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CainA wrote:I just called today to check on mine and the gal on the other end of the phone said that it's been issued(or whatever the verbage is) and to expect it around Christmas, around Christmas? She said that they allow themselves a 15-day window to get the license to the applicant(whatevers). Anywho, it doesn't say it's been issued according to the website, so, I don't know when they update that part. I'm in Harris county, I had an arrest in Montgomery county(sent in the disposition with my paperwork-charges were dimissed if anyone cares). I took the class on August 27th, sent packet to Austin on 28th, they recieved it on Sept. 2nd or 3rd(benefit of the doubt 3rd) today is day 98. I did the governor thing and the rep. thing(email only-no calls), whether that made a difference I don't know, but I doubt it.

-Cain

Congrats CainA!

I got my plastic today!!!!!
I'll have to plan my Wally Walk now.

I'm officially checking out, but will be frequenting the waiting room. For all of you pre-Ike Harris County (and other gulf coast county) applicants, I hope Santa brings your plastic before Christmas.

-pdubyoo

jeremya wrote:pdubyoo Congrats!!!

-- Jeremy

You too jeremya!! Are you standing by the mailbox?

-pdubyoo

If you heard someone screaming like a little girl earlier this morning in North Houston, it was probably me.

Application Completed - license issued or certificate active !!!! Yeah baby! Time for the dancing bananas!

and a few of these guys...whatever they are...

I'm pulling for all the other pre-Ike'rs!! Come on mailman.

-pdubyoo

Gotta call this morning first thing from the Highwat Patrol Leut. (DPS) here in Harris County that I talked to earlier in the week. He spoke with the Trooper that processes the Harris County BC's, and mine was "qualified" yesterday afternoon. What a coincidence! The BC paperwork goes to Austin today for final approval and issuing of the plastic. It will be interesting to watch how long it takes from county BC clearance to an update on the website to receiving the license in the mail. Of course, I'll keep you posted.

The Leut. I spoke with was true to his word and was very helpful, to the point that he asked me to call him back if I had any other questions. I plan on calling him and thanking him again after I receive my license. He was also inquisitive about this forum...of course I mentioned it to him in conversation. He said that he's interested in checking it out. I suggested that he gets involved...there are always questions that can be answered from someone on the inside of the system.

My takeaways from this experience so far...
- No matter how frustrated or even angry you may get from this process...Always be courteous and polite in your dealings with DPS and your political representatives...just express your feelings in a mature and professional manner. What's the saying, you can attract more bees with honey than vinegar.
- Be diligent in your follow-up. Most people mean well when they tell you that they will "get right back to you", but don't always follow through. Suggest a date and time that they will respond to you...it's a concrete commitment at that point.
- Enjoy the ride. There is a ton of great information on this forum (and great people)...learn while you wait.

Now...I wonder if the website has been updated yet...

Guns make me happy wrote:That is pretty much the same story I got out of Austin. I could not believe it either. When you talk to the Lt. again please tell him to call me!

Maybe I should start another thread for all the Harris County applicants to list their phone #'s for DPS to call...OK, maybe not.

Since you're in Humble, are you in Rep. Riddle's district? It's her chief of staff that got this rolling for me.

HARRIS COUNTY APPLICANTS - MUST READ
I'm not sure what good will come from it, but I sent another letter to my Rep on the 24th, asking her office to look into the delay for background checks from Harris County. I gave my submittal timeline along with the fact that CHL applicants from non-gulf coast counties are getting their licenses in 40-65 days. I'm on day 89, which I know is peanuts compared to what some applicants have endured. But it's a principal thing...I wan't want Harris County to do better. I asked them to please look into the matter, and please don't send me a boiler-plate response letter (I asked the same from the Gov).

I got an e-mail response from my Rep's chief of staff on Wednesday 11/26. He was asking me if I had seen any change in my processing status...I responded "no, not yet". He responded again and said that he will continue to dig into it for me. While I greatly appreciated his effort at the time, I didn't really expect anything more to come from it.

