Harris County Applicants

[agbullet2k1]

Well, I guess this cold spell we've been having finally reached Beelzebub, because my wife just got a call from DPS apologizing profusely for the delays and letting her know they mailed it on the 12th. Mail hasn't run today, but it should be in there. Apparently, Rep. Taylor sent an action letter to DPS with words resembling "get this done now" according to the person she spoke to. I guess the first letter we sent in October must have gotten lost or addressed wrong, but this one definitely made it. So that's both my and my wife's application where Rep. Taylor directly intervened on our behalf, so I'm glad I voted for him.

Her official day tally was 267. That has to be the record so far.

[famousunknown]

Hey folks, been a lurker for a while now and wanted to give the Harris County folks my timeline. Basically took the class early August and recieved my PIN mid-August. Checked yesterday on the website and app was complete. About five months to the day. No calls or letters to anyone on my part during the process. I did call the number listed on the website one time to make sure I had not fallen through the cracks. Those of you who have written letters & called may have better luck.

[Keith B]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the completion of the applicaiton!

[Totally Frustrated]

The state sent my packet to Harris County on 9-6-2008. Frequent calls to DPS did no good. Sent letter to state Rep. 1-13-09 and Governor 1-15-09. Will now wait to see if that does anything.

[FAAPOD]

Well, the day after I placed the call to Rep. Crabb's office, I did get a call from a very nice lady at the DPS in Austin. She told me that she had my app on her desk and the only thing they were waiting on was b/g from Harris. She told me that she had issued instructions to Harris to expedite my b/g and would keep my file on her desk until she got the results back. This was last Tuesday, so I'm going to call tomorrow to see where we stand.

[bridge]

That same nice lady told me two weeks ago that Harris County is holding up the works, but she would request expedited treatment of my B/G check...but I shouldn't get my hopes up because they make that same request at least 20 times a day for everyone else who called their state rep.

[nitrogen]

I wonder if you guys should start requesting hearings asking why your app was denied?

[bridge]

I'm all ears to any suggestions like that. It really irks me that I'm out $240 for something that according to STATE LAW was guaranteed to take no longer than 60 days! This is very much like delayed delivery on furniture or a new toy or something. If I were dealing with a private company I'd be getting part of my $$$ back.

[frazzled]

7/23/08 Completed CHL class and fingerprints (Harris County)
7/27/08 Return receipt of completed application
12/31/08 received notice further information requested
1/8/09 sent information
1/18/08 notice application complete on website-certificate issued (yes on a Sunday)

-awaiting card in mail.

[badlnb]

I hit 90 days today and still no change in my application status. I called the CHL division and spoke with a guy who told me the hold up is due to Harris County and it is because of Hurricane Ike (Oh Really?!). I was nice and didn't get ugly as I know it would do no good.
I thanked him for his time and hung up.
I then proceeded to send emails to my state Reps, telling them that it makes no sense that the third largest county in the U.S. that is home to the fourth largest county would only have one trooper preforming background checks. Of course I went into more detail than that in a tone that spoke for us all. I hope it helps not just me, but every one in Harris county waiting a CHL Background check.

[FAAPOD]

That same nice lady told me two weeks ago that Harris County is holding up the works, but she would request expedited treatment of my B/G check...but I shouldn't get my hopes up because they make that same request at least 20 times a day for everyone else who called their state rep.

Maybe we spoke to different nice ladies? I followed up with a phone call this morning, and left a message indicating that since I hadn't seen a change in the status online, I thought I would follow-up on our conversation last week. Within 30 minutes, she called me back and told me that the website is not always updated in a timely manner, and that my application and b/g had been completed and that she was going to be mailing out my license tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.

I can tell you this. At my company we run State b/g checks on every single employee and federal b/g checks on most, as well (which I know gets turned around in 72 hours or less, and knowing this has added to my frustration). Anyway, the lady that processes these sits right across the hall from me. For her to process 20 an hour is nothing. So if DPS in Austin issues 20 instructions a day to expedite the apps of those folks that have contacted their state reps, I would think that there are still many applications of people who have not contacted their reps getting process every day. Ours are just getting moved to the head of the line.

[SkinnyB78]

7/23/08 Completed CHL class and fingerprints (Harris County)
7/27/08 Return receipt of completed application
12/31/08 received notice further information requested
1/8/09 sent information
1/18/08 notice application complete on website-certificate issued (yes on a Sunday)

-awaiting card in mail.

HUGE Congrats!!!

[knightx]

ok, sent the missing document via mail yesterday, hopefully my "clock" didn't slow down too much. i wonder, when they come to a hiccup or glitch in the application, do they just shelve it until the glitch is corrected, or do they keep processing?

and do they send out ALL the glitches possible in one applicant's file for correction or send them as they find them? (that would REALLY put a wrinkle in an application's time line)

[Tass]

I took my renewal class in November (cutting it close for a Feb. expiration, I know), mailed packet to state, website showed it to be recieved the first of December and processing the next week. Today, to my surprise, I found an 'application completed-license mailed' notice when I logged in! Approximately 52 days. (I'm sure i'll log in again to make sure it wasn't a mistake!)

SNOOPY DANCE!

Hang in there...maybe things are turning around for the lone BG checker-person in Harris County!

Tass
Houston

[FAAPOD]

Well, the nice lady with the DPS that I spoke with last week and this week was true to her word, because I just logged into the the website and saw those seven beautiful words that we all long to see:

"APPLICATION COMPLETED - LICENSE ISSUED OR CERTIFICATE ACTIVE"






I suppose that I'll be plastic in hand within two or three days.

The only advice I can give is that I am convinced that things only started moving when I followed up my e-mail to my state rep's office with a phone call and specifically asked for help in moving the process forward.