neutron619 Posted July 9, 2017 Report Share Posted July 9, 2017 (edited) I'll probably sound like a fuddy-duddy for saying this, but Cambridgeshire police have managed to earn my respect today, in spite of causing me some inconvenience with my SGC renewal. I put my application in months ago - and certainly before they sent the letter saying "send it in now or we can't be sure it'll be done in time". (I did phone them up to check that they'd received it after that one came through.) Still - the weeks ticked by and I expected to hear from my FEO. Other folk in Cambs on here have told me renewals are now mostly done by telephone, so I expected the call to arrive at some point before yesterday when my certificate expired. By Friday afternoon I'd called twice more, been assured it would be sorted in time and still heard nothing, so I phoned BASC to check the legal position. Apparently, I don't have to have the certificate, but it has to exist and have been signed by the CC, so I phone up the firearms department again to find out whether this is the case. There was no luck to be had with that. No certificate had been printed and there was no-one in the office to sign a section 7, so I left work in a hurry at 1530 to get my guns to the local RFD and made it just in time. To be fair to the lady who answered the telephone, she sounded embarrassed and was very apologetic. I learnt a long time ago never to be rude to people from whom you need to obtain something, so I left her to do as she'd promised and telephone me back on Monday to tell me how it was going to get sorted. Anyway. 5pm today and I've just sat down to relax with a second pint of scrumpy and the phone rings. It's the FEO - apologetic, can he do the interview now, certificate tomorrow, etc. A pint of strong proper cider on an empty stomach left me a bit tipsy but I got through it well enough. To be fair to him, again, he also sounded embarrassed and geniunely seemed to want to get it done ASAP. I was just impressed he was working out of hours on a a Sunday evening, trying to sort it out for me, to be honest. A cynic might say that they all sound convincing because they get a lot of practice at explaining away delays, but if my reading of it is anything to go by, that's not the case. I can't give them a perfect review, because they did mess up the timings and it will cost me a few quid to store my guns this weekend. On the other hand, having made a mistake, they've apologized straight away, recognized the inconvenience caused and made extra effort to get it all sorted beyond what I'd usually expect, so fair play to them. They do seem to want to improve their service and frankly, the way that they've dealt with this issue is better than 99% of the experiences I've ever had when I've had to telephone someone about services paid-for-but-not-received. Here's hoping this positive, can-do attitude is going to spread far and wide across the other force areas. Well done Cambs. Edited July 10, 2017 by neutron619 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigman Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 That's good to hear pal , many pigeons about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 (edited) The thing is though it is an error of their making and totally unnecessary. Have you got the new certificate and I bet that they aren't offering to pay out compensation for the inconvenience of having to arrange storage, deliver and collect the guns to the RFD and the costs involved. If you make a mistake regarding the certificate or any aspect of owning guns they will tread on you faster than you can say Jack. and they will turn up swat squad mob handed. Why are we so forgiving to a system that is wanting to put up fees for a service that is so poor. Are their offering a New cert for free? Should it be down to you to keep phoning them up? What would be the situation if you hadn't have been on their case about it. Edited July 10, 2017 by fortune Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neutron619 Posted July 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 (edited) The thing is though it is an error of their making and totally unnecessary. Have you got the new certificate and I bet that they aren't offering to pay out compensation for the inconvenience of having to arrange storage, deliver and collect the guns to the RFD and the costs involved. If you make a mistake regarding the certificate or any aspect of owning guns they will tread on you faster than you can say Jack. and they will turn up swat squad mob handed. Why are we so forgiving to a system that is wanting to put up fees for a service that is so poor. Are their offering a New cert for free? Should it be down to you to keep phoning them up? What would be the situation if you hadn't have been on their case about it. Yes it was unnecessary and avoidable. I'm not saying they got it right, only that, having got it wrong, their response to that was positive and efficient and went a long way towards mitigating the error. Lots of companies could learn a thing or two about customer service from the way it's been handled since Friday afternoon. As for being on their case - well - it's me that wants to shoot and my problem if I'm on the wrong side of the law, not theirs. We can moan about bad service all we like and in lots of cases it's justified, but we bear some of the responsibility for getting things sorted too. Being legal, keeping guns secured, etc. It's not all down to them and I don't want someone turning up on my door accusing me of illegal possession because I haven't done things by the book. Since we're all a generally well-behaved bunch, it's far more likely that we'll lose our tickets on "technicalities" than because we just committed a serious crime anyway - which makes taking responsibility for that sort of thing all the more important in my view. Anyway, I should have the certificate today or tomorrow, dependent on how they deliver it. It would be nice not to have to bother, of course, but until our MPs decide to vote through a bill abolishing firearms licensing, we have our part to play as the police do theirs. That's good to hear pal , many pigeons about? Not many round my bits, no. Saw a handful last weekend on a cover strip and shot three but until they start cutting - probably this week or next - I doubt there'll be much around. Then three days of madness and probably a lot more nothing after that! Edited July 10, 2017 by neutron619 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 Well at least they finally sorted all that out, shame it was ALL THEIR FAULT in the first place, thankfully I am at the top of the county and so far have received exemplary service! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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