BinaryXtreme
join:2004-04-20
Sparks, NV
 ·Charter Pipeline
3 edits | [Rant] IRS Stimulus Checks
My wife works at a bank and has been getting bombarded with people calling to see why their checks are being held by the bank. Many people living on retirement are in for a rude awakening. First of all, the checks are going out based on the last 2 digits of you social security number. »www.instantgrantsearch.com/?page_id=206 is a good resource. If you haven't been filing taxes because your income isn't taxable like people on Social Security Disability (SSD) and some on retirement will NOT be getting checks because you didn't file taxes for the year of 2007. If you want the refund stimulus checks, you must file with the IRS. PERIOD!
THE BANK IS NOT HOLDING UP YOUR CHECKS! CALL THE IRS, NOT YOUR BANK FOR QUESTIONS WHEN AND IF YOUR STIMULUS CHECK WILL ARRIVE! |
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icp1
Premium
join:2000-10-13
Saint Louis, MO
clubs: | ha, that figures.
need to change their hold message to "if you have questions regarding your IRS refund check, please contact the IRS at ###" |
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footballdude
Premium
join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO
| said by icp1  :need to change their hold message to "if you have questions regarding your IRS refund check, please contact the IRS at ###" Wouldn't work. When I was in college, I worked weekends at Pizza Hut. One Saturday we were running a promotion where we gave out free 3D glasses to anyone that bought a pizza. One of the local TV stations were running a 3D movie marathon, including the 3D Three Stooges eps. Believe it or not, these cheap pieces of cardboard with different color plastic wrap for lenses caused a stampede the likes of which I've never seen since. The phone rang every thirty seconds with people wanting to know if we had any left. We eventually put one of our waiters on permanent phone duty. He would answer the phone and say "This is Pizza Hut. We have lots of 3D glasses left."
Guess what pretty much all of the customers then replied. "Do you have any 3D glasses left?"
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What's certain about Darwinism is that it would take less time for (1) a single-celled organism to evolve into a human being through mutation and natural selection than for (2) Darwinists to admit they have no proof of (1) - Ann Coulter |
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BinaryXtreme
join:2004-04-20
Sparks, NV | Wow. And that's for 3D glasses? My poor wife.  |
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tower29
Premium
join:2002-02-12
Loveland, CO
1 edit | reply to BinaryXtreme
They made a special form too!
»seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Alerts/20···come.htm
JW |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| reply to BinaryXtreme
Why is your wife stressing on something that is not her problem? We have dealt with it simply at our office for Child Support, by telling them that if they get a check from the Comptroller's office, then we must of collected the deadbeats taxes, or Bank Account. |
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Reba Check
@unsubcentral.com
| said by Greg_Z : We have dealt with it simply at our office for Child Support, by telling them that if they get a check from the Comptroller's office, then we must of collected the deadbeats taxes, or Bank Account. I don't get it: why would people be pestering the Child Support people concerning rebate checks?
Do you mean that you're getting calls from, say, the alleged deadbeats' wife with her asking, "My ex-husband is probably getting a rebate check and what are you guys gonna do about it?"
Sorry, there's a connection here I'm just not seeing.
said by Greg_Z :Why is your wife stressing on something that is not her problem? More importantly, why is your wife stressing over something that she's still getting paid to handle, no matter how inane it might appear to her?
I mean, it'd be one thing if she was being kept late, and was answering the phones on her own time. But last time I looked, banks closed at 6pm, regardless of how busy they were. If you call them at 6:01pm then you're gonna be SOL, 'cause no one is gonna pick up the phone. |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| You hit it on the mark. Anything from the U.S. Treasury can be collected for debt owed to the U.S. Government, or a state or Federal agency. We are loving it at this moment, due to the 9th of May, we get to see thousands of dollars in collections come in from Deadbeats. |
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La Luna
Surviving Ashraful
Premium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
clubs:
·Optimum Online
 ·Vonage
| reply to Reba Check
said by Reba Check :
....More importantly, why is your wife stressing over something that she's still getting paid to handle, no matter how inane it might appear to her?
