Excellent service - from some!

LAandNQFan · May 14, 2017, 02:28:17 PM

I phoned Fiona at DCC to ask whether it would be cheaper to drive the eight miles and collect some very small drill bits or have her post them to me.
She offered to post the £6-worth of bits for £1.80 and I asked her to go ahead - posted First Class Friday:
Saturday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - nothing. Phoned Fiona who posted another set First Class.
Wednesday - nothing.
Thursday - nothing.
Friday - nothing. Phoned Fiona who offered to deliver them in person on Sunday.
Saturday - the second set turned up in the post. Phoned Fiona to thank her and cancel the personal delivery.

If that first set arrive on Monday - a big "if" - they will have travelled at the equivalent of one yard per minute. And they call it snail-mail!
"The Royal Mail cannot do anything about an item which is delayed in the system until 14 working days have elapsed." That's official.

Thank you, Fiona, for trying so hard with even a tiny order!

LAandNQFan · May 15, 2017, 03:34:33 PM

Monday - nothing...
They should be ashamed to call themselves Royal Mail.

zwilnik · May 15, 2017, 03:59:12 PM

Quote from: LAandNQFan on May 15, 2017, 03:34:33 PM
Monday - nothing...
They should be ashamed to call themselves Royal Mail.

I don't know, the Queen isn't exactly that zippy on her walkabouts nowadays.

daffy · May 15, 2017, 04:17:02 PM

Quote from: LAandNQFan on May 15, 2017, 03:34:33 PM
Monday - nothing...
They should be ashamed to call themselves Royal Mail.

They are well named - sometimes making a right Royal Large Chicken

-up with deliveries.

Edit: Hmmmm....seems that some auto correction of the word I was using has led to some unintended humour - at least I find it funny. I must remember to tell you about my walks in the Lake District over two of the northern fells, Great Large Chicken Up and Little Large Chicken Up. (No auto correction needed).

But I do understand the moderation applied is necessary - in some circumstances - so this is all fine by me.

Byegad · May 16, 2017, 03:45:47 PM

Due to a one off windfall of cash*, last tax year Lady Byegad and I had the treat of filling in self-assessment forms for HMRC.
Our accountant said they'd keep on asking for self-assessment forms until the end of time, unless he wrote to them when they sent out the reminder of due dates in April this year.

Lady Byegad got her reminder in the second week of April and the accountant duly wrote on her and my account to tell them why it was a waste of our time and theirs. In early May we both got a nice letter from HMRC telling us not to bother filling in a return.

Last week I got a letter from HMRC telling me I did need to fill in a self-assessment form.....

Dated 06/04/2017!!!

Royally Failing had managed to deliver it a little over a full calendar month later than the same letter, with the same date, that Lady Byegad received. Before I spotted the date I had uttered several uncouth words about those lovely people at HMRC, once I spotted it my ire was directed at Royally Failing**.

*Don't bother with the begging letters, the amount wasn't:_
a) That much, and
b) Anyway it's spent!

** If my wishes have been granted by the Curse Fulfillment Fairy, none of them have been to the toilet since that day.

austinbob · May 16, 2017, 03:57:53 PM

Me and Missus have same problem with self assessment forms. The gov.uk website says we don't need to fill them in any more. Still got one each this year so sent them a letter with all the 'evidence'.
Who knows if we'll ever get a reply let alone confirmation we can dump self assessments. Heh Hoh.

LAandNQFan · May 17, 2017, 08:59:52 AM

Tuesday - nothing.

We're getting to the time when even they will have to admit something might be wrong.

Byegad · May 17, 2017, 03:23:41 PM

Quote from: austinbob on May 16, 2017, 03:57:53 PM
Me and Missus have same problem with self assessment forms. The gov.uk website says we don't need to fill them in any more. Still got one each this year so sent them a letter with all the 'evidence'.
Who knows if we'll ever get a reply let alone confirmation we can dump self assessments. Heh Hoh.

Our accountant wrote the letter to HMRC telling them why we had the windfall, pointing out the lack of any other prospect of getting another as we've run out of rich relatives,and pointing out that we both ~~get stung~~ rightly pay our dues by PAYE on our pensions. HMRC saw the sense of that letter and have let us off filling in forms until death did us part (From HMRC!)

Going back to when the first Mrs Byegad and I split up (She was certainly no lady!) I got a self-assessment form every year until I no longer needed to pay child support maintenance. I did write to them saying rather than me transferring every single number off my P60 to their form and filling in over 100 'None' entries against other questions. I should merely write to them each year with the figure I had paid to my ex-wife and a confirmation to say I was still paying for my children's upkeep.

No answer came the stony reply!

LAandNQFan · May 17, 2017, 03:39:43 PM

Wednesday - nothing!

After a similar one-off year to Byegad's, when she told HMRC that she should pay tax, my wife's taxable income dropped below the threshhold. Despite having been told it was an isolated occasion, they continued to send self-assessment forms which she dutifully filled in, showing that she had been inappropriately taxed on a small amount of savings income. Though she offered to forgo the tiny refund to which she was due, and which they neglected to pay, they continued to send forms until she demanded a full refund for the previous three years. They sent a cheque for 50p and have left her alone since.

Newportnobby · May 17, 2017, 08:18:29 PM

Quote from: LAandNQFan on May 17, 2017, 03:39:43 PM
They sent a cheque for 50p and have left her alone since.

Hope she didn't spend it all at once?

LAandNQFan · May 17, 2017, 09:23:32 PM

I wanted her to frame it, but she is from Yorkshire - it was cashed and spent.

Ian Bowden · May 18, 2017, 12:59:07 AM

With the banks no longer deducting tax at source from savings more people will have to fill in forms. With the sky high interest rates available at present that is a lot of people declaring below the threshold on savings.
HMRC are swamped already without a load more forms to check

woodbury22uk · May 18, 2017, 03:32:46 AM

SWMBO took some money from her drawdown pension part of which was taxed because she took it half way through the tax year. Her total income for the year was such that a full refund was due. We completed an online form on 6 April and every penny due was in her bank account in less than two weeks. Well done HMRC. I wonder if they could deliver letters? Could be quicker than RM.

Byegad · May 18, 2017, 02:56:23 PM

Quote from: LAandNQFan on May 17, 2017, 03:39:43 PM
Wednesday - nothing!

After a similar one-off year to Byegad's, when she told HMRC that she should pay tax, my wife's taxable income dropped below the threshhold. Despite having been told it was an isolated occasion, they continued to send self-assessment forms which she dutifully filled in, showing that she had been inappropriately taxed on a small amount of savings income. Though she offered to forgo the tiny refund to which she was due, and which they neglected to pay, they continued to send forms until she demanded a full refund for the previous three years. They sent a cheque for 50p and have left her alone since.

See underlined.

Good grief! they've gone soft at HMRC. Adding insult to injury HMRC reduced the near £2k they demanded by £1.17, which they'd owed me since 2002! You can imagine the fuss they'd have made, and fine they'd have imposed in 2003 if it had been the other way around.

LAandNQFan · May 23, 2017, 01:10:15 PM

Now, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday have gone by without a delivery. Soon they won't be able to fob me off with "Delayed in the system. Allow fourteen working days." First class post? I don't think so.