Despicable NCT situation

galson

Just back from the NCT and I was declined the test. On December 22nd I got an email about the NCT appointment and all I needed to do was to confirm it, which I did right away, the date was set to Feb 20th I got email confirmation, etc. I arrived at the centre, went to the desk, but the man said they don't have the confirmation of this appointment, and despite being shown the email he said there was nothing they can do and I have to call the NCT on Monday. This is ridiculous as I did all things right and clearly the fault was on their end, but I was left without any sort of service, not even 'sorry' or offering alternative appointment date. Just 'ring and sort it out yourself, bye'. Anybody went through similar situation?

The centre was the Blarney one.

ironclaw

To be fair, there is probably very little they can do about it. Computer errors do occur and the people on the ground have zero leeway or ability to change it. If it's not on the screen, it's not getting processed. Speaking as someone who worked with these systems, it's a nightmare for floor staff i.e. Even if they really wanted to, they couldn't have put your car through it (This is to prevent Joe Blogs setting up a side line of filling empty slots for some side money for example) Probably could have been handled better from their end, but being Saturday, again probably nothing they could do realistically do.

Ring Monday, explain the situation and I'm sure they'll sort it out, I'd swing for a free test / Saturday date.

Lellostag

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago, I called and got a new time arranged. At the test centre it then turned out that they wouldn't charge me at all for the test, result!

boardsuser1

I turned up at Blarney in 2014 for a retest. Never booked in the car and they still accepted it and she passed. Was it the old guy with glasses?

Mech1

If the center manager thinks he can fit you in it goes through, I often appear unannounced for tests and 80% of the time I leave tested, pass or fail doesnt matter to me as they are not my cars.( sometimes you gotta wait for an hour to get tested, Deansgrange Dublin ).

I got my car tested as part of buying it. Dealer sent me to test centre in a place called Greenhills I think (somewhere not far from the M50 on the west of dublin).

Anyway, I just showed up and had no appointment, but the dealer rang that morning and told the centre I was likely to appear over there. I ended up waiting about an hour or little over it, and the car was tested. I think my overall stay (from driving in to driving out) was about two hours. Two of the longest, dreariest hours of my life. NCT centre was more like a prison, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway - they squeezed the car in and it passed and was done with, without an appointment. So I'd say, OP, you got the lads in your centre on a busy day, or I'm sure they'd have tried to accommodate you if they thought they were able to.

galson

I dunno, it wasn't looking busy, but I guess the safest thing is just ring to book NCT appointments, not to do it online as it not always works as you can see. Could be worse I guess, in the end I still have 3 weeks to do it as it's up on March 13th. I'll see what they say tomorrow when I give them a call.

barneygumble99

galson wrote: »

I dunno, it wasn't looking busy, but I guess the safest thing is just ring to book NCT appointments, not to do it online as it not always works as you can see. Could be worse I guess, in the end I still have 3 weeks to do it as it's up on March 13th. I'll see what they say tomorrow when I give them a call.

Surely you got a confirmation text or e mail when you confirmed the booking?

galson

I do, I showed it at the centre, but there was nothing they could do as it wasn't on their system.

rex-x

ironclaw wrote: »

To be fair, there is probably very little they can do about it. Computer errors do occur and the people on the ground have zero leeway or ability to change it. If it's not on the screen, it's not getting processed. Speaking as someone who worked with these systems, it's a nightmare for floor staff i.e. Even if they really wanted to, they couldn't have put your car through it (This is to prevent Joe Blogs setting up a side line of filling empty slots for some side money for example) Probably could have been handled better from their end, but being Saturday, again probably nothing they could do realistically do.

Ring Monday, explain the situation and I'm sure they'll sort it out, I'd swing for a free test / Saturday date.

The ground staff at the NCT can test anyones car they like, even if they never had a booking with the main office. They have complete control over the situation and have the discretion to use.

ironclaw

rex-x wrote: »

The ground staff at the NCT can test anyones car they like, even if they never had a booking with the main office. They have complete control over the situation and have the discretion to use.

Fair enough! Speaking from experience with similar industry systems, nice to see they are not completely locked down

George Dalton

This happened to me before. Turned out I had booked the test for the wrong centre. Wouldn't be at all surprised if the OP had done the same

Truckermal

George Dalton wrote: »

This happened to me before. Turned out I had booked the test for the wrong centre. Wouldn't be at all surprised if the OP had done the same

Same here but they tested it anyway I once went to a motor's meet in midway a week too early..:o