Really really annoyed with the GRO!!!

[kat2004]

About 6 weeks ago I ordered a marriage certificate from the GRO, and to cut a long story short it didnt arrive after being told when it had been dispatched, so I contacted them this week and they told me I had entered the wrong quarter therefore the certfifcate could not be produced. Fair enough, my mistake, they refunded my account with £4.00 and I tried again to order online.(I still think they could have notified me to tell me there was no marriage for that quarter instead of me waiting for the postman every morning for 6 week).

So last night I ordered the marriage certificate again with the right quarter BUT for some stupid reason I got mixed up with the date and entered it two years previous. As soon as I realised what I had done I emailed the GRO and asked if the dated can be changed, bear in mind it was only 12 hours since I had filled in the online form and it is taking weeks to process the backlog apparently I thought it would be no problem. But No! They will not do this as it involves going manually through todays applications. So I have now got to pay another 7 pounds and order the cetificate again.

I know I made a mistake and that is my fault but I cannot believe they could not change the date of year befoire the process begins. I have waited four weeks before certificates have come from the GRO, it doesnt make sense. So I dont want to go through them again, hopefully I can get them from straight from Dudley's register office.

Sorry for ranting on but its soooo unfair!

[Paul E]

You're entitled to vent your spleen Kat!  The process is miserably slow and cumbersome - you'd think they would try to be a little more 'person friendly'.


Paul

[Darcy]

Hi kat ,

I can understand you feeling upset about having to pay again. Maybe you got the wrong person when you emailed!

I recently contacted the GRO regarding a certificate which did not arrive and was fortunate to get a very helpful person.

According to their records the certificate had been dispatched but had apparently been lost in the post.

Another copy was mailed to me straight away at no charge. I am sorry that you didn't get the same service as I did.

Darcy

[taeama]

The GRO is a nightmare recently.

I  had a similar problem when they sent me the wrong document. The one I had ordered had been posted to someone else, and I had received theirs.The GRO did send me the correct one again free of charge.

Its often quicker to order direct form the registery office in the area.

[kat2004]

They are just so robotic! I suppose its just a job to them, do they not realise they are dealing with fanatics whose obsession is fed by regular prescriptions of birth marriage and death certificates?!!!

Seriously though, I appreciate that they are busy, it was my mistake, but if the certificate is'nt going to be processed for another fortnight (at least) then I do not understand why they cannot ammend the date.

Im off now to sulk to my non-sympathetic partner! Thank you for listening (or should that be reading) my rant!

[Paul E]

If they can;t amend it, can they not just cancel the request and at least only charge you a checking fee?

Paul

[JAP]

Kat,

What an idiotic situation.

See if you can get higher up the food chain - by email, post or phone.

If you manage to do so, they'll probably give the certificate to you for free!  And it will probably arrive pronto!

Squeaky wheels ....

Judy

[kat2004]

This is what was in they said in their email - 'No amendments or cancellations can be accepted once an order has been made
as when our on line ordering system was originally developed, it was
designed in such a way that we do not have the facility to edit any of the
information input by the customer. This was done purposefully to avoid any
possible alteration by ourselves leading to a possible mis-interpretation
of a customers requirements thus ensuring that the data input at source was
incorruptible.'

They then say how they are getting 2000 plus requests per day and someone would have to manually go through them all to change mine, I doubt they'll cancel it, but its worth a try.

[Paul E]

Fire off a letter to your MP complaining about insensitive bureaucracy, copied to director of GRO.   I think you'll find the imminence of a certain political event should find your MP in responsive mode.

Paul