I mean, it'd be one thing if she was being kept late, and was answering the phones on her own time. But last time I looked, banks closed at 6pm, regardless of how busy they were. If you call them at 6:01pm then you're gonna be SOL, 'cause no one is gonna pick up the phone.
Maybe because she's being kept from doing her real work because of interruptions by these calls from idiots? What moron would think the bank has anything to do with these checks, not to mention they haven't even started sending them out yet.
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11,005 DEADLY TERROR ATTACKS SINCE 9/11~~TEAM DISCOVERY
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Reba Check
@fantage.com
| said by La Luna :Maybe because she's being kept from doing her real work because of interruptions by these calls from idiots? As near as I can make out, fielding phone calls from Wells Fargo customers is her "real work."
I'm sorry you feel that someone who works in a bank somehow isn't obliged to answer silly questions from customers. The customers, however, might not see it that way.
said by La Luna :What moron would think the bank has anything to do with these checks, not to mention they haven't even started sending them out yet. The ones who keep bombarding this guys wife with phone calls?
Please remember: half of the population of the US doesn't even possess "average" intelligence. If you bear this in mind as you move through the day, some things will become a lot easier to understand (and deal with).
Personally, I have a hard time believing that so many people would view "getting back" $600 as A Very Big Deal. Are people living so close to the edge now that $600 is going to make so great a difference in their lives that they simply can't wait for it to show up and are looking to give things a push?
If so, I stand amazed. |
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BinaryXtreme
join:2004-04-20
Sparks, NV
·Charter Pipeline
1 edit | reply to La Luna
Thank you La Luna.You are absolutely right. Then the customers now are complaining why it takes so long to get an agent on the phone. She is not getting paid to disclose Treasury information. Like when I used to work at a call center and we shipped to Canada and Canadians would call complaining to us why the Customs Tax fees were so high. They wanted to know who to complain to. I told them to call Canadian Parliament. |
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harryhoudini
join:2003-02-05
Los Angeles, CA
| reply to Reba Check
I also work in a call center and have to agree with you. These people are what give us a job. If they did not call with their silly questions then there would not be a need for us. With things the way they are in the financial sector, I am just happy to have a job.
I also see it from the dude's wife perspective though. Getting call after call about the same topic is very frustrating and it affects the other callers greatly. These types of calls cannot be forecasted for and therefore greatly affect the service level.
As to the importance of the $600. Yeah it is very very important to people and we are also getting many calls about it. We also had to put out a schedule from the IRS so that we could tell them more or less when to expect the refund. We are a credit union so we try a little harder than banks. |
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BinaryXtreme
join:2004-04-20
Sparks, NV
·Charter Pipeline
| You feel that receiving calls at your call center regarding completely separate issues that there is in no way you can help them keeps your company in business? If that is true, I don't think your company is doing well. These types of calls hinder customer service for legitimate customers. These calls are not needed and in no way can be helpful to the business or the person calling. Not only that, but in this specific issue, if you look on the IRS official site it advises people inquiring on refunds to businesses to be referred to the toll free number or web site. I don't think your company wants people calling back asking why they have not received their refund when they weren't entitled to it because you told them when they were going to get it. |
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Reba Check
@fantage.com
| said by BinaryXtreme :You feel that receiving calls at your call center regarding completely separate issues that there is in no way you can help them keeps your company in business? Well, you know you can't really help them, and I know you can't really help them....but they don't know that you can't help them.
Which is why they call.
said by BinaryXtreme :If that is true, I don't think your company is doing well. These types of calls hinder customer service for legitimate customers. You're confusing legitimate customers who have questions you can't assist them with (but whom you have a duty to talk to anyway) with illegitimate customers who don't pay service fees or put money into your wife's pocket in any way.
I understand your frustration with these people, but the fact is that they are paying service fees on their account. And these service fees entitle them to pick up the phone, call their bank, and expect someone on the Wells Fargo end to pick up the phone and do their best to answer their question. Even if the only thing they can really do is refer them to another organization.
No one ever said that working in a call center was the easiest of jobs.
said by BinaryXtreme :These calls are not needed and in no way can be helpful to the business or the person calling. Well, the business that took their money (via "service fees") had jolly well better make an effort to pick up the phone and talk to these people.
