I got a speeding ticket several months ago, and I called right away to find out what my fees were,…read moreand wanted to get things processed promptly, the woman I spoke with told me it could take up to four weeks for the ticket to be processed by CHP and get to the traffic court. At first I was livid, I just wanted to get the process started and over as soon as possible, but it was a lesson in patience.
A few weeks later I received paperwork in the mail about the fines and options available; since I live in another county, I was able to do everything by mail. I sent all of my requests in, proof of everything they asked for, and a short time later, I got more paperwork, but something was missing, so I called, and the woman told me they didn't get everything I sent to them. I didn't believe it, but I sent the same proof AGAIN and still nothing was happening. I went with the original payment plan, and started making monthly payments, and over the weekend I knew I had one payment left, and had finished traffic school (Best Online Traffic School check them out on Yelp), but when I tried to make a payment, it was going to be late. I tried to do it over the phone but the third party company was stating I had a zero balance, and I knew this was impossible. On Monday I called and spoke with Vanessa, she helped me tremendously, but the other company was still trying to say they didn't get my second payment, and told me to call the court, I called back and spoke with KJ, and we had a good laugh about it all, turns out they're sisters and have both worked at the court for a long time. Those two seem to be running things fairly efficiently and with grace and kindness when others in the same positions in other counties have no idea how to work with the public. In the end, one payment is still lost, but their finance office is working on it; Allan who works in finance has been very helpful.
It seems that if the angry person on the other end of the phone can just take a minute to breathe, and remember that the people in this office are doing the best they can, and there are only two women working those phone lines, life would be more pleasurable. Vanessa T and KJ certainly turned my anger in to joy and laughter by the end of my four hour ordeal.
I wish more courts allowed people to utilize the mail instead of going in person. I've never had a ticket, but dealt with court clerks for many other things in my lifetime, the women here have such poise.
