Out of morbid curiosity, I checked the progress of my most recent ID book application at the Home Affairs call center yesterday. In an experience of de ja vu, I was told that my application was sent off from Harrison street a month ago, but has never been received in Pretoria. I should go back to the Harrison street office, and figure out what happened to it (for those of you who missed it, this is the same fate my other 2 applications met with, and I was always told first to wait - and wait, and wait - and then to reapply). Apparently, they should be able to 'explain to me their system for sending things to Pretoria', and give me tracking numbers. My optimism on this front isn't high. I asked if I couldn't just re apply in Pretoria, and was warned off with stories of terror should I get issued 2 ID books.
Meanwhile, The Dad has been having problems with his Volvo. It's the second time in as many years that he's had to replace the radiator. As an oldish used car, it needs a fair amount of TLC....but you generally don't plan to keep replacing the same parts. There is also a recurring oil leak, something funky that keeps springing up with the coolant....We have lurking suspicions that some of these ongoing problems are not being helped by the skills of the Volvo repair folks. They have generally been nice about charging at-cost for parts (when they've been defective but out of warranty), reducing labour costs, etc. Which is nice, though only helpful if the underlying problems eventually get solved.
So what we're both finding that the more incompetent the service provider is, the more tied you end up being to them. I can't leave Harrison street out of fear that if I go to some more organised Home Affairs office, my application is already irredeemably screwed up (and in fact, nowhere else will accept an application from me until things are fixed at Harrison street, because documentation on all my mis-sent applications is on the central Home Affairs system). Similarly, he can't go to any other more competent service center, because he would then have to fork out a fortune to fix all the problems caused by the first incompetent repair folks...whereas now, at least he can work with them through what's going wrong. And we can compare notes of our ongoing sagas.
Meanwhile, The Dad has been having problems with his Volvo. It's the second time in as many years that he's had to replace the radiator. As an oldish used car, it needs a fair amount of TLC....but you generally don't plan to keep replacing the same parts. There is also a recurring oil leak, something funky that keeps springing up with the coolant....We have lurking suspicions that some of these ongoing problems are not being helped by the skills of the Volvo repair folks. They have generally been nice about charging at-cost for parts (when they've been defective but out of warranty), reducing labour costs, etc. Which is nice, though only helpful if the underlying problems eventually get solved.
So what we're both finding that the more incompetent the service provider is, the more tied you end up being to them. I can't leave Harrison street out of fear that if I go to some more organised Home Affairs office, my application is already irredeemably screwed up (and in fact, nowhere else will accept an application from me until things are fixed at Harrison street, because documentation on all my mis-sent applications is on the central Home Affairs system). Similarly, he can't go to any other more competent service center, because he would then have to fork out a fortune to fix all the problems caused by the first incompetent repair folks...whereas now, at least he can work with them through what's going wrong. And we can compare notes of our ongoing sagas.
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