There is a problem with DVLA, as there is with the HMRC, Passport Offices etc.

 

The mail is signed from as delivered in large numbers, opened at the Opening and arranging and distributing centre which may or may not be the DVLA / HMRC, or other UK Government Agency type organisations.

 

So Royal Mail, DHL, etc can do their bit,

and it is 'Internally that paperwork, important documentation' goes AWOL.

That would be an internal operational issue and not really my concern.

 

I know they won't give a **** but I've had have about as much as I can be bothered with dealing with various bits of the government and the next letters I send will be to directors informing them that letters are going to MPs and the press.

Again they may not bother but from personal experience smaller bits of the government seem to crap bricks when an MP writes to ask what is going on.

Phoned the DVLA.

 

Turned out they had both my V5 applications but they'd lost the covering letter that said the reason for the change of owner.

 

So they just sat on it.

 

Obviously I'm not tuned into the DVLA telepathy channel so I didn't know there was a problem.

 

All it would have needed was a ****ing email FFS!

Fax doesn't work.

 

Seriously the only two types of organisation in the worldf that apparently insist on fax are mortgage companies and the DVLA.

 

Posted again today.

Right, dare I say something nice.....

 

Phoned DVLA this morning, got through immediately.

Spoke to a pleasant Welsh bloke who said they had all my docs but it could be another 6 weeks, then he put me on hold for 5 min.

Came back on and said should be sorted out later on today.

 

Fingers crossed I'll have a V5 by the end of the week.

Edited 11 April, 201610 yr by Aspman

I know I'm in the wrong thread for this kind of comment, but I've never had a problem with the DVLA.
All my licence changes or vehicle transactions have gone through correctly, first time, and often very quickly.

Is there a "Barry Boys" type website for awful customer service (That is apart from Money Saving Expert) ?

 

Like the "Shed-of-the-week", perhaps there ought to be a regular award. I don't know, perhaps it could be entitled "The Indolent, retro-active, know-nothing, obstructive **** of the week award."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/11103540/The-100-best-and-worst-companies-for-customer-service.html

 

The above list is  slightly long-in-the-tooth now, but from my recent experience you can add the Automobile Association, GP surgeries and the local Haematology OPD as possible candidates for the award.

 

In fact, an E-mail went winging its way to Dear 'ol Bob Mckenzie (Not of the swing-ommeter, but the AA) this weekend regarding failure of the automatic annual renewal of my AA Breakdown cover - the AA requested payment from the credit card company and then withdrew the request. The credit card company tells me that they were happy to pay but that the AA withdrew the request. When I phoned their Customer Service, they confirmed that they had withdrawn the request for payment and there was no indication on their computer system why it had been done. That was about two weeks ago. Then last Saturday, I get an letter from them claiming that their attempt to claim payment had failed. Off went my E-mail.

 

This follows another farago with the car insurance with them. I renewed my policy with them for a second year over the phone and was advised that a copy of the certificate of insurance in PDF format would be deposited in the electronic archive in my on-line account. At first it didn't turn-up and when it did, it had no contents. I contacted them and only by elevating the issue to supervisor level did I get any reasonable response at all. An attempt was made to re-send the Certificate PDF to my on-line account. That failed and was reported by me, again - by this time I was conversing with them via E-mail.. Further attempts were made and failed. Eventually, the supervisor got a subordinate to send me a copy of the Certificate as an E-mail attachment. That arrioved ! That all occurred at the back-end of February. After the breakdown balls-up this weekend , I had reason to check my on-line account last Saturday and found that the PDF in the insurance section still has no contents. So my e-mail had a joint subject matter.

 

Local GP surgery can go one better. Every year I have to go and have a cholesterol test because I'm a cardiac risk patient (An NHS cardiac protocol stipulation - in actual fact it should be every 6 months, But we don't want to overburden the poor souls). This event is not automatically generated by the surgery. So, every year, I  have to ring up the surgery and either request an appointment with the doctor at which I can request a blood -test  or I have to ask the receptionist to pen a note to the doctor on their computer system informing him of my request. Then, if I'm really lucky, I will get a duly authorised form delivered to the Surgery reception, which I then have to go an collect and book the appointment at the same time with the receptionist and, you guessed-it, the blood-test is performed at a different location about a week later. If inefficiency is your master plan, then this must be classed as Platinum-plated visionary behaviour. And if, as occurred this week, my GP is off for the best part of the week, the various requests will just sit in his in-box until he returns. No bodies heard of temporarily forwarding e-mails.

 

Same happened with my repeat prescription, input yesterday through my account on their on-line system. When I phoned the surgery this morning on the blood-test issue, I thought it would be wise to check on whether they'd received and were acting on the prescription request, because my on-line account was still saying "Requested", rather than "Accepted" or "Actioned". Turns out the  Surgery system generates an E-mail  from this request, and you guessed-it, it was sitting in my GP's in-box awaiting his return and nothing in the way of electronic notification had come back to me to tell-me that the process had effectively stalled. Their published service standard is 48 hours. My GP isn't back-in until Friday ! Outstanding. Luckily, the receptionist took it in hand.

 

Clear examples of  SYSTEM failures, which all the staff have to tolerate and which some. may. exploit if they are minded to.

