DVLA - Argh!?!?!?!
Discussion
Anyone else having major issues getting through to a human being at DVLA? Their lines are constantly busy, as in cant even get on hold to wait to speak to someone - just automated thing saying sorry we can't help right now as we're busy. And then the automated system refers you to webchat (apparently for a quick response) which then after inputting in 101 bits of info back and forth with an automated bot for ten minutes, it says.... yep you've guessed it..
"We're busy right now bla bla bla, we can't help you right now".
FFS!
I've waited 8 weeks now for my new licence to arrive (due to a legal name change) and still nothing back. And for the past 6 weeks, when searching my details online using the online DVLA licence checker thing using my old details, it says "no likey". So clearly this means my licence has been updated, right? Well you would think so. Then there's a section where you can input your name, postcode, national insurance number and dob, and it checks your details to bring up your licence number etc. Yep, that doesn't work either, for both old and new name.
So do I actually have a licence still? Have they just clicked delete and now I'm no longer a licence holder? Do I even exist on their systems any more? Am I now "off the grid"?
Argh!?!?!?!!
Is anyone actually working at DVLA or have they all buggered off home permanently? I just want to speak to a single human being who can try and tell me wtf is going on with my licence.
Anyway, rant over (for now). However, if anyone wants to join in, go for it.
"We're busy right now bla bla bla, we can't help you right now".
FFS!
I've waited 8 weeks now for my new licence to arrive (due to a legal name change) and still nothing back. And for the past 6 weeks, when searching my details online using the online DVLA licence checker thing using my old details, it says "no likey". So clearly this means my licence has been updated, right? Well you would think so. Then there's a section where you can input your name, postcode, national insurance number and dob, and it checks your details to bring up your licence number etc. Yep, that doesn't work either, for both old and new name.
So do I actually have a licence still? Have they just clicked delete and now I'm no longer a licence holder? Do I even exist on their systems any more? Am I now "off the grid"?
Argh!?!?!?!!
Is anyone actually working at DVLA or have they all buggered off home permanently? I just want to speak to a single human being who can try and tell me wtf is going on with my licence.
Anyway, rant over (for now). However, if anyone wants to join in, go for it.
From what I read it's a Government agency that has been totally FUBAR'd by Covid.
Lots of reluctance to WFH from the management due to data privacy concerns, so everyone's been in the office and it's therefore no surprise that they have had loads of Covid cases and the staff have consequently gone on strike.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-57327481
Until recently I was dealing with the DVLA professionally for 20+ years and it was often difficult to get through at the best of times so must be a nightmare now.
Lots of reluctance to WFH from the management due to data privacy concerns, so everyone's been in the office and it's therefore no surprise that they have had loads of Covid cases and the staff have consequently gone on strike.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-57327481
Until recently I was dealing with the DVLA professionally for 20+ years and it was often difficult to get through at the best of times so must be a nightmare now.
king help when I did get through but I did manage to speak to someone.It’s an absolute farce at the moment.
I had a letter to say a direct debit had failed despite the first one not even being due yet and the car was showing as taxed. I tried to speak to someone but all I got was an automated message to say there was industrial action and the lines were busy. I was then cut off.
I tried the chat function but that was about as useful as a chocolate fire guard.
I gave up in the end. First direct debit was taken fine and I’ve not heard from them since.
The V5 came through quickly though.
I had a letter to say a direct debit had failed despite the first one not even being due yet and the car was showing as taxed. I tried to speak to someone but all I got was an automated message to say there was industrial action and the lines were busy. I was then cut off.
I tried the chat function but that was about as useful as a chocolate fire guard.
I gave up in the end. First direct debit was taken fine and I’ve not heard from them since.
The V5 came through quickly though.
I’m quite relieved to see it’s not just me been waiting ages for a licence. Mine’s a bit more complicated I suppose as my licence ran out last August during the 11 month COVID extension. Additionally I was 70 last year (the day after it ran out) so the application was a bit more involved and I had the old style paper licence to return.
Anyway, fingers crossed!
Anyway, fingers crossed!
Yeah, have resorted to good old fashioned letter writing. I'm sure it'll end up on a heap somewhere and never get read.
Phone line is permanently non-functional. It doesn't even matter when you ring up, there is no change. Its not busy, there is clearly no one there.
The chat bot thing is absolutely hopeless at guessing what you want and when it says it will transfer you, I actually get a thing pop up that should be a button or an icon but is like place holder text. So probably, it doesn't work at all.
I couldn't do what I needed to via their website because I don't have the V5. But notably, before I found that out, I tried to do it online only to discover the particular function on the website has an opening time of 7am to 7pm!!! What in the world?
