Hiding behind anonymous e-mail
by Andrew Smith on 18/08/09 at 2:15 pm
2 comments
I recently dealt with the SARS office in Cape Town via e-mail in an attempt to make an appointment about VAT and PAYE registration for a new company. Here is the correspondance:
From: Me
Sent: 17 August 2009 01:37 PM
To: Appointments.Bellville
Subject: Wednesday 19th AugustPlease could I make an appointment for 10am (or slightly later if unavailable) on Wednesday the 19th of August. I shouldn’t need more than 30 minutes. I need to make a new PAYE application, as well as pick up VAT registration confirmation for company XXXXXXXX. CK number is XXXXXXX, VAT number is XXXXXXX.
Kind Regards,
[Signature]
From: Appointments.Bellville
Sent: 17 August 2009 01:46 PM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustGood dayPlease provide me with your PR number, as we only deal with registered Tax Practitioners.
Thank you
From: Me
Sent: 17 August 2009 01:48 PM
To: Appointments.Bellville
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustI am the managing director of the company, doing the application in person. I did the VAT application in person about a month ago.Kind Regards,
[Signature]
From: Appointments.Bellville
Sent: 17 August 2009 02:24 PM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustI am sorry, I can not make an appointment for you, you need to join the general queue at counters 15 -23 for assistance.Thank you
From: Me
Sent: 17 August 2009 04:17 PM
To: Appointments.Bellville
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustI’m a bit confused. When I came in July I waited in the general queue and when I eventually reached the counters I was told to go to the tax practitioners’ office because this was a VAT application. I dealt with Mr XXXXX, who told me to come back and collect the tax certificate from the practitioners office when I received the VAT number in the post. He also told me I could do the PAYE application at the same time. It seems you are suggesting that I can deal with VAT and PAYE applications at the general counters?Kind Regards,
Me
From: Appointments.Bellville
Sent: 17 August 2009 04:36 PM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustCorrect.
From: Me
Sent: 17 August 2009 04:38 PM
To: Appointments.Bellville
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustPlease could I have your name to follow up with if needs be.Thanks
From: Appointments.Bellville
Sent: 18 August 2009 01:26 PM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustGood dayUnfortunately you can not use this e-mail address for queries, please contact the call centre.
Thank you
From: Me
Sent: 18 August 2009 01:28 PM
To: Appointments.Bellville
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustWhen I speak to the call centre I would like to make reference to this e-mail conversation and the person that I was dealing with, which is why I am asking for your name.
From: Appointments.Bellville
Sent: 18 August 2009 01:26 PM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Wednesday 19th AugustAs previously stated, this address is for appointments only.
I’m not writing this to debate the validity of my complaint, but rather to highlight that I think we often use the anonymity of generic e-mail addresses like “orders@mycompany.com” to treat customers in ways that we would never think of if the mail was coming from a personal address like “andrew.smith@mycompany.com”. The person on the other end of the SARS appointments e-mail address is able to hand out curt service without needing to be sure of the answers, safe in the knowledge that they aren’t personally being held responsible for what they say. If you are proud of the service you are offering, why get defensive when I asked for a name?
In our companies we list generic e-mail addresses on our sites and marketing materials (ie contact@mycompany.com), but that is routed to a real person, who responds in their personal capacity. Customers prefer dealing with people rather than corporate beasts, and accountable service agents are usually a lot more careful about what they say!
Andrew Smith is the pedantic systems guy behind Live Alchemy, a SA e-commerce company. Andrew writes for Ideate in an attempt to make the world a more efficient place. View more articles by Andrew Smith.
Bruce Wade
Aug 19th, 2009
Andrew, I am impressed at your endurance in this matter. Many would have given up long before you and just not bothered. Banks seem to suffer from the same problem and often just refer you on or give you the huge cop-out-clause “I call you right back”
Gareth Cotten
Aug 20th, 2009
I’ve had plenty of dealing with SARS, Andrew (I qualified in tax), and they can be frustrating. Just last week, I spent 4 hours in the queue, only to be turned away on a technicality (unfortunately I had to go in in person, as I was doing the tax on behalf of a mentally disabled person)! Eventually got it sorted out on eFiling, though…
My recommendation is to deal with them by mail correspondence (much less frustrating and perfectly acceptable to them, and you just drop it in their mail bin, no queues). Alternatively, register as a tax practitioner – anyone can, and you can then make appointments. Their rules have changed, and only TP’s can make appointments these days…