My father died not long before Christmas and is survived by my mother. One of my tasks is to notify all and sundry of his death including DVLA about his car.(1.3 Totota Yaris 21/2 yrs old - 5500 miles). I followed precisely the way to advise DVLA by reading the guidance notes that come with the V5 "log book". This included, as demanded, a covering letter explaining why I was transferring the keeper of the vehicle to his wife/widow.
Those morons have now sent a letter to the poor old dead chap thanking him for being told of the change and also telling him to ignore any future letters to him from DVLA.
Surely their fancy system has a "death" letter to be used in these circumstances.
I want to make a fuss. Who do I complain to? The letter was signed by a 8< snip 8< and I doubt if he exists.
Although I do sympathise with you over the loss of your father, the person who *may* have been responsible for the letter doesn't warrant his name being aired in a public forum. DD
|
Do a google on him. He has appeared as a guest lecturer at some events so either he he has a stage name or actually exists.
--
pmh (was peter)
|
|
|
|
It's a public sector IT system!
|
|
|
I want to make a fuss. Who do I complain to?
complaints procedure details at
www.dvla.gov.uk/contact/dvla_contact.htm
|
i always find that if i email a complaint it doesnt get a response but if you write a good old fashioned pen on paper letter you will definately get a reply send it to customer services dvla.
good luck.
|
Thank you all. I've printed off the complaints procedure names and addresses and I will write (not email) to them. Maybe they then might add a button or two to their system.
|
Sorry to hear your bad news Dulwich Estate. You may find this helpful. www.the-bereavement-register.com . This completely free service enables you to register your father's details and remove his name from any junk mail lists. This should, within a reasonably short period of time, stop any unecessary, and upsetting mail arriving.
--
let me be the last to let you down....
(I made the link clickable. HJ)
|
|
This is obviously very distressing for you and I offer you my condolences. This is more likely a matter of duff computer programming than incompetence by an individual IMHO. I have read of other such letters, sent to Mr John Smith (Deceased) and to Mr Deceased, mostly from banks. I wish you good luck with your letter of comment and can only hope that it will result in a software change at DVLA.
|
Its not just the DVLA - I lost my sister last month.
My Brother in Law who is currently staying with us wrote to Visa and Mastercard informing them of her passing.
I received a letter on Christmas Eve addressed to me expressing condolences for the death of my BiL ( who had actually signed the letter to them ) and cancelling his credit cards which he could not then use over Christmas.
I have been told that the cards have been reinstated now but neither he or I have received any written apology for their complete and utter foul up.
|
If you want to make a *real* fuss (about any public sector department) then write to your MP. They then write on your behalf (possibly in this case via the Secretary of State for Transport) and the complaint is treated with the utmost seriousness.
You might still get a mealy-mouthed reply, but, believe me, backsides will have been kicked all over the place.
|
|
That strikes me as disproportionate.
|
I sympathise with the loss of your father, and I have been in exactly the same situation as you.
I think you are over reacting and allowing your anger and hurt to be directed at something or someone. Mistakes happen. Forgive, in the long run its a much more satisfying option.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
I sympathise with the loss of your father, and I have been in exactly the same situation as you. I think you are over reacting and allowing your anger and hurt to be directed at something or someone. Mistakes happen. Forgive, in the long run its a much more satisfying option.
>>
Absolute TOSH!! I am not over reacting - I always complain when I get lousy service or poor treatment - you should see my fat file with bank complaints!
Don't complain and you'll never improve things.
|
Don't complain and you'll never improve things.
agreed. you should complain because this may not have just been a simple clerical error. it could be poor training and the clerk not being aware that there is a sensivitively drafted set procedure for this situation. if left unreported, he may keep sending out inappropriate letters to others in a sinmilar situation.
|
Absolute TOSH!! I am not over reacting - I always complain when I get lousy service or poor treatment - you should see my fat file with bank complaints!
Looked at 'from the other end of the telescope' one could suggest you are always over reacting?
|
|
I was an administrator at a large city council during the Poll Tax debacle. We used to get forms down from the Poll Tax registration office whenever a person's record changed (which was very, very often in some--usually the poorest--cases). Anyway, after a death they used to read thus:
Reason for change? Deceased.
Forwarding Address? Not Known.
I agree it's duff programming/form design, not individual incompetence.
|
|
|
|
|
They probably do have a 'death' letter and it is a simple mistake by a clerk sending out the normal change of owner letter.
What is it you want to achieve by making a fuss?
I was getting correspondence for both my parents for a couple of years after they died.
|
They probably do have a 'death' letter and it is a simple mistake
cardew is correct. most likely that the clerk pressed the wrong button to issue the new v5. my recent experience was that they sent a compassionate condolences letter along with the new v5.
|
>>If you want to make a *real* fuss (about any public sector >>department) then write to your MP. They then write on your >>behalf (possibly in this case via the Secretary of State for >>Transport) and the complaint is treated with the utmost >>seriousness.
>>You might still get a mealy-mouthed reply, but, believe me, >>backsides will have been kicked all over the place.
Yeah it works really well. In most cases it results in workers at ground level who are already struggling to meet public expectation having to spend time investigating and being investigated.
Net result even less time to do the job they are supposed to be doing, and even more frustration when custumers/users don't get the service they expect.
|
|
Mistakes like this are common, certainly got lots of this when my sis died last year but the people you deal with face to face are overwhelmingly helpful and sympathetic. How you handle it depends on your disposition. Me, every couple of months I leave flowers and a get well card on her little plot. I know she?ll be down there somewhere, laughing.
|
I had a similar task a couple of years ago at this time of year.
