Let me share my frustrations with you over my state income tax refund. I noticed in early July that I had not received my refund check and went to the Georgia Department of Revenue website to check the status of my return via their “convenient” refund status page. After entering my information, I was informed that my check had “been mailed or is scheduled to be mailed”. (First issue: those are two VERY different categories!)
I was told to check back in 30 days if I did not get my check. (Second issue: there was no date associated with the 30-day time period and as I discovered on subsequent inquires 2 and 4 weeks following my initial inquiry -- the 30-day limit was meaningless because they kept telling me to check back in 30 days. Boo.)
I finally called their hotline as instructed between 7:30AM and 5:30PM. I called at 5:00PM. I went through the automated system that repeated everything I did online. When I was finally given the option of choosing to speak with a representative, I was told to call back “during normal business hours” -- the time was 5:10PM. (If you're keeping count, that's my third issue.)
I called back the next day at 9:00AM on the nose. Spoke with a woman who told me they mailed my check on July 10. After explaining again that I never received it, she confirmed with their bank that it had not been deposited. Then she sent me a form to complete so that I could finally get my check within 10-15 business days -- I would be surprised if the government even knows what a business day is.
Here’s the thing -- I don’t believe them. I don’t think they ever sent my check. I know that as a state we have a budget shortfall and that last year they didn’t return my refund in a timely manner either. I think they’re just giving taxpayers the run-around while they accrue interest and use our money as stop-gap and hope we don’t notice for awhile.
The clock is ticking now on the 10-15 business days, we’ll see what happens.
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