Further to my posts about the ATO handling of the tax pack matter, here is the text of a complaint lodged by one newsagent with the ATO:
I am a newsagent – you have, without consultation, added 100’s of hours to my working schedule. In doing that you intend to compensate me $8.00.
Many of my customers don’t have a PC.
Many of them don’t understand the Internet at all.
They do not want to spend an hour on hold waiting to ask for a tax pack to be sent to them.
Your move is out of step with community needs, your compensation is below minimum wage and is insulting in the extreme, your decision to do this without consultation and at the last minute is offensive.
You have placed my staff and I at the forward edge of angry customers, your actions are directly affecting my businesses reputation and potentially a percentage of its earnings.
I am disgusted, I am angry, I am appalled at your treatment.
I need 1000 tax packs
or
I need some significant compensation for the 100s of hours of work, calming customers and explaining the new procedures to them.
Sums it up very nicely I think.
Love it. Might call the ATO tomorrow myself and argue my point. Or, I might just stop holding onto government forms altogether. Will save some space.
send people to the post office
I will not be keeping ANY govt forms from
now on and I urge all newsagents to do the same (Maybe Coles/Woolies can do it for them?????)
I am so angry about upsetting my customers who also are in an elderly demographic and don’t have access to or
want to use pc’s or tablets or whatever to
download.
I WILL NOT BE GIVING OUT CARDS EITHER.
Here is a chance for us all to band together and show some unity of performance.
It bad enough that we are unpaid tax collectors as it is without this rubbish.
What a great response to a bad decision.
Short and to the point.
Mark, please ask the writer of the letter to post the reply he receives from the ATO.
I’m sure there will be one that addresses all his concerns, and not a simple, degrading “Thank you for your email, we appreciate… da dada dada…….”
Rick, since the ATO have said the paper forms are only available from their shopfronts, calling the 1300 number or downloading from their website, I would suggest that sending people to the Post Office will just make them angrier at you when they find they are not there either.