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Civil right

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Kimi
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Civil right

Post by Kimi » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 5:52 pm

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. :evil: Rather than the money, it's more of this idiotic procedure that I find outrageous. Where can I make a complaint effectively you reckon?

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taxico
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Post by taxico » Sat, 11 Oct 2008 8:19 pm

you can maybe write to the commander of the cantonment complex?

i've been to the CNCC office a few times in the past, and always paid in cash (yes, before anything was processed).

the "processing" and the "issuing" are separate parts i think... perhaps most of the money goes towards "processing" (thumb print, searching through records and verifying, etc).

i'm not sure where it's written but i'm fairly sure the first time i went, the lady had mentioned i needed an official letter from a government body.

in fact they would print a line on the certificate with the reason why the CNCC was issued IIRC.

i'm not sure you can do anything about it and i'm not trying to unsympathetic as i would be similarly frustrated, but i don't think this is a civil rights issue. it does cost something to produce such a trusted document (be it manpower or computer systems - perhaps on a cost recovery basis?).

in any case, there aren't any such rights in singapore regardless of your nationality and it's as simple as a reply back from the commander's office telling you the "search" was completed but the cert was not issued due to a lack of documentation and so your money can't be refunded.

what's more, i'm sure they have a "no refunds" clause lurking somewhere.

you might suggest they clarify the full list of documents needed and conditions on their website and improve customer service procedures for the benefit of others in future. or perhaps a partial refund?

i hope you feel better soon.

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hibri2
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Re: Civil right

Post by hibri2 » Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:49 am

Kimi wrote: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).

rest was tl;dr..
hello kimi!

my only advice... dont look for advise / post personal experiences in a public internet forum; way more pointless if its one that is just a general and broad like this one here.
"Do not pray in my school, and I will not think in your church." - Unknown.

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Kimi
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Post by Kimi » Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:51 pm

Taxico, cheers ears for the insight.
You had some good points, but it is indeed written on the website that the cheque is for the postal fee.
Oh well, I'll write a complaint anyway and see how it goes. The worst that can happen is my letter is ignored.

Hola Hibri! I thought you don't post here anymore :P
Doesn't hurt to ask anyway.
In France, I was having a problem with the UK Embassy. What was odd was that I then sent a complaint only to be received by the same staff whom I was having problem with. She was giving me an incomplete info that caused me to go back and forth between Lyon where I lived and Marseille where one of the consulates is twice! At the end, I had to go to Paris to have this resolved! These buggers don't do their job right :evil:

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hibri2
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Post by hibri2 » Mon, 13 Oct 2008 1:41 pm

Kimi wrote: Oh well, I'll write a complaint anyway and see how it goes. The worst that can happen is my letter is ignored.
thats not the worst that could happen, kimi... worst things that can happen are, for example; spontaneously combust or waking up one day and be a crab in a chilly crab restaurant or getting half your face paralyzed or being unable to taste / smell or going back in time to medieval europe... so many... many horrible things can happen worst than getting a letter ignored, eh?
Kimi wrote: Hola Hibri! I thought you don't post here anymore :P
im very random...

Kimi wrote: In France, I was having a problem with the UK Embassy. plus tl;dr stuff
and then? i fail to see the point
"Do not pray in my school, and I will not think in your church." - Unknown.

denisb
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Post by denisb » Sun, 26 Oct 2008 4:11 pm

Kimi,
I don't think you want to apply civil right here in this case.

You are in Singapore Inc.

You have to think like a business transaction.

therefore, for service or product not delivered, you have every right to ask for a refund.

you just need to go personally and talk to the right person.

good luck
Denis

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