Government Offices and COVID
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Posts: 24,968
Mentioned: 202 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 13040 Post(s)
Liked 1,724 Times
in
1,303 Posts
Government Offices and COVID
Ok, a bit of a rant here.
About 10 months into this pandemic, and it is still a mess.
Most of the DMV offices closed this spring. They've at least partly reopened. Thank God I'm not a teenager trying to get a driver's license.
Ok, I managed to get into the office a month or so ago for a vehicle title, and filed out the forms I was told to fill out.
Now I got a letter that they had additional questions, but for some reason it was a bit cryptic what they wanted, of course. Should be trivial... but.
So they have a call center. Calling in... keep hearing the repeating message "your call is very important to us..." With an hour wait.
It is OK if they don't want to work with people in person. But that means they should have worked out a way to improve service.
Ok... finally got a live person. Apparently I was missing a box on one of forms. They had all the information through redundant forms that I filled out, but one form was missing one box (including a box that I didn't have the information at the time... I needed the license plate to know the plate number). And the form hardly applies anyway.
About 10 months into this pandemic, and it is still a mess.
Most of the DMV offices closed this spring. They've at least partly reopened. Thank God I'm not a teenager trying to get a driver's license.

Ok, I managed to get into the office a month or so ago for a vehicle title, and filed out the forms I was told to fill out.
Now I got a letter that they had additional questions, but for some reason it was a bit cryptic what they wanted, of course. Should be trivial... but.
So they have a call center. Calling in... keep hearing the repeating message "your call is very important to us..." With an hour wait.
It is OK if they don't want to work with people in person. But that means they should have worked out a way to improve service.
Ok... finally got a live person. Apparently I was missing a box on one of forms. They had all the information through redundant forms that I filled out, but one form was missing one box (including a box that I didn't have the information at the time... I needed the license plate to know the plate number). And the form hardly applies anyway.

#2
Seat Sniffer
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: SoCal
Posts: 5,163
Bikes: 2008 Scott CR1 Pro; 2006 Schwinn Fastback Pro and 1996 Colnago Decor Super C96; 2003 Univega Alpina 700; 2000 Schwinn Super Sport
Mentioned: 17 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 739 Post(s)
Liked 634 Times
in
262 Posts
Ok, a bit of a rant here.
About 10 months into this pandemic, and it is still a mess.
Most of the DMV offices closed this spring. They've at least partly reopened. Thank God I'm not a teenager trying to get a driver's license.
Ok, I managed to get into the office a month or so ago for a vehicle title, and filed out the forms I was told to fill out.
Now I got a letter that they had additional questions, but for some reason it was a bit cryptic what they wanted, of course. Should be trivial... but.
So they have a call center. Calling in... keep hearing the repeating message "your call is very important to us..." With an hour wait.
It is OK if they don't want to work with people in person. But that means they should have worked out a way to improve service.
Ok... finally got a live person. Apparently I was missing a box on one of forms. They had all the information through redundant forms that I filled out, but one form was missing one box (including a box that I didn't have the information at the time... I needed the license plate to know the plate number). And the form hardly applies anyway.
About 10 months into this pandemic, and it is still a mess.
Most of the DMV offices closed this spring. They've at least partly reopened. Thank God I'm not a teenager trying to get a driver's license.

Ok, I managed to get into the office a month or so ago for a vehicle title, and filed out the forms I was told to fill out.
Now I got a letter that they had additional questions, but for some reason it was a bit cryptic what they wanted, of course. Should be trivial... but.
So they have a call center. Calling in... keep hearing the repeating message "your call is very important to us..." With an hour wait.
It is OK if they don't want to work with people in person. But that means they should have worked out a way to improve service.
Ok... finally got a live person. Apparently I was missing a box on one of forms. They had all the information through redundant forms that I filled out, but one form was missing one box (including a box that I didn't have the information at the time... I needed the license plate to know the plate number). And the form hardly applies anyway.
__________________
Proud parent of a happy inner child ...
Proud parent of a happy inner child ...

#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Posts: 24,968
Mentioned: 202 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 13040 Post(s)
Liked 1,724 Times
in
1,303 Posts
But, the issue was multi-fold. First the local DMV offices are only partly open. They are trying to do as many interactions as possible by phone and mail, but haven't scaled up capacity to do so, nor reorganized their employees to deal with changing conditions. Of course, there have always been excessive wait times.
In this case, I filled out about 3 forms to get my title/registration. But, was a little rushed to get things filled out. I didn't fill in "License Plate Number" as I didn't have plates at the time (that is why I was there). They claim that I had only filled in the VIN number in about 3 out of 4 places, and not in the last blank (as well as having it physically checked on the vehicle by one of their employees). But they have the application. They have the VIN number. They have the old title. It just doesn't matter. And, of course, the application was already accepted by one of the local employees (or at least 2 that I had interacted with).
Part of the issue is government bureaucracy that they've created for themselves. And the letter they sent said I was missing Form XYZ,when it apparently was submitted, but with a single blank field (two blank fields if one also considers the license plates that I didn't have at the time).
And, it would be pretty stupid for them to have written the letter saying that "Here is your VIN number that you forgot to put in the upper right corner of from XYZ, but had supplied it in at least 3 other places". Or asking for the license plate numbers that they had supplied to me after I had filled out the forms.

#4
Sunshine
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 12,016
Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo
Mentioned: 97 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4887 Post(s)
Liked 2,114 Times
in
1,264 Posts
One of my nieces turned 16 at the end of August. She went to the DMV a few days later and was out in 2 hours. Sounds like the frustration may be a state to state issue?...or maybe one task is easy to handle in this environment right now while another isnt.

#6
Sunshine
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 12,016
Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo
Mentioned: 97 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4887 Post(s)
Liked 2,114 Times
in
1,264 Posts
Did I figure what out?
My post contained a question and a possible counter to the question.
I didn't claim to figure out anything.
You are really bad at commentary. I see that now and fully support you going back to just being a news bot.
My post contained a question and a possible counter to the question.
I didn't claim to figure out anything.
You are really bad at commentary. I see that now and fully support you going back to just being a news bot.
