Update on Support

In these challenging times, we realise that it’s vital that you can get access to the help you need, when you need it.

We are committed to providing this support and to this end we are investigating systems that can integrate our current digital support (by email and on-line portal) with the more traditional telephone access, into a single, seamless service.

We aren’t there yet.

Brexit and all its consequences, COVID, changes to Transit and the implementation of CDS are all continuing to create unprecedented levels of disruption for our industry. Each event brings changes, planned and unplanned, that generate a cumulative impact that’s surprising even the most experienced in our community. 

ASM has not been immune to the challenges of these events. The demand on our critical resources – both development and support – has reached unparalleled levels and continues to grow.

Our service desk has seen the number of requests for assistance jump to previously unimagined levels as the migration to CDS continues. Each request for help is being answered, but again, perhaps not always quite as quickly as we would like, and the crisis is certainly being aggravated by the chronic shortage of industry experienced staff.

The ASM service desk is an obvious contact point for Forwarders struggling to understand the requirements of CDS declarations and the processes around them.

However, we must reiterate that we can only assist with matters related to the technical support of the Sequoia software. We cannot help with questions about the contents of a declaration or how to resolve errors reported by CDS.

It takes time and resource to filter these compliance questions and answer them by referring the user to HMRC, time that would be better spent addressing the issues that we can help with. This is currently making it impossible for us to return to the telephone centred support system we are committed to.

We very much appreciate your continued understanding.

The ASM Service Desk Team
3rd October 2022