On Dealing with IRS by Phone

[JohnH]

I had to copy and paste this post I saw on Facebook this morning.
It is very good advice, and the one posting is very dear to me.
(OK, give a proud Dad a chance to enjoy...)

"Had to call the IRS this morning. At the end of the call, the rep said to me 'Thank you for being a ray of sunshine this morning!'. When you're on the phone with call center people, kill them with kindness. They get beat up enough and rarely is the person you're speaking with the cause of your problem."

[RitaB]

Nice

Nice reminder of how we need to be. Good job, Dad.

[JohnH]

Thanks Rita.
Her mom had much to do with shaping the person she is today.

Incidentally, her call was necessary because her tax preparer made a dumb error on her return.
(This info is divulged with the client's permission, but the preparer is feeling a little sheepish and prefers to remain anonymous..)

[oceanlovin'ea]

Nice lady

I called yesterday to the number on a CP3219A letter (if that means anything to you). I had to fax POA to her and wait and wait for it to go through. Finally she said I think there is a problem with this machine. I'll give you another number to send it to. So I resent the fax. She stayed on the phone with me the whole time, even offered to call me back when it came through. She told me how to proceed and was super nice. We chatted about the weather while we were waiting.
If we start off nice, most of the time they will be too. If not, I hang up and call back and talk to someone else.

Linda, EA

[kpangelinan]

I called yesterday to the number on a CP3219A letter (if that means anything to you). I had to fax POA to her and wait and wait for it to go through. Finally she said I think there is a problem with this machine. I'll give you another number to send it to. So I resent the fax. She stayed on the phone with me the whole time, even offered to call me back when it came through. She told me how to proceed and was super nice. We chatted about the weather while we were waiting.
If we start off nice, most of the time they will be too. If not, I hang up and call back and talk to someone else.

Linda, EA

Yes, ditto...thanks for the reminder. Linda, I do the exact same thing....hang up and call back.

[JohnH]

This is also exactly what I told my daughter to do when she called, but fortunately she didn't have to resort to that option.

I've done the same on the few occasions when I determined in the first minute or so that I had connected with a power-hungry bureaucrat, or even someone who was just having a bad day.