Pathetic dealings with the Dallas court system...

[VectorWega]

A year and a half ago I received a speeding ticket from the City of Dallas. So I went to court to protest the ticket in order to have it removed from my record and lower the $ amount. I then paid the lower $ amount.

Weeks later I receive my payment back in the mail. Attached is a letter stating that they can not process the payment because they have not received the officer's copy of the citation (it's been months..so if they haven't received it yet, will they ever). It then says to contact the courts by a certain date for information concerning the payment of the fine. It also says if they do not hear from me by then, the fine amount may increase and warrants may be issued for your arrest.

I call them. They say to keep calling back for the next week because they don't have copies of the citation. I call back every day for the next week and they never have a copy of the citation and tell me not to pay because they can not process it without the copy of the citation.

Well, just today I received a letter stating that I either failed to appear in court or failed to pay a fine. The fine amount listed was not the fine amount I paid (it was much higher than the fine amount..but the date is the same). So now apparently this is on my record.

Anyways, does this happen often? Why is the Dallas government so inept that it can't even process a simple traffic ticket? :angryfire

[VectorWega]

Speaking of the Dallas government, I had my water heater replaced recently. Anyways, the city of Dallas requires that it is inspected. Anyways, they assigned an inspector and set a date, but the inspector never called me. I don't even think he has my phone number.

I thought cable companies were bad when they would say be there between 8 and 12 or 1 and 5. However, the city of Dallas expects you to sit around all day in the off chance that an inspector actually comes by. I don't f'ing think so.

On a side note, the last time i waited around for a cable guy he no showed, and I cancelled my cable internet (this was after the previous cable guy failed to fix the issue of my internet going out every night, even though he found the spot that it was losing it's connection he failed to fix it).

[Boredkid]

Odd, I have never had a problem with dallas. I have received 3 speeding tickets from dallas in the past year. *sports cars and motorcycles get me in trouble* Each and everyone I have fought and paid court fees and never had a problem. Guess its the luck of the draw.

[incrediculous]

A year and a half ago I received a speeding ticket from the City of Dallas. So I went to court to protest the ticket in order to have it removed from my record and lower the $ amount. I then paid the lower $ amount.

Weeks later I receive my payment back in the mail. Attached is a letter stating that they can not process the payment because they have not received the officer's copy of the citation (it's been months..so if they haven't received it yet, will they ever). It then says to contact the courts by a certain date for information concerning the payment of the fine. It also says if they do not hear from me by then, the fine amount may increase and warrants may be issued for your arrest.

I call them. They say to keep calling back for the next week because they don't have copies of the citation. I call back every day for the next week and they never have a copy of the citation and tell me not to pay because they can not process it without the copy of the citation.

Well, just today I received a letter stating that I either failed to appear in court or failed to pay a fine. The fine amount listed was not the fine amount I paid (it was much higher than the fine amount..but the date is the same). So now apparently this is on my record.

Anyways, does this happen often? Why is the Dallas government so inept that it can't even process a simple traffic ticket? :angryfire

I'd stroll into my state congressman's office and tell that story to a staffer.

[hamiltonpl]

I am not at all surprised by your story.

The Dallas municipal courts are incredibly inefficient and need to be cleaned up.