Bloody Bureaucracies

[andrewducker]

So, I moved house recently, and that means sorting out council tax for my new place. they sent me a request for the final 2 months of lastyear, so I knew they knew I lived here, and I waited for the forms to come through telling me how to pay by direct debit for this year. And waited. And forgot about it. And received a demand for all £1059 in a lump sum.

So I phoned them up and explained I'd never had the direct debit letter, and they were very understanding and sent me a direct debit form to fill out, which I did.

And then last Friday I got a letter through telling me they'd be taking £150 out each month for the next 6 months, which was just fine.

And then last Saturday I got a letter with the words "Final Demand" on it for £1059.

So I called them today, spent 10 minutes on hold and discovered that their computer systems are down and that without them they can't tell me anything.

They expect the systems to be back up again by midday...

Sigh,

Comments

[allorin.livejournal.com]

Given the 400 billion pound tax system we currently have running in this country, you have to wonder just how much more money it would take in our for government run agencies (Councils, DWP, Employment Services and so on) to offer the same level of service and competence that private firms do.

[andrewducker]

Well, you wouldn;t have thought that the way council tax was dealt with varied so much by area that they couldn't do it all centrally, which would save money and be a lot mroe efficient.