Strange Iqama Transfer Problem

Dear HRGuru and anyone else that can help!

I have a Saudi iqama and I recently accepted an offer to join another company. I have been with my kafeel for more than 2 years, and theyre a very big company with a "Platinum" status.

The new company sent a demand letter to my old one, which was duly accepted and my sponsor provided me with the three letters required to proceed.

Here is where the problem begins:

When my new company tries to make the electronic request to transfer my iqama, they receive a message that states "the worker you are seeking has already applied for a transfer of iqama".

However, when I (or my sponsor) both check the status of my iqama using the website's e-services, it gives back all the correct info of my current sponsor (old company), as well as stating that "no request to transfer iqama has been filed". I have seen first hand the system give back those two conflicting messages!

The new company sent their representative to the labor office today to process the transfer manually in case there is a system error or something, and the response was that I had applied for an iqama transfer request which was already approved!!! They wouldn't tell them the name of the company I "supposedly" asked to transfer to, since they are not my sponsor. Just for the record, I have never previously requested a transfer of iqama from another company. What's worse, the labor office told the rep of the new company that the only way to transfer my iqama is to wait 3 months until the request expires. This is not an option for me as I cannot wait this long, as I want to make istiqdam for my wife and daughter with the new kafeel.

Please help and let me know if you've seen this problem before, and what was the solution. Also, if you can instruct me on how to try and fix this issue please I would be very grateful.

Appreciate all your efforts!