DVLA - At my wits end. HELP!!!!

[Fiery_Princess]

Afternoon Everyone,

 

Advice needed, or alternatively, a lift to Swansea!!!

 

I'll try to be brief, and to the point.

 

Hubby went for job interview, last Monday morning, as a CE Driver.

Took licence with him to interview,

only to find out, CE entitlement had been removed

 

Phoned Swansea, their reply "As you didn't meet the sight requirements, we revoked your licence"

 

Rewind back to last year,

 

Hubby went for his medical, as required, and the Numpty (as he will now be known! Lol) forgot to take his glasses.

 

DVLA wrote to us and said he had to take another eye test, which he did, and he passed.

Eyesight test was on the 27th, form had to be back ioth them by the 30th.

 

Form was posted on 27th, so would have been back in time,

however DVLA didn't scan it on to their system until the 7th,

hence being outside their deadline.

 

Numpty, however did not pick up on this when his new licence arrived,

he, and I, just assumed as we had sent the new eyetest off in time, everything was ok

 

back to this year,

filled in Form D2,

emailed to DVLA Monday 10th February 2014,

received read receipt at 13.40.

this time, we have proof they have the form!!!

 

Phoned them, to be told it takes 72hrs for forms to be scanned on to their system.

will phone back Thursday.

Phoned Thursday to be told, it sometimes takes longer.

phone back Saturday, to be told "There is currently a back log, we are dealing with emails received on the 8th.

 

we'll wait a couple of days, and phone back then.

Phone back this morning, it's now over a week since form was sent in.

Guess what, they still don't have it.

They're now processing emails from the 13th,

they've gone straight past it,

but they haven't lost it?!

But to send it in again,

 

I mean WTF?

we can email again, even though they lose them,

or we can post them, but know full well that it will get delayed

 

Where is the accountability?

How can they get away with this?

How can they blatantly lose something, and deny they have?

And whilst all this is going on,

we have no money coming into the house.

so we're having a fine old time here

 

Just so, so cross with them! And to make it seem worse,

Numpty's medical is fine, his photocard is fine,

every god damned thing is fine,

apart from 1 box with a cross in it,

and his signature,

and yet they still can't issue a licence!!!!

 

Arrgggghhhh!!! :evil::evil:

[BazzaS]

Complain, to their complaints team.

You could try the Customer Complaint Resolution Team, who have a fax on 0845 850 0095.

(PM me if you need a phone number, I'm not sure if the number I have is for "the team" or "an individual", and so don't want to post it publicly).

 

If you are speaking to their standard "Medical Enquiries" droids, be prepared to be told that:

a) Your previous calls were noted, and the recordings will be checked (I never had any sign mine were ....)

b) your previous complaint was never logged as a complaint, and/or

c) that your subsequent complaint(s) was/were noted as "should have been logged as a complaint", but still hasn't actually been actioned as a complaint, and/or

d) "the complaints team don't speak directly to the public", and/or

e) there is no complaints escalation "beyond a further review by the complaints team, who you can't speak to" (there is: by the DVLA chief exec), and/or

f) there is no external complaints body, and you can't complain to the Minister of State for Transport or your MP (yes, you can, you can complain to your MP, who may pass it on to the Parliamentary / Civil Service Ombudsman)

 

Record your calls, as they may well later accuse you of "being mistaken" if you mention being told any of the above.

 

Keep copies of all documentation you send, for those minor inconveniences of when they say "never received it, start from scratch again".

Send anything Special Delivery (as they have to sign for these individually, as opposed to signing en masse for Recorded Delivery). It costs much more but makes it much harder for them to claim non-receipt.

 

In case you detect a degree of bitterness ..... all of the above happened to me. However, it is fine, as in the end I got a letter saying "I can assure you we are not complacent about the service we provide". The letter was so superficial and glib, not actually adressing any of the itemised issues I'd raised that I gave up (rare for me, but I had to recognise the amount of effort it would take to achieve any more meaningful response), hence my skepticism of the process.

 

Take careful note of their 'service standard times". Be prepared for them to be exceeded, or, if you complain, for them to issue a license on the last possible day.