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Bureaucracy Problem With Government Dept.
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I am currently doing battle with British bureaucracy which unfortunately I am losing at the moment.
Basically story is like this. I am an ex paratrooper and was discharged from the forces after a serious parachute accident. I have received a pension in compensation and this has been paid for many years without problems.
In fact the pension is in two parts. One paid by the Veterans Agency and the other part by an organisation called Equiniti Paymaster , which I think is the old Paymaster General which probably has been privatised now.
And of course anything privatised in UK is usually an utter shambles!
The problem started a few months ago when I changed bank accounts after moving abroad and my bank account is now with a major bank in Prague, Czech Republic.
And the new account is actually in Pounds Sterling which should make things easier, one would have thought.
I then wrote to both organisations to request my pension be paid into this new account from now, which I would have thought is a relatively simple matter by electronic bank transfer as before.
And in fact the Veterans Agency did this without any problems at all and I have been receiving payments from them for three months now.
However that other bunch at Equiniti Paymaster, have caused me nothing but problems.
They said we cannot pay pensions into bank accounts in Europe by electronic transfer!
I said are you serious? This is the 21st century in Europe and you cannot do a simple bank transfer? (Perhaps someone forgot to tell them we have been in the EU since 1973)
Unbelievable!
So after weeks and weeks of fruitless email exchanges, they finally said well under the circumstances we can do it now, so thought Hooray, problem finally solved! Hah. I should have known bloody better!
I informed them that I have an account in pounds sterling which should be a simple matter and what did they say? Sorry, we can’t pay you in pounds it has to be in Czech Krona.
I said look, my account is in Pounds, not bloody Krona.
But they won’t budge and refuse to pay, saying they can not pay in pounds.
I said are you people serious? You are a major government organisation in a country which has the Pound as its currency and you’re trying to tell me you cannot do a simple electronic bank transfer to a major European bank in pounds to another pound account?
Frankly I am speechless!
What makes it even more irritating is that the Veterans Agency had no problems with this whatsoever, but these idiots cannot seem to manage the most simple basic services.
Christ, bank transfers have been around for decades and decades and they can’t manage it in 2015 - and in pounds which makes it even more ridiculous.
Maybe I have accidentally wandered into a Monty Python sketch or something I don’t know, but I am at my wits end!
This has been going on for months and months and they stubbornly refuse to pay the pension I am entitled to.
First its, Oh we we can’t pay you by electronic transfer, then its OK we can now, but we can not pay in pounds...as I said Monty Python job!
I am at my wits end with these people and it is now causing me some serious financial problems and I may even end up losing my property, because of these dimwits.
Any advice on this from anyone, who has had similar bureaucrat problems would be welcome!
Basically story is like this. I am an ex paratrooper and was discharged from the forces after a serious parachute accident. I have received a pension in compensation and this has been paid for many years without problems.
In fact the pension is in two parts. One paid by the Veterans Agency and the other part by an organisation called Equiniti Paymaster , which I think is the old Paymaster General which probably has been privatised now.
And of course anything privatised in UK is usually an utter shambles!
The problem started a few months ago when I changed bank accounts after moving abroad and my bank account is now with a major bank in Prague, Czech Republic.
And the new account is actually in Pounds Sterling which should make things easier, one would have thought.
I then wrote to both organisations to request my pension be paid into this new account from now, which I would have thought is a relatively simple matter by electronic bank transfer as before.
And in fact the Veterans Agency did this without any problems at all and I have been receiving payments from them for three months now.
However that other bunch at Equiniti Paymaster, have caused me nothing but problems.
They said we cannot pay pensions into bank accounts in Europe by electronic transfer!
I said are you serious? This is the 21st century in Europe and you cannot do a simple bank transfer? (Perhaps someone forgot to tell them we have been in the EU since 1973)
Unbelievable!
So after weeks and weeks of fruitless email exchanges, they finally said well under the circumstances we can do it now, so thought Hooray, problem finally solved! Hah. I should have known bloody better!
I informed them that I have an account in pounds sterling which should be a simple matter and what did they say? Sorry, we can’t pay you in pounds it has to be in Czech Krona.
I said look, my account is in Pounds, not bloody Krona.
But they won’t budge and refuse to pay, saying they can not pay in pounds.
I said are you people serious? You are a major government organisation in a country which has the Pound as its currency and you’re trying to tell me you cannot do a simple electronic bank transfer to a major European bank in pounds to another pound account?
Frankly I am speechless!
What makes it even more irritating is that the Veterans Agency had no problems with this whatsoever, but these idiots cannot seem to manage the most simple basic services.
Christ, bank transfers have been around for decades and decades and they can’t manage it in 2015 - and in pounds which makes it even more ridiculous.
Maybe I have accidentally wandered into a Monty Python sketch or something I don’t know, but I am at my wits end!
This has been going on for months and months and they stubbornly refuse to pay the pension I am entitled to.
First its, Oh we we can’t pay you by electronic transfer, then its OK we can now, but we can not pay in pounds...as I said Monty Python job!
I am at my wits end with these people and it is now causing me some serious financial problems and I may even end up losing my property, because of these dimwits.
Any advice on this from anyone, who has had similar bureaucrat problems would be welcome!
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