Won a case but haven't received the letter from the court

Skag

I won a case more than 1 month ago, and I still haven't received the CCJ.

The judge told us that we would get it about a week after the hearing.

I phoned up the court 2 weeks later and they said it can take up to 19 working days.

I phoned them up after the 19 working days had passed and they said that the CCJ wasn't even issued, and that they would ask them to issue it again, and it can take up to 10 working days. I even emailed the court myself after that call to ask for it myself.

It's been past all that and I still haven't received the CCJ, and I can't proceed with instructing bailiffs to claim my money back.

Why would the court say 1 week, then 19 days, then 10 days, if it doesn't mean anything? (clearly it doesn't!)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

tightauldgit

My advice is to be patient and super polite you are reliant on someone to write and issue the CCJ and a judge to sign it and I don't think there is any requirement for this to be done in any specific timeframe. So what you need is some goodwill from the court to chase up your specific case. So generally calling up and being super nice is going to get you further. 

Skag

tightauldgit said:

My advice is to be patient and super polite you are reliant on someone to write and issue the CCJ and a judge to sign it and I don't think there is any requirement for this to be done in any specific timeframe. So what you need is some goodwill from the court to chase up your specific case. So generally calling up and being super nice is going to get you further. 

I don't disagree in principle on being polite. 
However we're talking about the justice system here, which is part of civil services, which I and you pay. 
If I told my employer that I'd deliver something in 7 days, then 19, then 10, then not deliver at all, what do you think would happen? Why should it be any different here?
I disagree on not having to be competed in a specific timeframe, because if that was the case, the court would provide any dates. They could just say, sometime within this year or next year. 

elsien

County courts still have a huge backlog. That's the reality. Going down the "I pay your wages" route probably isn't going to help. Sweet talking a clerk might. 

TELLIT01

Pretty much all areas of life are suffering from staffing issues, and I wouldn't expect the court services to be any different.  The person(s) you spoke to are probably basically front line, call centre type staff, working from a script.  You've tried to escalate and although I understand your frustrations you will need to be patient.

Skag

elsien said:

County courts still have a huge backlog. That's the reality. Going down the "I pay your wages" route probably isn't going to help. Sweet talking a clerk might. 

I'd rather they went down the "I'm doing my job the way I should, and inform the client appropriately" as opposed to promise on a date (3 dates) and not deliver. 
If the backlog is long, there are ways to communicate it appropriately. It's a legit way to manage expectations. 

tightauldgit

Skag said:

elsien said:

County courts still have a huge backlog. That's the reality. Going down the "I pay your wages" route probably isn't going to help. Sweet talking a clerk might. 

I'd rather they went down the "I'm doing my job the way I should, and inform the client appropriately" as opposed to promise on a date (3 dates) and not deliver. 
If the backlog is long, there are ways to communicate it appropriately. It's a legit way to manage expectations. 

The reality is that the person on the phone has no idea why your order hasn't been produced and they probably know better than to bother a judge so while they may be giving you their best guess they have no control over when it does or doesn't happen. 

And while you may think you would prefer it 'I'm sorry I have no idea, you'll get it when you get it' would leave you equally annoyed I'm sure. 

Oh, by the way you are not the court's "client". 

Skag

Oh, by the way you are not the court's "client". 

Yes, I am. They're civil servants, no? They're there to serve the civilians. It doesn't get any clearer than that, I'm sorry if you don't see it.

And while you may think you would prefer it 'I'm sorry I have no idea, you'll get it when you get it' would leave you equally annoyed I'm sure.

Anybody would prefer this, as providing deadlines that you cannot honour can only lead to frustration. Otherwise you don't create any expectations and you just state that you just "don't know" how your process works.

sheramber

If you had worked on front line telephone answering you would know the reaction to 'I don't know' would not be 'hanik you '

They tell you what they have been told is the current estimate but your paperwork will be sitting in a queue, so how long it takes will depend on how many are in front of you in the queue.

Yes, it is frustrating when you are waiting for something but it is just as frustrating for the call handler who can only pass on what they have been told.

Take your complaint about the  delay to your MP.

tightauldgit

Skag said:

Oh, by the way you are not the court's "client". 

Yes, I am. They're civil servants, no? They're there to serve the civilians. It doesn't get any clearer than that, I'm sorry if you don't see it.

And while you may think you would prefer it 'I'm sorry I have no idea, you'll get it when you get it' would leave you equally annoyed I'm sure.

Anybody would prefer this, as providing deadlines that you cannot honour can only lead to frustration. Otherwise you don't create any expectations and you just state that you just "don't know" how your process works.

No, you're not. If that's the attitude you go in with then I kind of see why you might be being put to the end of the queue now. 

You also don't seem to know how the process works, as demonstrated by your insistence that there is a specific timeframe to issue the documents. 

macman

Judges are most certainly not civil servants.