If you call the state Department of Taxation’s phone help line with a question about your state taxes, you might wait 30-40 minutes to get someone on the phone. The line averages 900 calls a day.
Sometimes there are so many callers ahead of you that you’re told by an automated voice to hang up and try again later.
Sometimes, however, you get through to a live person who is able to answer your question on the spot. That’s like hitting the jackpot.
Other times you get a real person who is following a script:
“Thank you for calling the Hawaii Department of Taxation. My name is ______. Currently, all our tax technicians are unavailable assisting other calls. I can take your information and forward it to a tax technician who can call you back in approximately two to three business days. May I have your first and last name?”
They can give general information, like where tax forms can be picked up or found online and the office hours of operation. But they can’t answer questions specific to you because they can’t look up your information on the computer in the call center. They take down your information, and someone calls you back in a few days.
This system was implemented by new Department of Taxation Director Linda Chu Takayama.
“I arrived at the Tax Department two months ago. Almost immediately, Customer Service was declared to be the top priority for the Department and the call center is foremost in our sights.” Takayama said in an email. “We hired an additional six staff for the tax season to answer calls and are actively recruiting for more.”
During the peak hours, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Takayama asked the entire staff to take shifts in the call center.
“Everyone pitches in. The deputy and I were among the first to sign up. The rotating staffers during the lunch hour shift answer simple inquiries. More complicated questions or those that |require access to the taxpayer’s file are referred to a select group of experienced staff from another section to call back or resolve the issue within 2-3 business days.”
It is meant to give the impression of “customer-facing service,” a tech industry term that means talking to a real human when you call and ask for help. However, for some, finally reaching a human only to have that human tell them they can’t answer their questions is more frustrating than leaving a message on voicemail. It feels like a cosmetic change, not a systemic overhaul.
The message takers include the highest-paid supervisors and experts in the department, which means, for their hourlong shift in the call center, they are not doing the job they are paid to do and instead are doing a job that could be handled by temporary hires, or by an answering machine, for that matter.
When people call the Department of Taxation, there is often a measure of stress involved. They need information. They want to do things correctly. There is also that gap between the online generation and the people who still rely on the telephone for information. Takayama said they are working with their phone system to better direct calls and that things are improving. “Since February, when we started the additional lunchtime shifts, we have been able to increase our call answer rate by nearly 10% and decrease the average wait time from 30 minutes to less than 10 minutes.”
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