Because if these customers start to feel as though Wells Fargo doesn't give a toss about them, then WF can look forward to losing some accounts.
Perhaps Wells Fargo can even turn these calls to their advantage by taking the time and trouble to explain that the IRS holds all the cards, but that Wells Fargo reps are willing to make an effort to share what information they have available to them concerning the checks.
At the very least, if Wells Fargo isn't clever enough to view their customers as the people who enable them to eat lunch and make their car payments, and sees them, instead, as simply a nuisance to be dealt with, then these calls will certainly work against them, that's for sure.
said by BinaryXtreme :Not only that, but in this specific issue, if you look on the IRS official site it advises people inquiring on refunds to businesses to be referred to the toll free number or web site. Right. And will it kill Wells Fargo to pass this information on to its customers? Reading your post, one is left with the impression that it would.
said by BinaryXtreme :I don't think your company wants people calling back asking why they have not received their refund when they weren't entitled to it because you told them when they were going to get it. I don't think the people at Wells Fargo want to go looking for new jobs in the banking industry right now.
Of course, if they treat their customers with courtesy and respect, regardless of the nature of their queries, then I'm sure they needn't worry about doing so.
However, if they instead take the view that their customers are little more than millstones around their collective neck that interfere with their going about their "real" business, then I hope they've got their resumes updated.
Because such an attitude is going to come across to the customers they talk to. And these customers might quickly become ex-customers if Wells Fargo isn't careful about just how it goes about fielding their "stupid" or "wasteful" questions.
Every time a rep in a call center picks up the phone, it's a chance for them to make a friend for the firm...or an enemy. It's all a matter of how the rep views the customer and chooses to handle the call. |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| It is not Wells issue to deal with IRS controlled issues. Besides, it is Tax Sensitive info, and no one knows if you are getting any money as a Direct Deposit, and also for the security of the Customer, due to there are too many people impersonating their spouses, and ex's.
With the number of ex's that know the other's Soc. Sec. number, it is easy for them to check out info, then call somewhere like my agency and tells us that the OP has a huge amount of money coming from the IRS, or ask why the ex has money going to one court order, and not theirs.
We just have to play dumb and state that we do not know anything. Besides, it is not the person calling that gives the job, it is the Company/Government agency that did. There has been a number of times that our agency shut down the AVRS and let us handle administrative work for other units so that they could get caught up. Matter of fact, when we had the last big snowstorm, and not everyone made it, we dealt with Interstate case paperwork, that we never deal with period, and loved it. |
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Reba Czech
@charter.com
| said by Greg_Z :We just have to play dumb and state that we do not know anything. There's a difference between "playing dumb" in the public sector and doing so in the private sector that probably bears mentioning.
A state or federal agency has little, if any, competition. If I am unhappy with the way I am treated by, say, the office for child support, (or any other state or federal agency) I can't pull my "account" out of there and take it to another agency. I am stuck dealing with them regardless of how good or bad the service they provide happens to be.
Not so in the private sector. If I call up my bank and they give me the impression that they're not doing everything they can to help me, I am free to close my account and take my money to another bank that I feel will provide me with the service I feel I deserve.
So in the public sector, playing dumb has little, if any, consequence. State and Federal agencies are in no way forced to reduce their staffs merely because they fail to provide the level of service their "customers" desire from them. In fact, very often, their level of funding is actually increased as the result of a poor showing.
(I have some experience in the public sector myself, and my own experience is that one of the first things an agency operating in the public sector blames for not being able to perform their assigned task adequately is "lack of funding." That's just how it is.)
said by Greg_Z :Besides, it is not the person calling that gives the job, it is the Company/Government agency that did. [smiles]
No offense intended, but such a remark is clearly indicative of someone who spends their time in the public sector. I say this because those of us in the private sector are reminded on an almost daily basis of just who it is that, ultimately, pays our commissions and salaries.
Those account holders who call in to Wells Fargo have not only given Wells Fargo money to hold, but they also pay monthly "service fees" in the expectation that when they have a question they believe is related to their bank account, Wells Fargo personnel will be on hand to answer those questions.
