Need some advice here. I want to make a complaint regarding how the Police Department here was handling my application to have CNCC (Certificate of No Criminal Conviction).
It's written on the police dept.'s website that if I wanted them to send my CNCC cert. directly to my future employer in Europe, I had to send a cheque of 50 SGD. So I did, along with the docs they asked like a letter that is written on the website too that it has to be from a governmental body that requires this cert.
It was actually my employer, a private company that is asking for this cert., not a governmental body such as the immigration there. And it's a common procedure in this country in Europe for companies to ask their future employees to give them this kind of cert. Plus isn't it our civil right in a way to ask this kind of cert. to be produced?
And since in 2006, I could get this cert. from the police dept. here, even with a letter from an NGO, not a governmental body either, I thought well this time would work as well even with the letter from my employer.
Then later the police dept. sent a reply by post saying that I have to submit a letter from governmental authority and not a company, that states the governmental authority in Europe needs this certificate.
I asked the company and they said they can't do that cause the immigration authority in Europe actually doesn't ask for this cert. So then the company told me if it's such a hassle, my 2006 cert. that I did submit along with my contract, is good enough.
So I sent a reply to the police dept. to explain that it is indeed my employer that is asking for the cert. And I gave them an example that my CNCC application was granted in 2006 even with a letter from an NGO back home. In my closing, I said if the police dept. still insisted that it's only by a letter from governmental body they can produce this cert., I want to withdraw my application and have the cheque and the documents to be returned.
Then about 3 weeks later, the police dept. sent my documents but said the cheque is non-refundable!
And you know why? Cause the police dept. cashed in the cheque even before they sent me the previous reply saying that I had to submit a letter from a governmental institution instead. And it's even more outrageous cause it's not written on the website.
I replied their email saying this and even used the word outrageous, cause the cheque was supposed to be for postal fee and since even the certificate was not produced, there was no cost involved!
The police dept. definitely knew cause it's written on the website that the dept. wants a letter from a governmental body to produce the CNCC, so while knowing it's clearly a letter from a private company in my application, why the hell they still cashed in my cheque even before sending me the first reply!
It's an analogy to a corruption to me. Cause even back home, a country that is so popular for the government officers' corruption, officially to get such CNCC cert. it's actually free cause well it's supposed to be our civil right, isn't it?!
Arrgghhh, I'm so furious with this thing. Rather than the money, it's more of this idiotic procedure that I find outrageous. Where can I make a complaint effectively you reckon?