 

But the crème-de-la crème, X-factor award goes to the Haematology department at my local district General hospital. I'm on a five-year call-back regime for OPD appointments,  with a OPD clinic appointment every three months - this follows completion in December last  of 18 weeks of Chemotherapy to treat the remains of an intestinal Lymphoma. When I attended the first call-back appointment in early March, I was told on leaving the clinic that a letter would be sent by post telling me the date and time of the next appointment - probably some-time in June. So here we are, practically a month-on, no letter. So, telephoned the general OPD on Friday and they told me that the appointment had not yet been booked and put me through to the Haematology "Pathway co-ordinator", which was on answerphone, left a message leaving name, hospital number and landline. Nothing heard by lunchtime today. Same deal. Left another message on the answerphone.

To short-circuit the process, I contacted the Haematology Medical secretaries and they were happy to send an E-mail to this person over the internal system and told me that the usual process is for clinic appointment letters for the next appointment to be handed-out as one exits the current clinic session - that had been my previous experience when I attended the 3 weekly clinics whilst undergoing chemo. Here we are at 15:30, still no call- back.

 

The people who allow the systems to operate this way and the staff who consent to this by operating the system, need a rocket and a P45.

 

As we have seen with the recent case with the South Coast Health Authority, Sheffield Social workers etc, etc etc, ad nauseum over the last 30 years, these appear to be the standards to which the mass of the staff in these institutions "Aspire" and which HMG is prepared to tolerate.

 

Postscript

 

A near relative died this week. You guessed it, all processes and procedures hung-up pending issue of Death Certificate, delayed due to the JD's strike. Love the management pro-activeness.

 

 

Nick

Edited 11 April, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

Sorry to go right off topic,but  HMG's explanatory booklet on why we should vote for "Ever closer union" just fell through the letterbox.

 

As far as I can see, all it means of more and bigger of what I have already described above, if my recent experience of public services on the Continent are anything to go by, whilst Dave and the City brigade all are set to do very nicely whilst simulataneously pacificying the unemployed with the bull**** that their "Core" industry's had to be down sized in a "Managed decline".

 

Kittening poke it Dave.

 

 

Nick

When I speak to anyone at the DVLA they are always polite and helpful. It just seems to be the organisation as an entity that is utterly shambolic

Isn't that the way the game's played ? The politeness card ?  Ensuring that Its all very comfortable . . . . for the staff . . . . and the shareholders.  What happened to Mrs T's customer revolution ?

 

And no doubt everyone, particularly the "Up-tops",  are all mutually recommending each other for "Bonuses".

 

Occasionally, it needs somebody to be unpleasant and kick arse and wave a few P45's around.

 

 

Nick

 

 

Still no response from the Haematology department.

 

Compare and contrast the service levels for a task of graded similar difficulty:-

 

NHS, one month and still waiting for a simple appointment letter.

 

 

Supplier on E-bay, from whom I ordered, early evening yesterday, 2 x rubber drive belts for a CD-Tray, envelope has just dropped through the letter box within the last 5 minutes, complete with belts, invoice and promotional material - and that's been delayed because the wonderful Royal Mail only does one delivery a day, which can be at anytime from early Am to early PM.

 

As far as I'm concerned, it says it all.

 

Frig economies of scale. Small is beautiful and far more customer responsive.

 

Nick

Edited 12 April, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

Well if you're unhappy with the NHS.DVLA please feel free to take your custom elsewhere!

 

And that's where private Vs public all falls down.

 

Bad reputation will ruin a business even a massive one. It does nothing to the public sector other than prompt the occasional rearrangement of those at the top. No one gets sacked they just play musical chairs around lucrative public sector appointments.

 

I suspect those at the coal face of the DVLA suffer the decisions of the 'high heid yins' just as much as we poor 'customers'.

 

With the NHS I can now clearly see the monolithic self protecting edifice of government in all it's stonewalling glory.

 

I'm ever more 'proud' (maybe not quite the right word) of the local authority I work for, in comparison to central government we really are more open and responsible. I've no doubt that bits are keen on white washing, but the FOI and complaints side of things are as independent as I think they could possibly be. We're also a bastion of efficiency and professionalism in comparison to central gov and NHS.

I never really thought we were that good until I've seen just how bad the rest are.

 In the UK,  as elsewhere, big organisations only suit three groups, the City of London, shareholders and the unions, who then have the opportunity to play all sorts of games with the capital stocks and service levels as appropriate. In this situation the "Customer" always gets shafted, because there always some where for the perpetrators to hide and there's always a ready supply of "Fall-guy" juniors.

 

And Dave want's us to vote for ever closer uknowwhat with the EU in a situation where most of the  City and the Unions approve of this. What's going to happen to the customer ? - last seen kissing their ends goodbye.

 

 

Postscript

 

Finally, I managed to contact  the Patient Pathway co-ordinator (On her land-line !)  and got an appointment for June. Mental note - Tuesday afternoons, she's in Office as opposed to clinic.

 

I was told , if, as happened to me, you attend an "Overflow" clinic, which is not  directly administered by a Clinic administrator, but by a Nurse, then the whole system of booking the next appointment is dependent on the Nurse handing in the appointment request, issued by the doctor, to the clinic administrator. If this doesn't happen then you fall down the cracks - this can only mean that  the clinic administrator doesn't hold a master list of clinic attendances for each clinic session against which he/she/it ticks off the instruction sheets from the doctor.

 

****-me and M &S woolly underwear !

 

 

 

Nick

Edited 12 April, 201610 yr by Clunkclick

V5 came in the post today!