Hi folks,
Adding to the already very long PhD saga and I need a bit of advice. I've been waiting two months so far for a resubmission result and need to have everything into the uni by end of June if I'm to graduate in June instead of 2018. I'm so fed up of the situation and anxiety and wondering if its time to complain.. A brief summary:
1) 2016-got R and R. Uni charges £1600 for the priviledge
2)Nov 2016: aggressive email from finance regarding my fees, threatening to expel me after they didn't supply any information on how to pay (I was on a scholarship). I paid £800 upfront as that was the maximum they'd allow to take me upto the new academic year. They then sent an invoice with an amount of £1600. After negotiating with them they told me that despite owing £800 to take me to the end of my R and R period they would have to charge me another full £1600 as they run by the undergraduate timetable of October to June rather than the 12 month cycle of Postgrads and that money would be refunded after I submitted.
3)I handed in my thesis on deadline day and was owed £75 in fees. These have not been reimbursed and despite showing on my uni account the uni claims to have paid even though I've provided bank statements showing this not to be the case.
To top it all, I bumped into my external at a conference and they told me and my supervisor that they'd only recieved my thesis 3 days prior. This is 6 weeks after I submitted. Long story, the thesis had failled to be delivered and was returned to the uni. No one in the office bothered to email (or frankly cross the corridor) to tell my supervisors. It was only when the external chased it was resent.
4)External is turning thesis around this week. Internal despite having for 8 weeks hasn't started and will be "some time yet".

I think its now time to take it further given that if I'd handed in late I'd be forced to pay more fees, but scared of repercussions... Any advice welcome.

Would your supervisor complain on your behalf? If s/he could hint that you are about to make a formal complaint, then the problem might be made to disappear informally in preference.

Ideally yes, but the chain of seniority would mean my supervisor would be complaining to themselves. So effectively it would be going to a Pro VC whether formally or informally...

PVC is prob needed to sort out the finance people. But your sup could do it as a 'sort this out or expect a formal complaint' warning, whereas you'd have to start the complaint procedure.it gives you an extra option.

Good idea! I will talk to them tomorrow. They've invested a lot of time and effort and are desperate to see me graduate so I should think he'd be supportive in that. Thanks muchly