I note the telephone message says something about industrial actions and it seems the Union have got 100's of staff on strike because of covid safety fears. What a complete load of toss that is. I, like many office workers, have been working in the office throughout the pandemic. Many other businesses and services have been doing so as well and they'd haven't died or spawned a gateway to hell. Its clearly not a danger and entirely manageable, especially now when we've had over a year to develop best practices, over half the population are vaccinated and generally the data is showing no clear need for emergency.
IMO, they don't want the WFH furlough party to end because it just suits far too many of the workshy buggers that inhabit government entities like the DVLA.
I think the pandemic and the furlough scheme has really not shown many places in a good light in terms of work ethic and attitude.
and balls to the data privacy concerns...as I sit here on a works laptop, at home, via VPN to work or via RDP to machines based at work, with plenty of high-security stuff on the hard drive. This kind of thing is easily surmountable these days. There just has to be a will to do it. Of course, in the sleepy hollow of the DVLA it doesn't matter what they do, they won't be going bust like a private business if they can't sort out their staff with the tools to keep the wheels turning.
Phone line is permanently non-functional. It doesn't even matter when you ring up, there is no change. Its not busy, there is clearly no one there.
The chat bot thing is absolutely hopeless at guessing what you want and when it says it will transfer you, I actually get a thing pop up that should be a button or an icon but is like place holder text. So probably, it doesn't work at all.
I couldn't do what I needed to via their website because I don't have the V5. But notably, before I found that out, I tried to do it online only to discover the particular function on the website has an opening time of 7am to 7pm!!! What in the world?
I note the telephone message says something about industrial actions and it seems the Union have got 100's of staff on strike because of covid safety fears. What a complete load of toss that is. I, like many office workers, have been working in the office throughout the pandemic. Many other businesses and services have been doing so as well and they'd haven't died or spawned a gateway to hell. Its clearly not a danger and entirely manageable, especially now when we've had over a year to develop best practices, over half the population are vaccinated and generally the data is showing no clear need for emergency.
IMO, they don't want the WFH furlough party to end because it just suits far too many of the workshy buggers that inhabit government entities like the DVLA.
I think the pandemic and the furlough scheme has really not shown many places in a good light in terms of work ethic and attitude.
and balls to the data privacy concerns...as I sit here on a works laptop, at home, via VPN to work or via RDP to machines based at work, with plenty of high-security stuff on the hard drive. This kind of thing is easily surmountable these days. There just has to be a will to do it. Of course, in the sleepy hollow of the DVLA it doesn't matter what they do, they won't be going bust like a private business if they can't sort out their staff with the tools to keep the wheels turning.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 21st June 20:31
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 21st June 20:34
Absolutely fed up with them.
Had a reg on a car that failed an MOT so wanted it transferring.
Applied last August, got a response this year, saying that there was a 2 week period between tax and sorn so car was untaxed (it was about 6 days). as a result, only way to get the reg off is to MOT the car, which will cost more than the cars worth.
I've tried ringing to speak to a human to see if there is anything that can be done, as an MOT at 4 times the value of the car doesn't seem worth it, but the reg is worth a fair bit.
Rock and a hard place and the DVLA are just jokers.
Had a reg on a car that failed an MOT so wanted it transferring.
Applied last August, got a response this year, saying that there was a 2 week period between tax and sorn so car was untaxed (it was about 6 days). as a result, only way to get the reg off is to MOT the car, which will cost more than the cars worth.
I've tried ringing to speak to a human to see if there is anything that can be done, as an MOT at 4 times the value of the car doesn't seem worth it, but the reg is worth a fair bit.
Rock and a hard place and the DVLA are just jokers.
They truly are a complete shower. See my thread last week for more of their ineptitude.
Best bit is, there is an ombudsmen, but, get this, only THEY can refer you to them.
So they simply refuse to do so. In a previous issue, which involved large amounts of incompetence on their part, i threatened to go direct to the ombudsmen, suddenly they came over all helpful and i even got someone to talk to. With a real phone number as well.
But, they are public sector, so im not realy sure why im surprised.
They are, however, the worst performing govt agency by a long way that the ombudsmen look after.
Best bit is, there is an ombudsmen, but, get this, only THEY can refer you to them.
So they simply refuse to do so. In a previous issue, which involved large amounts of incompetence on their part, i threatened to go direct to the ombudsmen, suddenly they came over all helpful and i even got someone to talk to. With a real phone number as well.
But, they are public sector, so im not realy sure why im surprised.
They are, however, the worst performing govt agency by a long way that the ombudsmen look after.
Thanks for letting me know. The service has been beyond rubbish. See link below for the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/586778
The more of us that sign it, the better.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/586778
The more of us that sign it, the better.
Had a customer of ours who's DD ban ended around the first lockdown, she bought a car on finance with us and had applied for her licence, she couldn't take the car until her licence arrived nothing for a couple of months so we refunded her deposit and put the car back up for sale.
