More fun than driving nails with my forehead--Oregon DMV

[Gunhippie]

[rant]

I had to renew the registration on the Vanagon in May of last year. Even 'though we were still in the grips of lock-down, it was a fast and fairly pleasant (aside from the cost) experience. Maybe 15 minutes from the time I walked in the door. We've always had the best DMV in Oregon here in Enterprise.

Yesterday, I went in to transfer the title of my new (to me) Toyota Corolla. The place was crammed full--something I'd never seen before. There was a big sign to the effect that if I needed to see someone in this lifetime, I'd need an appointment.

So today I called the number given on the sign. The phone was answered by one of those "How may I help you?" chatbots. Every other word dropped out, so I had to pretty much guess what was said (the first question was actually "How ____ I ____ help____"). After fighting through that nightmare, all I got was a text giving me a website to go to to make an appointment. Why couldn't they just have put that on the damned sign? 10 minutes wasted.

I go to the website and waste another fifteen minutes making my appointment--for the 10th of this month.

Man, they've certainly figured out how to make a simple, pleasant experience into an excuse to drink heavily!

[/rant]

[1hpycmpr]

Yea, it’s gotten a bit crazy Timm. I hope you find a place to have that drink!

[Gunhippie]

The new hours really suck, too. Designed to be sure you miss some work time.

[Murff]

Timm, sorry you had to go through goverment hell for a simple matter. Reminds me of what's happening here now!


Wanna have fun? Have a landline (Wife wants to keep it) with CenturyLink (Now Lumen) and try to get it fixed.

Chatbot that asks what the problem is and you tell it and then it states replies incorrectly. It also states at any time, I can request a human rep. Did that several times and it replies. "Okay, but let me get some more information." After 20 more questions, that get answers, it FINALLY connects me to a human who then proceeds to as me the same questions the Chatbot asked.

I really try to be nice to these people but this poor woman caught my hell. For, you see, this was the 2nd time to request the line be repaired. I talked to a human a 10 days ago who stated the line would be repaired LAST Wednesday. To confirm the appointment, I went to the phone company's website and entered the info and was told NO Trouble Ticket Found and repair had been made. Wanna bet?

This has happened twice in the last year and the line has been "repaired" four times now. So, when Mr. Repair Guy arrives tomorrow, I will let him "fix" the bloody line for the last time. One of their repair guys I spoe to last year stated that the phone lines in my neighborhood were from the 1940s. I asked if they did any maintenance to anything with copper wires and he sadly shook his head.

The poor service rep that I reamed, toward the end of our conversation, told me that Lumen had recently wired our neighborhood with fiber optic and woul I be interested in high speed internet from them. I, rather snidely, stated it would be difficult for me to purchase ANY service they offered after this! She understood.

After that, I think we are going to get a new landline from the cable company that will save us $40.00 per month.

Murff

[REJ2]

Timm, sorry you had to go through goverment hell for a simple matter. Reminds me of what's happening here now!


Wanna have fun? Have a landline (Wife wants to keep it) with CenturyLink (Now Lumen) and try to get it fixed.



Murff

Century Link, what a joke. It’s still here in my part of Kansas, years ago it was called United Telephone, around here anyway. Way back in the 70’s they sent a big wig from here up to Washington state, Yakima. I remember because I dated one of his daughters till they moved. We got rid of Century Link completely here at our house a few months ago.

[JimL]

If you have to go through menu options that are getting you nowhere, hit the zero for a response every time. Most likely, if it's supported, you'll be transferred to a human fairly promptly. If not directly supported, by repeatedly entering zero after each question, there's a fair chance the stupid menu system will give up and connect you to a person.

[outlawmws]

Tim do you have AAA? in CA the larger AAA offices have (drum roll) a DMV satellite office!

We were in and out in 10 min transferring my moms car to us a couple months ago...

You cannot GET an appointment in the reg DMV offices and meet their "Must be transferred within 10 days of sale" mantra...

And good luck getting a drivers test...

[Loganeffecto]

Or DMV had a 2-3 MONTH appointment wait. Until recently

[Jeepstircrazy]

My wife has figured out than whenever they ask a question, answer “representative “. Almost every single time it instantly gets a human on the line. Try it!
I don’t know what it’s like today but Florida had the longest lines at the DMV I’d ever seen anywhere. Moving to New York was interesting years ago because this being the third largest county east of the Mississippi there was only one DMV in the whole county. There were bars on the widows at each (4) windows. I quickly realized why after being told ,”You need to do this first and come back.” It was screwy, stupid, unnecessary BS and they seemed to enjoy doing it to everyone. The travel distance back and forth several times to get things the way they wanted it was ridiculous. When I first saw the bars I thought, “What’s this all about?” Didn’t take long to witness and be subjected to rude unnecessary BS. Fortunately they built satellite offices and now you can do almost all online. The state vehicle inspection is what sucks. Code readers are so vague that you end up spending a fortune replacing parts till the bloody “ check engine “ light goes off . I hate New York!

[Gasman64]

Where I work, there are several company cars; one is used by security. The company cars don't get fixed unless there's a request through some third-party company, which in turn communicates with corporate, THEN, they approve a local garage in the area to do the work. But WAIT A MINUTE!!! We have a fully equipped truck garage which services our fleet of semi trucks AND trailers, but they may not do oil changes and other routine maintenance on the company cars...flat tire? Too bad, it can't be changed by the truck garage. What group of idiots thought that this is a good way to run things, such inconvenience and fuss and bother?
This is but one example; I have neither the time, nor desire, to write more. I'm home from work now and should be relaxing, not getting uptight all over again.
(The above situation I could care less about; just something to laugh at. However, the way "management" handles people nowadays is at best, mis-management. Some of the people in HR apparently think they're dealing with livestock, not human beings. I need to find a smaller employer, I think.)

[austin65uri]

My sympathies. We are doomed unless advanced AI can save us.

[Moses_Yoder]

I seriously hate dealing with that kind of stuff, you have my sympathies.

[Newfie]

Our DMV finally got with the times.

Our insurance and registration is public (no private insurance companies) but there are tons of companies contracted to handle the process. You could go to any outlet to get it completed.

Covid forced a lot of those places to work remotely so they transitioned to an over-the-phone renewal. After about a year the province finally switched to online renewal. If you don't need to change your insurance coverage it's a 10 minute online renewal process. Print your new papers at home and you're done. They don't even issue new tags/decals anymore.

Most police departments here in BC have automatic license plate scanners. If you didn't renew a cop behind you gets a notification on their in-vehicle laptop and you get pulled over.

[kb0hae]

Here in Iowa we can renew registration (yearly) online and they mail you the new sticker for your rear plate. Unfortunately, my eye doctor has to fill out a form yearly for me to keep my drivers license, and I need an appointment at the Drivers License station just to turn in that form. Usually appointments are available only on their website, and usually 3-4 weeks from when you log in if you are lucky!

[Gunhippie]

I believe that here in Oregon, we, too, can re-register our rigs online. However, if you've ever dealt with a State Of Oregon website, you'd shy away from that idea. Oracle software that belongs in the '80s sucks.

Anyhow, I'm registering and transferring a rig from out of state, so it needs a physical inspection of various things, like the VIN. An office visit is the only way to get that done.

Then, I get to go back to my insurer and get the new plate #s on my policy and pay up for a renewal, which, it seems to me, could have been done last week while I was in the office getting the new rig on my insurance, a day before I got the renewal notice.

Isn't the computer age so much easier?