I did it over the phone and was suprised at how well it all went.
My mother went to far as to send a thank you letter to the Inland Revenue and got a bunch of flowers in return!.
Martin
|
|
|
|
Hyman beings are almost always sensitive and sympathetic. Computers aren't. I do think it's important to complain, to make sure someone takes control and ensures that it doesn't happen again.
Dulwich Estate is rightly upset, but he can fight back. Others in this situation may be old or vulnerable, and could be badly affected even though the error wasn't deliberate.
Computers are of course hugely useful, but people are what matter. Businesses, even Government agencies like the DVLA, need to be run for the benefit of people.
|
|
I meant 'human beings' of course! We all make errors....
|
Since the DVLA changed to their continuous registration scheme they now issue an acknowledgement to the previous keeper with a change of keeper. I would expect this process to be highly automated given the volumes they must deal with and I suspect your letter will have gone in the bin and the form put in the scanning/processing pile with all the other V5's.
Chances are the person who processed the form to issue the new V5 never even saw your letter as the processes are designed to be as lean an mean as possible - the actual reason for the change of keeper is not important to the process or system. I suspect very few people bother to send a covering letter stating a bereavement is the cause for the change.
Whilst I can see your point, I do think its a slight overreaction to an automatically generated letter. There would be uproar if the DVLA started charging for keeper changes because a small proportion required manual processing to avoid situations like you describe.
|
I had to deal with exactly the same set of circumstances in 2004. I sent the registration document and driving licence to DVLA with a covering letter. New V5 returned with a covering letter expressing sympathy. So not the same experience.
Fullchat
|
More 'morons' - this time at the AA. Read this and weep!
tinyurl.com/d8uzu
|
I am goinmg to cancel my AA membership: the case was factually wrong unless they refunded the balance of the subscription which had been paid and was unused...
madf
|
Ok lets see how this conversation pans out shall we
Ring Ring...."Hello Breakdown service".
"Hello I am in my dead brother in laws car. It wont start but I have found his Breakdown service card, can you come and rescue me please"
"Sorry sir the membership expired when your brother in law died"
"string of abuse from driver"
Perhap if it had gone this way:
"Hello, my brother in law has just died at the wheel of his car, and we are trying to recover the vehicle but it wont start"
"certainly sir - where are you......."
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Please maintain due respect when posting in this thread. IMO some comments to date are borderline.
smokie, BR Moderator
|
|
|
|
As someone who deals with the recently bereaved every day, I cannot stress enough that everyone reacts to death in different ways. There is a cycle of emotions that a person has to travel through before coming to terms with a bereavement, and everyone starts at a different point on that cycle depending on your personality, previous experiences of death, the circumstances surrounding the death, etc.
Some may not find receiving mail adressed to their deceased spouse at all upsetting, to others it is like a knife through the heart.
Dulwich Estate is quite right to pursue this. Although I am sure it was a genuine error, there are perhaps only two people who know the upset it caused, Dulwich Estate and his mother.
The question Dulwich Estate really needs to ask is, what does he want to happen as a result of complaining? Grief can be a very destructive emotion.
--
let me be the last to let you down....
|
Thanks for the thoughts, but I think some of you have gone a trifle overboard on the psycho-babble stuff. I'm put out a bit - yes, but not barmy and grieving with destructive emotion!
Much, much more than this I am simply very keen to right a wrong as I see it. If the DVLA aren't told of their mistake it may well keep on happening to others, some of whom may well be very seriously distressed.
Update: I wrote a polite letter following the complaints procedure and today I have a holding reply - "...your case has been passed to the relevant department who will reply to you when they have completed their investigations."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Regulars will know about my complaint to DVLA about how they dealt with the re-registration of my late father's car and how they wrote to him confirming the change of ownership.
As suggested on here I wrote to DVLA (by post) and first got a simplistic and inadequate reply. My follow up letter got a very lengthy two page response which included the words:
"You ask if it is normal practise for the Agency to process a V5C change, which does not include the seller's signature. The law requires both the registered keeper and the acquirer of a vehicle to sign the V5C. This is significant particularly in the case of the seller, as the law places the onus very clearly on them to notify the Agency of the name of their successor. In reality, despite our attempts to encourage the public to comply with the requirements for joint signatures, a number of V5Cs that we receive do not bear both signatures.
Consequently, the Agency has to strike a balance between the twin aims of ensuring that our records are amended speedily with information provided and of ensuring that every V5C received and processed bears two signatures. Additionally, as tens of thousands of V5Cs are processed daily, the administrative task of checking every V5C to ensure that the signatures are present and rejecting those where they are not must not be underestimated.
As a result, registration certificates without signatures are processed."
Take care of your V5C.
|
as tens of thousands of V5Cs are processed daily
Really?
|
|
|
As a result, registration certificates without signatures are processed." Take care of your V5C.
Even if they are signed, you don't seriously think that they check the signature, do you?
|
Even if they are signed, you don't seriously think that they check the signature, do you?
no but they could use it against you if the new keeper didnt exist and was still running your ex vehicle,so the advise is make sure new keeper signs the v5c and puts their date of birth as well. This is also a legal requirement that way you cannot be done for not supplying details to swansea,Make sure you as seller sends left hand side to swansea as well unless you are selling on to the trade, this is also your legal duty and is in your own interest.
--
"a little man in a big world/"
|
|
|
|
|