She finally came in a few weeks ago to buy a car, her licence took around a year to get sorted.
Had another customer; Motability, he has to renew his licence every 3 years due to age and medical reasons, it was done in December by post, he finally received it at the beginning of June. His wife said if you phone them, they just couldn't care less.
She finally came in a few weeks ago to buy a car, her licence took around a year to get sorted.
Had another customer; Motability, he has to renew his licence every 3 years due to age and medical reasons, it was done in December by post, he finally received it at the beginning of June. His wife said if you phone them, they just couldn't care less.
Edited by HTP99 on Thursday 1st July 07:02
I sent my logbook off to change the engine size, after putting a 4.6 in my LR90.
I sent a cheque (admin fee), receipts, reports etc as requested.
Waited 3 months, nothing. Rang them up, ‘we haven’t got it’.
Luckily i’d scanned and printed the originals, so was able to do it again, I enclosed a covering letter, cheque (again) and docs..
Waited 2 months, rang them and they said it would be processed soon.
I then forgot about it for another couple of months, once I remembered I rang them up and was told ‘we never received it’ and to ‘do the process again’.
I was getting quite peeved.
I decided to trawl through my online banking as i was concerned about the cheques.
Wouldn’t you know it, they were there, paid to the dvla, proving they had received everything…
Rang them up, same answer, ‘we haven’t received it’, so i then asked to speak to his line manager, who told me i had to log a complaint on a govt site, so i did ( i had not mentioned the fact they had my money) so i logged the complaint, waited 2 weeks for them to respond as advised on the complaint site, nothing.
So, rang them after that 2 weeks, now i was pissed!
Rang, asked to speak to line manager, line manager told me to go on govt site to make a complaint, i said i’d done that 2 weeks ago, so i want to speak to the most senior person there, as i am now going to seek legal action for them taking money and not providing a service, which proves you have received the paperwork, banked the cheque months ago and lying, it’s basically THEFT!
Was put on hold.
2 minutes later I was told I would receive a call from some important bod.
Within 10 minutes I’d had a phone call, apologising and they said I’d have my logbook sent the next day.
Sure enough, the logbook turned up the next day. Butt monkeys.
I sent a cheque (admin fee), receipts, reports etc as requested.
Waited 3 months, nothing. Rang them up, ‘we haven’t got it’.
Luckily i’d scanned and printed the originals, so was able to do it again, I enclosed a covering letter, cheque (again) and docs..
Waited 2 months, rang them and they said it would be processed soon.
I then forgot about it for another couple of months, once I remembered I rang them up and was told ‘we never received it’ and to ‘do the process again’.
I was getting quite peeved.
I decided to trawl through my online banking as i was concerned about the cheques.
Wouldn’t you know it, they were there, paid to the dvla, proving they had received everything…
Rang them up, same answer, ‘we haven’t received it’, so i then asked to speak to his line manager, who told me i had to log a complaint on a govt site, so i did ( i had not mentioned the fact they had my money) so i logged the complaint, waited 2 weeks for them to respond as advised on the complaint site, nothing.
So, rang them after that 2 weeks, now i was pissed!
Rang, asked to speak to line manager, line manager told me to go on govt site to make a complaint, i said i’d done that 2 weeks ago, so i want to speak to the most senior person there, as i am now going to seek legal action for them taking money and not providing a service, which proves you have received the paperwork, banked the cheque months ago and lying, it’s basically THEFT!
Was put on hold.
2 minutes later I was told I would receive a call from some important bod.
Within 10 minutes I’d had a phone call, apologising and they said I’d have my logbook sent the next day.
Sure enough, the logbook turned up the next day. Butt monkeys.
It's time for RANT.
I sent off my to renew my driving licence weeks ago and still not got it back. My licence is now about to run out and I have been told by the police that if I am stopped I will be fined for not having a current valid licence. As I type I am hanging on waiting for the DVLA to answer my call yet again.
Has anyone taken legal action against the DVLA for loss of earnings for this totally unacceptable service.
(Before anyone points out that you can do it on-line ....... if you don't have a passport and the DVLA want an new photo then you have to do it by post).
I'm still hanging on waiting to be put through (20 minutes now) ......... and getting angrier by the second.
I sent off my to renew my driving licence weeks ago and still not got it back. My licence is now about to run out and I have been told by the police that if I am stopped I will be fined for not having a current valid licence. As I type I am hanging on waiting for the DVLA to answer my call yet again.
Has anyone taken legal action against the DVLA for loss of earnings for this totally unacceptable service.
(Before anyone points out that you can do it on-line ....... if you don't have a passport and the DVLA want an new photo then you have to do it by post).
I'm still hanging on waiting to be put through (20 minutes now) ......... and getting angrier by the second.
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