they did last year?

relax carry on

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I sent off my Med1 to Revenue on the 22nd February. A month later, I rang them and was told they had a backlog and it would be a further two weeks. I rang again today and was told that it was passed on the 27th March but was then sent for further checking. It is now "in the queue and has yet to be assigned to anyone". This is bloody infuriating as friends and family have told me they got refunds inside two weeks. It's seven weeks on for me. When I ring revenue , I'm on hold for up to 12 minutes only to get some snotty reply "there's nothing I can do about it"?

Now it was a valid claim with nothing I can't stand over so I'm not worried about that. It's the inordinate delay and Revenues dismissive staff that's annoying me. Is there anything I can do about this?

As an adjoinder, I think I'm due extra tax back as I didn't claim my wires tax credits last year as she's not working now. Do you think this might be the delay, ie they don't want to have to repay me over a grand like they did last year?

The reasons for the delays are many but this is pretty much how they breakdown (there is no grand conspiracy to keep any refund you are due in the state coffers):

1. The last few years has seen a surge in correspondence to PAYE areas mainly by post even though the online service has been running for years. One of the main items are people just randomly sending in their P60s looking for a review which would take them 2 minutes online.
2. Reduction in staff numbers. Did people think that cuts in numbers would have no impact on response/resolution times? Some areas of the country are understaffed.
3 Failure of PAYE taxpayers to use the online service which has a turnaround time of 48 hours versus 10 to 12 weeks via paper in some areas.

All three coupled with additional security checks on Revenues end mean response times are actually dropping because the majority of people refuse to use the online service.

Kashkai

Thanks for that. Thing is, I'm not engaged in a public service bashing exercise as I am a civil servant myself. However I've never been abrupt with customers unlike the three times I've dealt with Revenue staff to date. Furthermore, if I heard any of my staff being so unhelpful to people who've been hanging on for up to 15 minutes, they wouldn't be getting their increment that year. Maybe it's just me but we are paid to provide a service.

With regard to the delay, my aunt and brother got their refunds inside two weeks and they posted theirs in. Why is mine taking so damn long?

With regard to the online service, I've registered twice for that, got the pin number and both times it failed to work. I rang Revenue and they hadn't a clue why it wouldn't work for me.

It's civil servants like the ones I've dealt with in Revenue who give the rest of us a bad name.

relax carry on

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Thanks for that. Thing is, I'm not engaged in a public service bashing exercise as I am a civil servant myself. However I've never been abrupt with customers unlike the three times I've dealt with Revenue staff to date. Furthermore, if I heard any of my staff being so unhelpful to people who've been hanging on for up to 15 minutes, they wouldn't be getting their increment that year. Maybe it's just me but we are paid to provide a service.

With regard to the online service, I've registered twice for that, got the pin number and both times it failed to work. I rang Revenue and they hadn't a clue why it wouldn't work for me.

It's civil servants like the ones I've dealt with in Revenue who give the rest of us a bad name.

Fair enough. If you feel that the treatment you received is just poor customer service, the link below will assist you with making a formal complaint. Unfortunately there are poor staff in every organization. It's a pity your dealings with Revenue have been tainted by your recent experiences, as normally the customer service is very good.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/custservice/how-complain-revenue.html