But if, as a for-instance, half of the people who call Wells Fargo decide to close their accounts as the result of a negative customer service experience, do you really think that Wells Fargo is going to continue to maintain a full staff so that they can service half the number of customers? Where, exactly, will they get the money to continue to pay all these staffers when half the money they previously had on hand has just walked out the door?
As near as I can tell, they simply won't have adequate funds to keep the same number of staff on hand that they had before, which means that they'll need to reduce their staff in order to cut costs.
So while those lucky enough to work in the public sector rarely, if ever, have to be particularly concerned with pleasing people, those of us who labor in the private sector are very conscious of the fact that all those "idiots" calling us up with their "stupid questions" are, in fact, paying our salaries and helping the company we work for keep the lights on by continuing to hand us their money and favor us with their custom.
Because if these same people stop calling in, there are very few call centers in the private sector that can afford to waste money by keeping a full staff on hand when the number of incoming calls simply doesn't justify the expense involved.
said by Greg_Z :There has been a number of times that our agency shut down the AVRS and let us handle administrative work for other units so that they could get caught up. Matter of fact, when we had the last big snowstorm, and not everyone made it, we dealt with Interstate case paperwork, that we never deal with period, and loved it. Well, there you go: perhaps Wells Fargo can shut down some branches for a day or two and have those staffers work on fielding calls, instead.
Of course, perhaps their doing so might serve to anger and perplex their customers, so they'll have to decide if doing so is in their long-term interests or not.
I understand perfectly that the folks at Wells Fargo have very little information to pass on to their customers concerning those refund checks. But I can only hope that they will see fit to pass on the information they do have (like the appropriate 800-number/website) so that they can get their customers off the phone without those customers feeling like they're being shabbily treated.
And while I feel for this guy's wife for having to put up with all of these IRS-related questions, this is hardly the first time in history that a call center has been besieged by a boatload of customers asking silly/irrelevant questions.
And it's not likely to be the last time, either.
So if you happen (or someone you love happens) to be the type of person for whom fielding questions from anyone less intellectually endowed than a Nobel Laureate is a source of intense frustration, then having a job that entails picking up the phone and talking to The Public on an ongoing basis might not be such a good idea career-wise. |
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Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN
| reply to Reba Check
Personally, I have a hard time believing that so many people would view "getting back" $600 as A Very Big Deal. Are people living so close to the edge now that $600 is going to make so great a difference in their lives that they simply can't wait for it to show up and are looking to give things a push?
If so, I stand amazed. They probably spent $600 they dont have knowing they're due for a refund. i.e. Got loaded instead of paying the bills hoping bill collectors will hold off until the rebate arrives. |
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Fobulous
Premium
join:2002-08-14
Missouri City, TX
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to BinaryXtreme
She could have given them this..
DIRECT DEPOSIT
Last two SSN digits: Payments will be transmitted no later than:
00 through 20 May 2
21 through 75 May 9
76 through 99 May 16
Paper checks will also go out based on Social Security number. For Social Security numbers ending in 00 through 09, the paper checks will be mailed starting May 9 and will continue through May 16. A similar process will be repeated in the following weeks.
PAPER CHECK
Last two SSN digits: Payments will be mailed no later than:
00 through 09 May 16
10 through 18 May 23
19 through 25
May 30
26 through 38 June 6
39 through 51 June 13
52 through 63 June 20
64 through 75 June 27
76 through 87 July 4
88 through 99 July 11
People who file a return after April 15 will receive their economic stimulus payment, but probably about two weeks later than the schedule shows. A return must be filed by October 15 in order to receive a stimulus payment this year. See the online calculator for an estimate of the amount you will receive.
A small percentage of tax returns will require additional time to process and to compute a stimulus payment amount. For these returns, stimulus payments may not be issued in accordance with the schedule above, even if the tax return was processed by April 15.
Related Items:
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IR-2008-66, Economic Stimulus Payments on the Way; Some People Will See Direct Deposit Payments Today
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IR-2008-44, IRS Announces Economic Stimulus Payment Schedules, Provides Online Payment Calculator
Return to Economic Stimulus Payment Information Center
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After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say "I want to see the manager."
- William S. Burroughs
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20 | reply to BinaryXtreme
I don't know about you, but I'm stimulated! |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL | Hell, we paid off 1200 in bills yesterday with ours. |
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