great experience...so far! I have an old paper licence, no need for forms, no need to send pics, pull back from my passport and online form. Done. Also found a neat 'check your entitlements' part of the site, which allows you to check the records they have so you can be sure it comes back with bike entitlement At last a decent use for Big Data and combined govt databases. Overall, impressed.
A few years ago a friend of mine from my youth got in touch asking if I could help him. He had bought a 500 Suzuki 2 stroke and rebuilt it after a long lay off from bikes. He had recently renewed his licence and got a photo one and found they had omitted his bike entitlement. I wrote a letter for him because I still remember the day he passed his test which was the day after me. Anyhow they reinstated it Mine was a paper licence and the address was well out of date but I renewed mine on line but said I had lost my old one just in case they lost some of my entitlements. If they did I could miraculously find my old one Anyhow it all went smoothly.
With all those horror stories that's why I searched snf found the checker. As its all online now, old licence isn't sent until you get the new one. DVLA learning from previous issues?!