SkylinePhoto   10 #1 Posted October 13, 2017 Ive been calling Sheffield City Council for nearly 2 weeks regarding a discrepancy in my council tax bill.  Everytime i call i have to go through 2 minutes of listening to options and then get the message "All our staff are busy and the queue is full, please call later" and then it just puts the phone down on you.  No matter when i call even at 9am i get the same message.  So i went to Howden House and they told me to call the number.  They are extremely efficient at sending me council tax bills though. I get them regular as clockwork  What a complete mess. No wonder the council is owed over £20m Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Puggie   10 #2 Posted October 13, 2017 They are extremely efficient at sending me council tax bills though. I get them regular as clockwork What a complete mess. No wonder the council is owed over £20m  It's called a Labour council.  Head up to North Yorkshire and you get offered tea & coffee whilst you wait. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
martss   10 #3 Posted October 13, 2017 Email them, I had the same problem a year or so ago. Ages on the phone going round in circles, someone I spoke to (on the phone) told me the best way to contact them is email. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
nightrider   13 #4 Posted October 13, 2017 Ive been calling Sheffield City Council for nearly 2 weeks regarding a discrepancy in my council tax bill.  Everytime i call i have to go through 2 minutes of listening to options and then get the message "All our staff are busy and the queue is full, please call later" and then it just puts the phone down on you.  No matter when i call even at 9am i get the same message.  So i went to Howden House and they told me to call the number.  They are extremely efficient at sending me council tax bills though. I get them regular as clockwork  What a complete mess. No wonder the council is owed over £20m  Try emailing them. I did so a few years ago and had no issues with responses. No idea why that would be more likely to work (or if it still does), but worth a try!  With other companies I have sometimes found bypassing the usual routes and tweeting at them helps - sometimes works if they have a bored person employed to monitor twitter and they know how to get other things done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Phili Buster   10 #5 Posted October 13, 2017 Ive been calling Sheffield City Council for nearly 2 weeks regarding a discrepancy in my council tax bill.  Everytime i call i have to go through 2 minutes of listening to options and then get the message "All our staff are busy and the queue is full, please call later" and then it just puts the phone down on you.  No matter when i call even at 9am i get the same message.  So i went to Howden House and they told me to call the number.  They are extremely efficient at sending me council tax bills though. I get them regular as clockwork  What a complete mess. No wonder the council is owed over £20m  I don't know how I achieved it but I did manage to get to talk to someone about council tax.  They provided me with details of the (amended) amounts owing but were unable to tell me when I could expect receipt of a paper copy because it was 'being dealt with by the back office' - whoever they might be!  Perhaps they should invest in a decent computer system rather than continuing with the quill pen and ink system that they would appear to use. Just what was the hold-up? If details are available for viewing by the person I spoke to then just print the details out and send it off. It's not rocket science, or is it? if they want I could develop a system for them and my hourly rates are very reasonable.  It took a further two weeks before I received the paper copy. However why did I receive 2 letters detailing the information but in different formats? If the system insists on 2 letters then put them in the same envelope, simple or perhaps not Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
paula4sheff   10 #6 Posted October 13, 2017 I'm convinced that phone line is never manned. I've never managed to get through- even when calling the very second it is supposed to be open!  Emails are often ignored too.  I think they might be breaking laws by not actually having anyway to contact them. Anyway- I ended up emailing my MP about it. It was the only way I could get through to the council at all, and hopefully caused some element of questioning as to why someone can never speak to anyone.  I'd advice the same- the more people that email their MPs the more chance of something getting done about the state of the council and the way they treat us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
SkylinePhoto   10 #7 Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) I know that the service is run by Capita and that they have it for a fixed term which is renegotiable every 5 years or so.  I bet Capita are being paid the same amount as they did a few years ago but they are running a service run a skeleton crew to maximise profits.  Because no one is answering the phone.  Maybe there should be an investigation as to what sort of service they are providing in exchange for million of pounds of Sheffield tax payers money. Edited October 13, 2017 by SkylinePhoto Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
scousemouse   10 #8 Posted October 13, 2017 ...............Ah Capita. If this is right, they are a complete load of rubbish. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
focemal   10 #9 Posted October 13, 2017 Always called them Crapita in all my dealings with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
FORE Â Â 12 #10 Posted October 13, 2017 Always called them Crapita in all my dealings with them. Â they're not THAT good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
BigAl1 Â Â 142 #11 Posted October 16, 2017 A complete waste of space. Â I wanted to change the bank account used to pay gave up on the phone and even after a personal visit they still could not get it right first time Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Anna B   1,364 #12 Posted October 16, 2017 Ive been calling Sheffield City Council for nearly 2 weeks regarding a discrepancy in my council tax bill.  Everytime i call i have to go through 2 minutes of listening to options and then get the message "All our staff are busy and the queue is full, please call later" and then it just puts the phone down on you.  No matter when i call even at 9am i get the same message.  So i went to Howden House and they told me to call the number.  They are extremely efficient at sending me council tax bills though. I get them regular as clockwork  What a complete mess. No wonder the council is owed over £20m  It's Modern Life I'm afraid.  It happens on loads of phonecalls to lots of place. It drives me up the wall.  It's getting harder and harder not only to contact people, but to actually get anyone to do something, and accept responsibility for it. They can just cut you off and hope that someone else gets the call next time. I'm always polite, but the people in call centres often don't seem to have the ability to deal with anything but the most basic issues - if your lucky... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...