R&D Reclaim delays (and a Kafkaesque discussion about paper)

I have raised this once already - but my thread has been marked erroneously as "answered" , so I'm starting a new thread in the hope that someone will take my concern seriously - and help me answer this question.
We filed online for an SME tax credit on 6th June - about 90 days ago We needed to include a CT600L - which is NOT aviable online through our HMRC portal (the CT600 is available and we filed this online as required). So, we sent the CT600L - along with a PDF copy of the online claim, the CT600 by email on 27th June to rd.incentivesreliefs@hmrc.gov.uk.
The application apparently also requires a copy of the companies full year accounts, which we also attached.
Perhaps foolishly we also sent this documentation by post as a backup.
On 15th July, we received a paper letter at our registered office which said our application was rejected because HRMC did not accept paper applications.
On 25th July we sent another email explaining that we had applied online, attaching all the relevant documentation for reference .
On 28th August we followed-up by email because we had heard nothing.
On 2nd September, HMRC sent us a PAPER letter referencing our email of 28th August, restating that they did not accept paper applications and enclosing a paper copy of their previous paper letter.
This was then scanned by our secretary and emailed to me.
This is not just ironic - it feels properly Kafkaesque.
As I said, my previous request on this forum for help (R&D Tax Claim delays) received a standard response saying I needed to wait 60 days - and was marked as "answered".
I've now re-emailed rd.incentivesreliefs@hmrc.gov.uk again addressed to the person who keeps sending me paper letters to remind me that HMRC doesn't accept paper ...
What do I do now ... ?

[Personal Information removed - HMRC Admin]

Hi ,

HMRC are committed to making tax digital, please see guidance on our website at: Overview of Making Tax Digital. Following on from the Spring Budget 2021, a number of changes were made to the process for claiming R&D tax relief to improve effectiveness and reduce fraudulent claims.  This included the requirement for all R&D claims to be submitted digitally (including amendments). Please see guidance also available on our website at:v  Research and Development (R&D) tax relief.  Whilst this customer forum cannot be used to resolve case specific issues, I can only assume the company hasn’t satisfied the requirements for making an R&D claim as set out in this guidance which is why manual letters have been issued.  I acknowledge that not all teams within HMRC are permitted to correspond digitally currently and appreciate how frustrating this may be.  If you wish to make a complaint your case can be reviewed in more detail by the relevant team.  Guidance on how to complain is at: Complain about HMRC.  You will note complaints can be submitted online but you will need a Government Gateway user ID and password.  You can also ask for a response to your complaint by email. Thank you .

Thanks for your response. It's a pity that my post has been crushed into a wall of text - hopefully others coming after will be able to deciperh this. Your assumption that we have done this incorrectly may be right - but since we weren't given any indication of what was missing other than an erroneous assertion that we had done this on paper, it's hard to correct. Looks like the only option is to raise a complaint. Thanks for the link.

@ DJ Hamblin-Brown I am sure the complaint form is not going to be straightforward. Please make sure you follow the steps very carefully, otherwise it might get rejected. However, I am a little jealous that you are getting some response from the HMRS team. I, along with many others are facing a wall of silence and are kept completely in the dark as to the progress (or lack of) of our application.

HI @nrso
We are no 20 days into our own wall-of-silence.
I did get a standard response to my complaint with a reference (DJA-C1GP-D89)
Nothing yet.
Is there a procedure to complaint about the complaints procedure, I wonder.
I'll wait another 28 days and then probably just re-apply from the start. That's the advice I've been given by my accountants.
Keep up the good work.

Hi DJ Hamblin-Brown
Please see the R & D claims Announcement, framed in a red box, at the top of 01 Business tax forum page in which you have created this thread and additional posts.
You should follow this process to review whether or not a new thread should be created or a post added to an existing thread.
The Customer Forum is for general enquiries only and cannot deal with Complaints cases.
Neither can it be used to progress cases already logged.
Our full complaints process is available at: Complain about HMRC 
Thank you

Hi: HMRC Admin 13 Response (great handle by the way). Super unhelpful response, I have to say. Top quality bureaucratic blanking of the actual problem. Condescending, in fact. Stil no help from HMRC. Still not answer to my complaint. Still my original problem is unresolved. A void. Into which I have been shouting. GOOD news, however, is that yesterday I spoke to a lovely guy called David who promised to help me get this sorted. We shall see.