how much trouble am I in?

[philip964]

Ok how much trouble am I in? Unlike most of you, I was not in a big hurry to get my plastic. My history will show that.

January 2009 took my CHL course.
April 2009 finally got around to actually sending it in.
July 2, 2009 date of letter from State saying my fingerprints were not satisfactory.
September 30, 2009 got new FAST fingerprinted and express mailed package to the State.
September 30, 2009 actually carefully read letter rejecting my fingerprints where at the bottom it says "must be returned within 90 days of the date of the letter or my application is voided".

Uh oh.

My revised fingerprints will reach them today October 1, 2009, which is 91 days from the date of the letter, depending on how you count days. Its certainly not "within" 90 days. Postmarked 90 days though if you don't count the date of the letter but start with the next day.

Am I totally start from scratch take the CHL course all over from the beginning in trouble?

Anyone know?

Yes its entirely my fault. I shouldn't just skim read form letters from governments.

Thanks.

[seamusTX]

Welcome to the forum

Are you a praying man?

I'd say it's a coin toss whether someone will notice that July and August both have 31 days. If they do stick to the letter of the law, you're back to square 1.

I would have thought that you could skip taking the course over and use your TR-100 form. However, other forum members' experience says that is not the case.

- Jim

[USA1]

i agree with Jim ,

on one hand i would say call to see what DPS is going to do .
on the other hand , you may not want to bring attention to the matter .

[philip964]

Your thoughtful comments were what I was afraid of. I have copies of everything, but doubtful they would accept copies of signed documents second time around.

My fear is they have some sort of ninety day filing system and into the shredder it goes on day ninety-one.

If I had only noticed it they day before, as I really didn't need to make an appointment for the next day to get my fingerprints done, as they are not busy at all at the location I went to.

As a tip for first time applicants, I would go to FAST day one for fingerprinting and not use the ink ones that the CHL courses offer. It was only 10 bucks. The quality of the digital finger print is very much better.

I am going to let sleeping dogs lie. I will keep everyone posted.

[seamusTX]

My fear is they have some sort of ninety day filing system and into the shredder it goes on day ninety-one.

I doubt they're that efficient.

I don't know if you have been lurking or catching up on information posted to the forum earlier. DPS had a big shake-up, new management, and a bunch of new employees hired in the past month. They seem to be clearing the backlog and may just let things go instead of nitpicking.

Good luck, anyway.

- Jim

[arnoldstrong]

man, you are in a tough spot....i can't believe that it's a big deal though

[jsimmons]

Be prepared to just take your lumps and start the process all over again. You might get lucky, but judging from what I've seen the DPS do regarding applications, they will probably not cut you any slack (and you really shouldn't expect them to).

[KD5NRH]

Its certainly not "within" 90 days. Postmarked 90 days though if you don't count the date of the letter but start with the next day.

Use their own illogical progression of excuses: tell them it's business days. If that doesn't work, then tell them that the letter had not been fully entered into your brain until you read all the fine print, thus processing actually began on 9-30. If that fails, tell them they have 30 days to appeal (in writing) your denial of their complaint about your original prints.

[captain chuck]

It may not matter. Most likely is they'll just send it to the FBI and it will be rejected again unless you provided an explanitory letter. I have had mine rejected 3 times for my CHL and 4 for my Instructor. Finally, a lady at DPS asked me if I had added a post-it or an explanitory letter about why my fingerprints suck.

I went to the local FBI guys and explained my situation and they printed me and supplied a letter of explaination. Frankely the ones I had taken at the electronic place were way better, but I passed by the GS1 screeners at the FBI and they ran my prints and did the background check. I was told there are thousands of cases like ours where the prints are rejected if they are not perfect. Excuse me for working hard, but some of us have had our prints worn down.

I am reprinted every 3-5 years at my law enforcement gig, and those prints (yes, the same crappy ones) are never rejected. The ridge detail they need the most is not the area the normally gets worn down.

If you get another rejection letter, go to your local PD and ask them to take your prints and type up a letter on their letterhead explaining that they wont get better, send it with the prints and I'll bet you make it by the rejector of prints as well. Good Luck

[joe817]

Chuck, that is an EXCELLENT suggestion! Thank you for sharing with us, and welcome to the forum.

[philip964]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

The FBI needed my prints two years ago, and there was no problem. However, one of my associates had to go back three times to the FBI to get it where they would accept it.

BTW, I'm sure none of the forum members has this problem, but you don't want to voluntarily go to the FBI for finger printing if you are wanted or undocumented. It was actually quite surprising how often that happens.

One wonders how any crimes are ever solved with fingerprints, considering the trouble we have with ink on paper fingerprints.

Today I found a letter I got back in June about my application. They gave me a PIN number and a web site to visit.

As of today it says "Application Processing".

But I'm sure next week it could just as easily say "Application voided".

I'm keeping my faint ridge fingers crossed.

[joe817]

I've got my fingers crossed with you philip964 ! Good luck!

[nils]

That really sucks Phillip....but you can only hope. Good luck man.

[joe817]

philip964 ? Any update on your status?

[LostInAustin]

It may not matter. Most likely is they'll just send it to the FBI and it will be rejected again unless you provided an explanitory letter. I have had mine rejected 3 times for my CHL and 4 for my Instructor. Finally, a lady at DPS asked me if I had added a post-it or an explanitory letter about why my fingerprints suck.

I went to the local FBI guys and explained my situation and they printed me and supplied a letter of explaination. Frankely the ones I had taken at the electronic place were way better, but I passed by the GS1 screeners at the FBI and they ran my prints and did the background check. I was told there are thousands of cases like ours where the prints are rejected if they are not perfect. Excuse me for working hard, but some of us have had our prints worn down.

I am reprinted every 3-5 years at my law enforcement gig, and those prints (yes, the same crappy ones) are never rejected. The ridge detail they need the most is not the area the normally gets worn down.

If you get another rejection letter, go to your local PD and ask them to take your prints and type up a letter on their letterhead explaining that they wont get better, send it with the prints and I'll bet you make it by the rejector of prints as well. Good Luck

Thanks for the advice chuck. Next time I will do that if I need to. This time I just hydrated and kept lots of lotion on my hands for the 2 days prior to reprinting. Got those ridges nice and plump I guess cuz they took em the second time.