DIFFERENT STORY EACH TIME ......??

<p>Dear Sars , <br />We hear of adverts on the radio and or TV to complete your personal efiling hassle free , well let me tell you something my experience this year has been everything but that. <br />Let me take you to the beginning of my situation very unpleasant situation. <br />Because I have medical aid and I work for a company I had to wait for the important documents (tax certificate and IRP5), this was received and I proceed to completed my tax return via the efiling system on the 9th July 2016. All relevant fields were completed as requested and my return was completed and received a summary that there was a refund due to me. Within hours of completing my return I received a sms stating that supporting documents were needed with regards to my medical aid, supporting documents? This was the first time since doing my efiling back from 2010 that I received such a request. Never the less, I returned back the efiling and attached/uploaded the requested supporting documents which was my medical aid certificate, it clearly stated that the document was successful attached/uploaded. Of course thinking that SARS has fantastic turnaround time that I would receive my refund within a week or so, NEVER ASSUME with SARS! I then called into the fantastic (sarcasm here) call center to do a follow up and ensure that the documents were received and that no other required documents were needed , (first case number) ********** 69 , I was told yes documents were received and that it would take 30 days for an enquiry to be completed by the auditors. I was then told at the same time that there was a problem with my banking details (an old bank account was reflecting and no longer in use) I was then given step by step guideless for efiling on how to correct this , I went back to efiling correct the banking details and then waited for communication.<br />I then called back to the call center , 11 August and spoke to a fantastic lady by the name of Tumi (case number ********** 54) , I explained as to the reason as to why I was calling in , to my shock I was told that the supporting documents were only sent to SARS on the 8 August !!!! I told Tumi that this information she is stating is incorrect and requested for an explanation , Tumi then advised me to hold (can I just add , when an agent tells you to hold its extremely painful as it takes them forever max 10 minutes to get back to you) she came back to me and told me that she has spoken to her team leader of some sort and was told to log an enquiry was to why the documents were only received at the time on the system ,Tumi then advised me to call back in 3 days as that is when I will have an answer as to when the refund will be paid , I had my hopes high here. So 3 days later I call back (case number ********** 91) and speak to Mputi , who then tells me that there has been no response and the query is still with the audit , at this point I was very upset and requested to speak to a team leader or manager , I was told to hold yet again and the phone call was cut , however to my surprise , a lady by the name of Felicity called me back introduced herself as a team leader and advised that she will log a query herself and that she would call me back the next day , really ? The next day is still coming and I have still not heard from her who I personally think it is disgusting as she is in a higher position and common curtsey doesn’t cost you a thing. Never mind , I decided to call back to the call center on the 17 August (case number ********** 92) and spoke to Sindi , having in the back of my mind that in have phoned and just been more and more aggravated each time and hoping that this time would give me some good news. Sindi then advised me that there was no query logged as to why the documents were not received on the dated stated , I then become very irate , I told Sindi that I would like to speak to a manager , I was told that there was nobody available , I told Sindi that she could here that I was very irate and that she should find someone that I could speak to as I am not having someone call me back as that do not work SARS , Sindi then gave me a number of as lady Sylvia ( ********** ) and that she will assist me and resolve my query a.s.a.p. , well well to my surprise THE NUMBER DOES NOT WORK !! Pathetic and now a raging bull I called back into the call center ( ********** 68) spoke to a lady by the name of Cheryl , I told this lady that I was no interested in speaking to her and that I wanted a team leader or manager a.s.a.p. , I got through to Muhammad , well Muhammad let me tell you something if I ever have to speak to you again or meet you I will tell you your fortune , anyway upon speaking to him he told me that Sylvia doesn’t exist and that no person is authorized to give out any details , I then asked him for his details and he told me that it was not possible , I have worked in a call center and when you have an irate person on the phone you go over and above to oust them at ease , well this Muhammad did no such thing , the only clear information he gave me was that there was no such turnaround time of 30 days but rather 21 days. I told him that I do not accept it as he could see on the system (not sure how accurate the notes are) the amount of times I called in and that I was getting a different story each time , I then told Muhammad that I wanted to speak to a more senior person than himself and he told me that there was no person available and that I had to deal with him , I then expressed my outrage and disgusted and then I requested to speak to the "back office" or the person dealing with my case , I was told exact words "Listen here , you can’t speak to the person dealing with the case as they don’t have phones and you have to go through the call center" I then asked Muhammad that no matter how upset irate raging I am there is nothing no one can do, the answer I got was NO. <br />So after calming down for the full 21 days as Muhammad said the enquiry will take , I called back this morning , 8 September , keeping in mind now this has been a 2 months on going situation with no communication from SARS what so ever , case number ********** 01 and spoke to Pusha , who to my surprise told me a new story. So how SARS works, is that the date the query / documents are received, is the start date from when the enquiry will commence. I explained my whole story yet again I advised her of all the above case numbers and requested feedback , this is what I was told , the query was only logged on the 17 Aug and not the 15 Aug ( so as much as Muhammad made me angry he actually did his job and for useless Felicity that was all just talk) , so we are currently sitting on 16 days into my enquiry with the audit , I was then told again by Pusha that there was nothing anybody could do for me and that I could not speak to anyone in the back office and had to wait for the auditors to complete their query and they will contact me. <br /> <br />So my question to SARS is why you would employ clock watches and not people who know the facts about their job and correct protocol. Why is it in possible to speak to a senior person , you know customers like to hear that they are important and that a person will do them a favor just for them and get it resolved , I am sure if you had staff like that you would get more positive ratings. <br />I have no doubt that SARS are not going to pay the refund due I know it will be paid, the question is when, why was supporting documents needed? Why is there a different story each time I call in to do a follow up? <br />I would really like some feedback or for a person other than the call center to call me and assist me as I do not want to wait until 21 days and here that I will needed to wait longer. <br />I am beyond outraged and I am so glad that SARS efiling only needs to happen once a year. <br /><br /><br /></p>