Canada Revenue Agency

Constant phoning almost every day since April 10, some days recorded message that NO agents are available this day and other days recorded message of wait times between 2.5 Hrs. and other days longer waits. Horrible service.

The CRA has endless amounts of red tape, delays, and very poor quality establishing contact for service. The tax system clearly discriminates and is unfavourable to single parents and as such creates poverty situations for the 25% of children living in poverty in B.C. Just simple delays or withholding of funds due to single parents like baby bonus gst can cause homelessness and break up a family causing completely irreversible damage to children and parents. There is no timely or certainty to ensure monthly payments are actually delivered to very needy families. Between the family law system, taxation and provincial inability to support single parent families there is very little hope of raising a family without extreme issues here in Canada. In order for payment and help to be of any value timeliness is critical. If it take hours just to establish a small amount of support those hours lost working would pay more than the meager amounts are even worth. Get real with the amounts of support values are decades old. The fight you have to go through just to establish guardianship alone can take days of lossed time from work. The password entry system is impossible to establish in any timely fashion even for the computer literate. In BC any single parent under 60 years of age receives no benefits not even a bus pass which costs thousands of dollars in a city with the longest commute times in the world. As a result many single parent families loose their license, jobs, passports, and any benefits just because of a very poorly set up system designed to harm fathers primarily but especially widowers between 45 and 60 years of age raising young children. This system literally makes this group of people extremely discriminated by the system itself. Even though within 3 years of loosing a spouse 90% of those widowers will parish the remaining that survive the resulting poverty will leave less than financially secure. I may be one of the very few still alive to actually write a review, but for years I am fighting a system which is severely broken. These younger widowers and single parent families in poverty should be treated the same as the surviving spouse over 60 as clearly only age discriminates the difference. If i could afford the time and cost to actually file taxes back a couple of years that would be great but until then I loose benefits an impoverished family could really use. I remain fighting and will for decades until this broken system is repaired completely a lifetime if it actually takes that long to ensure the tax system actually functions equally to those in need. I am homeless and my family is completely broken apart, I received no benefits not even a death benefit or widower benefits via CPP as my late spouse was an immigrant and did not qualify for CPP they returned her money for payment to this very loophole filled insurance policy. Any private insurer would have gladly accepted the large sums for a better policy in return. There is very little benefit or reliance on these mandatory insurance systems. In BC a single family in poverty without help can pay as much as 80 percent of their income for rent 30% for transportation and at the same time receive no benefits or help and actually still pay taxes and cpp mandatory payments. how is this sustainable and why would a family in such position remain living in Canada ? The time you work vs the actual assets you receive in BC are way out of touch with reality. Many young families will never be able to afford a home, car or any assets of value so although it looks like an attractive place, it is not. I was born here and 2 of my 6 children I support live here if it was not for those 2 children I would have left BC a long time ago. If you enjoy homelessness then BC is the place to raise a family, except you wont be raising your children at all as if you are homeless they will be removed from your care immediately. I do not think people that are not placed in such a situation have any idea how cruel the system can be at all. Death and Taxes in BC you get a 2 for 1 deal.

Do not go to 9755 King George Hwy location. STAFF CENTRE ONLY. Outdoor mailbox for stamp free tax filing drop-off only. If you have questions or need assistance a security guard will give you a card with toll free numbers. BUT DON'T FORGET TO PAY FOR PARKING BEFORE YOU GO INSIDE TO BE TURNED AWAY. There are numerous signs clearly state 'employees only' but they have pay parking machines by, and inside the lobby.

I would love to write a review about their service if I could ever reach someone. Trying at anytime of day results in all agents busy, queue full, good-bye. Thanks for nothing

"All of our agents are busy, please call back later." What? That's it? No leave a message? No please hold and we will get to you ASAP? Just "call back later"? What kind of modern call center doesn't have these basic facilities? Guess I'll give them an extra star for even having a phone line that I might, theoretically, be able to talk to them on one day.

No way of confirming by phone any details concerning tax filing/general questions. The only public CRA phone # is the national 1-800 line that has a normal waiting time of 45 -60 minutes. And you have to wait at least that long. Disgusting! A one-star rating would be generous.

Phone line hardly get connected and it is always busy. People work there are rude and no customer service skills and they should not be work there. They will place you on hold until your lines cut off and you have to call back again. They will place you on hold again so you never get your answer. You will get someone answer your call if you are lucky but they will provide you an unforgettable rude and unprofessional service. This is what our Canadian paying their high taxes for , God bless our Government.

My review is in access to CRA. I have been trying for months to reach a person to assist me. You wait for 2-3 hrs to get to a screening agent. They connected me to the IT office waited another 1.5 hrs/2 hrs and 45min when the phone disconnected. That happened three times. Still have not resolved my situation. Not acceptable for a national public service. I am going to talk to my MP!