Anyway, I received a call today from a Leut. from the Texas Highway Patrol here in Harris County, following-up on a letter that I sent to my Rep. He said that the chief of staff from my Reps office called him to ask about the status of my application.

Now, here's where all the Harris County applicants really need to pay attention! He works in the same office as the "Trooper" that processes the CHL background checks for Harris County, but she was currently unavailable as she is serving as an honor guard at an officer's funeral today. But that he would personally check with her later this week when she gets settled back into her routine, and will call me back by Friday at the latest. He was very nice and accomodating, so I asked him about the staff that processes the applications...how many people are currently working in that role? He said, only Trooper ___. He said that it is her full-time job...processing CHL application BC's for Harris County. I was sure that I misunderstood him, so I asked him again to clarify, and yes, it's only one person that handles the CHL BC's for Harris County. Whoa! So, since he was being so enlightening, I asked how hurricane Ike effected her job. He said that Trooper ____ was reassigned for 5-6 weeks to hurricane duty immediately after the storm, and that, during that time, nobody was processing those CHL BC's. Another Whoa!

So, there you go...Harris County is at least 5-6 weeks behind due to Ike, and then, anytime that she takes off for other responsibilities, such as today, the BC's go untouched.

I will share more after I hear back from the Leut. I have a name of the Trooper, but I'm not going to make it public, as it's not quite fair to her. More later...

I sent my 3rd letter to the Gov's office this morning. The last two rec'd the boiler-plate letter saying that they have asked the interim director of DPS to look into the Molasses County (Harris County) delay. Whatever...it sounded impressive when I got the 1st letter, but when I saw that everyone else was getting the same response, and then I got my 2nd response that was the same as the first, I couldn't believe it.

I reached boiling point and sent a blistering letter to the Gov's office, and requested that they actually look into it themselves and quit sending out these passifier letters to everyone. I'm not expecting much. Lately, the Gov's office is just as bad as Molasses County.

I read this morning on the October thread, that a guy got his license issued in 38 days...What?? Good for him, but it certainly exposes the shortcomings of Molasses County.

TxDrifter wrote:Has anyone ever received their license in the mail prior to the website updating?

Yes, I recall seeing at least one recent post that mentioned receiving plastic in the mail, and the web site still said "processing". I keep hoping that's what will happen with mine...wishful thinking.

Called DPS-Austin again today...nothing. They're still waiting on Harris County. Ike certainly caused a lot of grief, but for Harris County to capitalize on Ike to hide their shortcomings is just outrageous.
I'm sure if I delayed my property tax payment, and blamed it on Ike, they wouldn't be so understanding.

SmokeTA wrote:I haven't officially got the plastic yet but I just checked the stats and it says "Application Completed - license issued or certificate active" !!!

SmokeTA...what county do you live in? I'm just guessing by the decent turn-around that you are not in one of the Gulf Coast counties that rec'd the Ike delay letter. Congrats!

I just got off the phone with Austin, and they are still waiting on Harris County to respond with the field background check. They say that there is nothing that can be done to spur Harris County along, but I wonder... Anyone have experience with that? I'm thinking of calling the Harris County Records Dept to ask if they are experiencing a slow-down due to Ike.

smokindragon wrote:Maybe this is the reason why your license is taking sooooo long..


Clink link:
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra ... hl/Ike.pdf

I got my letter via e-mail last week and then a snail-mail letter in my mailbox yesterday. I'm sure Galveston, Brazoria, Chambers and Jefferson Counties are certainly adversely effected, but I find it hard to accept that Harris County would suspend this type of clerical data processing flow for lack of resources or hurricane-related hardships. Houston and Harris County offices got their power back on very quickly, and the one's that didn't had generators. I'm sure the storm will be used as an opportunity for the DPS to justify their less-than-stellar processing times.

Likewise...pulling up a seat.

I took the class on 8/30
Mailed the app on 9/2
Twiddleing my thumbs 9/5
Processing Application 9/20