Joined: Jun 2018 Posts: 65 Threads: 14
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Location: Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Thanks for all the replies, and well done to all for getting to the end of the process!
Ironically it's good to know that I'm not alone.
I've decided my best route forward is to go through the process of obtaining a new Authentication certificate as this is going to cause the least pain and should get a result in the shortest duration. I didn't send my second application pack by recorded delivery unfortunately, so I can't actually blame the DVLA for loosing my application, even though i'd bet my life on the fact that they do have it somewhere in their system. Even if I'd sent it recorded delivery they still wouldn't know where it was and I could moan at them untill I'm blue in the face, but it still wouldn't necessarily magically reappear!
I have a route forward in my mind now at least. Fingers crossed it works this time round.
Joined: May 2018 Posts: 130 Threads: 12
Reputation:
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Location: Oxfordshire
In my case, fortunately despite 'losing it' they had managed to cash the cheque that I sent with it for the fee, so I was able to prove that they'd had it.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 2,251 Threads: 33
Reputation:
35
Location: Deepest Frogland 30960
Car type: 1933 RP Standard Saloon
Basic rules when dealing with large public owned bodies:
Trust no-one.
Never send original documents.
If they can lose it, they will.
Check everything, twice.
Keep records/photocopies/photos of everything you send, and when.
Remember, if it's not been written down, then it never happened.
If you deal with someone over the phone ask them for their name and extension and the name of their line manager.
Tell them you are making a recording of the conversation...(that usually makes them sit up and pay attention)
Joined: Sep 2018 Posts: 134 Threads: 17
Reputation:
6
Location: Oop North
The folks at the DVLA have a massive workload & if applications are made incorrectly, the wrong documents are included, the wrong address is used there will inevitably be "issues".
I have made many such applications & (touch wood) never had an issue. The Rules are very simple:
First, & by far the most important, BE HONEST! Read what info they need, send it all to them with a covering letter & sheet itemising the enclosures, send it via recorded or preferably special delivery, send it to the correct address with the correct fee, if required. Wait the requisite period & you will usually be very pleasantly surprised by the speed & efficiency you will be dealt with.
I am not saying this is the case in any of the above, but they receive literally 1,000 or incorrect, incomplete & downright fraudulent applications every month, is it any surprise that these can take longer to process & occasionally get lost in the system.
Up until a few years ago applications of this type were dealt with by local licensing offices. Thanks to a previous round of Government spending cuts these offices were all closed down leaving us with the stretched to the limit service we currently have run direct from the DVLA in Swansea. Delays are, in my experience, rarely the "fault" of the employees at the DVLA and are usually as a result of an incorrectly completed or in a lot of cases downright fraudulent application.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,247 Threads: 360
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So, some 'We love DVLA" T-shirts clearly called for...?
Interesting that some A7 club DVLA reps don't advocate individuals sending in their own applications.
I did my own and cocked it up first time through missing something. But DVLA were also impossible to fathom. I had to go through an additional NOVA application, wrote to the chief exec afterwards to find out why... and still don't really know the policy reason.
I also advised that their return envelopes were too skimpy, as three (!) sent back to me were dangerously close to losing all their valuable innards. They were very pleased to hear this feedback, and thankful. So they are a learning organisation, I think.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 1,926 Threads: 90
Reputation:
17
Location: Ripon
I had to send the original of the Minister's Certificate from VOSA as it was a "new" build and they will not accept a copy. Fortunately I had copied it and after a little discussion they accepted it. They were very helpful but only after several letters asking what was going on(no replies) and I offered to send all the paperwork my MP to see if it made any difference.
In previous applications I had little bother, I have to assume it was my typo on the postcode which opened the bottomless pit of horrors!
