Getting my chain yanked by City of Dallas (Houston: school, live)

[jasont1]

I knew when I got my speeding ticket back in September that the most painful part of the process would not be the money out of my pocket or the time spent at Driver’s Ed – no, it would be dealing with the city government. I received a speeding ticket for going 31 in a school zone. The officer wrote me ticket and presented me with my options. I have no beef with the officer. He was doing his job and I was speeding. Moreover, I was happy to hear that you can take a Defensive Driving class and after a probationary period the ticket will be stricken from my driving record. Sign me up! So I mailed in the necessary paperwork and $128 ‘administrative fee’ to get enrolled in the class. $128 seems a bit high for paperwork handling, right?
Anyway, I got a letter in the mail shortly from Tim Houston, who works in the Collections Division, stating that the fee had been processed and to follow the instructions in the enclosed packet to sign up for the class. This is where things started to get weird. First, there were no instructions in the packet. Second, about 2 weeks later, I get a letter from the Municipal Court in the mail stating that I have an outstanding fine of $200 and that if I do not pay a warrant for my arrest will be issued. I got this letter on a Saturday and called the number listed on the document. Of course, I get the typical office hour message of call back M-F 8:00AM to 5:00PM. So, Monday morning at 8:15AM, with my documents in hand, I call the number on the Municipal Court document (800-214-0367). After listening to some options, the operator declares I can press 0 to advance to a live person. I select 0 and I get a message stating that the office is closed and call back the next business day. Hmmm…that is strange, it is 8:15AM on Monday. No holiday that I am aware of, so I call again and get the same result. So, I try calling the contact listed on the confirmation of payment for the Defensive Driving letter. That number (214-670-5702) just rings. I let it go for about 20 rings with no answer or voice mail message. At this point, I’m wondering what strange occurrence is shutting down the City of Dallas government. So, I go to www.dallascityhall.com and call the Main Office number. They claim they are open and give me another number to try – 214-670-5685. This does happen to be the right number for Tim Houston, who works in the Collections Division, even though the number in his letter says to call 214-670-5702?! After calling 214-670-5685, I reach a very soft spoken individual who tells me that Tim has left for the day! Now, wait a moment, it is 8:45AM, how can he be gone for the day? Does he work nights? I ask these questions and the quiet talker just repeats “He has left for the day”. I ask if Tim will be there tomorrow to which the quiet talker stats “His hours are 8AM – 5PM”. I then ask if there is someone there that can help me, to which the quiet talker places the phone down and I hear laughing in the background for 15 minutes. At this point, I hang up.
What is going on?