Post by macplaxton on Sept 23, 2014 23:38:26 GMT
Finally got round to getting this motah tested here today.
As the car was re-registered here on the 1st May this year, it needed a test done in this country immediately. Even though it was MOT tested around the end of February in NI (valid for a year), it doesn't count as soon as it is re-reg'd. However, you can't do it for a week or so until the new reg appears on the NCTS register. Unlike the MOT (which is subject to just a fine if you don't have one) a lack of NCT is a 5 pointer / mandatory court appearance / max 2,500 EUR fine. Nothing to get brown trousers over though, as you actually have to get caught first and even if that happens you still have to annoy the guard a lot to get a summons. Also unlike the MOT, the test is done by contracted out test centres and not garages.
So at the end of July, I go online to have a look at the crappy online booking system. Earliest date at the local test centre = 9 weeks! dog's danglies to that. I'll get on the phone. I do this as their customer charter states:
So bearing in mind the second bullet point, you'd be nuts to accept a booking outside the 4 week period and blow your chances of a free of charge test out of the water. We're talking 55 yoyos man! Anyway, the call is answered and I refer to the charter and I'm told I'll go on the "priority list" for a test booking. Five weeks pass and I had't heard a dickie bird from the them. Odd, as usually the "I wanna a free test" line usually focuses their mind to get their finger out and magically find a vacant slot earlier in the calendar... So, back on the phone and they say I'm not on the list, but they'll look into it and go and dig out the recorded call and get back to me. I get called shortly after and apologies are given and confirmation that that the test will be FOC. I then get offered a couple of times the following day and the day after, but these aren't suitable, so they say it might be another couple of week before I get a date... A weeks or so later, I get a text with a time/date/location, which is fine as I've got a couple of weeks notice so I can grab the day off. Which brings us to today. I go in. The bloke at the counter wants 55 EUR. I tell him it should be FOC, he says it's not on his list as such. No money, no test. Begrudgingly I shove my debit card in the terminal, but I ask him for the customer services telephone number to call them while I was waiting. A 15 minute long phone call later and I get further apologies and told I'll be getting a refund issued in the post. Bit of a pain in the arse really by the time I get that cheque in the post the Ulster Bank will have closed my branch in the village, but that's another rant for another day.
BTW, the car passed with flying colours and has a ticket until the end of April 2016. (Well it is a Honda)
Now I need to get a triple disc holder. While you in the UK get clear windscreens from next month, we have tax/insurance/NCT (if applicable) "discs" to display
As the car was re-registered here on the 1st May this year, it needed a test done in this country immediately. Even though it was MOT tested around the end of February in NI (valid for a year), it doesn't count as soon as it is re-reg'd. However, you can't do it for a week or so until the new reg appears on the NCTS register. Unlike the MOT (which is subject to just a fine if you don't have one) a lack of NCT is a 5 pointer / mandatory court appearance / max 2,500 EUR fine. Nothing to get brown trousers over though, as you actually have to get caught first and even if that happens you still have to annoy the guard a lot to get a summons. Also unlike the MOT, the test is done by contracted out test centres and not garages.
So at the end of July, I go online to have a look at the crappy online booking system. Earliest date at the local test centre = 9 weeks! dog's danglies to that. I'll get on the phone. I do this as their customer charter states:
4. Ensure that the average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks and no greater than four weeks. The customer will be provided with a test free of charge where an appointment cannot be offered within a four week period provided that:
• The Customer has not declined a test appointment (either confirmed or provisional) more than twice, at a centre of their choosing, for the test due at this time
• The Customer has not previously accepted a booking outside of the 4 week period.
• The Customer has not declined a test appointment (either confirmed or provisional) more than twice, at a centre of their choosing, for the test due at this time
• The Customer has not previously accepted a booking outside of the 4 week period.
So bearing in mind the second bullet point, you'd be nuts to accept a booking outside the 4 week period and blow your chances of a free of charge test out of the water. We're talking 55 yoyos man! Anyway, the call is answered and I refer to the charter and I'm told I'll go on the "priority list" for a test booking. Five weeks pass and I had't heard a dickie bird from the them. Odd, as usually the "I wanna a free test" line usually focuses their mind to get their finger out and magically find a vacant slot earlier in the calendar... So, back on the phone and they say I'm not on the list, but they'll look into it and go and dig out the recorded call and get back to me. I get called shortly after and apologies are given and confirmation that that the test will be FOC. I then get offered a couple of times the following day and the day after, but these aren't suitable, so they say it might be another couple of week before I get a date... A weeks or so later, I get a text with a time/date/location, which is fine as I've got a couple of weeks notice so I can grab the day off. Which brings us to today. I go in. The bloke at the counter wants 55 EUR. I tell him it should be FOC, he says it's not on his list as such. No money, no test. Begrudgingly I shove my debit card in the terminal, but I ask him for the customer services telephone number to call them while I was waiting. A 15 minute long phone call later and I get further apologies and told I'll be getting a refund issued in the post. Bit of a pain in the arse really by the time I get that cheque in the post the Ulster Bank will have closed my branch in the village, but that's another rant for another day.
BTW, the car passed with flying colours and has a ticket until the end of April 2016. (Well it is a Honda)
Now I need to get a triple disc holder. While you in the UK get clear windscreens from next month, we have tax/insurance/NCT (if applicable) "discs" to display