27 January 2024
While we tread water with monthly debridements by Dr. Tong at the clinic, Joyce has pursued her driver's license renewal with a Real ID. It expired last November on her birthday and she still hasn't gotten through the renewal process.
The surgeries and anesthesia are no help, of course, but the California Department of Motor Vehicles has made the whole thing not just confusing but frustrating.
Its Web site is an example of how not to design a user interface (the headlines push the form buttons out of the window) and how not to devise a user experience (multiple log-ins per session with texted confirmation numbers). And the on-site experience remains a travesty where appointments are not honored and there is no guidance or help when you need it.
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SO HERE'S THE STORY. Early in November she finally wrote to Geneva for a certified copy of her birth certificate. That arrived before her birthday and with two other official proofs of residence, she had what she needed to finally get a Real ID.
Being of a certain age, she had to take the written test and get a new photo. So we had to go to the DMV office anyway.
She made an appointment before her birthday, we showed up and waited hours after her early afternoon appointment time before finally seeing someone well after 4 p.m.
She passed the eye test, but one utility bill she had paid didn't pass the ID test because she'd sent the coupon in (even though her name and address was still there). Really? Really.
I'd brought along another proof, though, and that worked.
She got her photo taken but by then it was took late to take the written test. They cut it off at 4:30. So she was given a temporary license and told to come back after the holidays when things wouldn't be so busy.
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MY LICENSE had to be renewed this month, so we went in a few days ago. I won't tell you what ridiculous hoops I had to go through. I'll just say I already had a Real ID but the DMV Web site still required my birth certificate and two proofs of residence for the renewal, although I wasn't asked to produce any of that by the clerk.
I passed the eye test and had a photo taken and went to do the written test (because I'm of a certain age too). But I didn't have to take the test, I was told. I was given an extension for my license because the DMV takes a while to deliver.
Meanwhile Joyce wasn't in the system until I told the clerk that she had already passed the eye test and taken a new photo. By then she'd sent Joyce down to the testing area, which was quite a walk for her, and needed her back at her station. So because she insisted Joyce wasn't in the system instead of looking for her in it, Joyce had to make the long walk three times with her walking stick.
She should have called Uber.
Once that was straightened out, she took the test on the monitors there. The first one wasn't registering her answers so a clerk helped her to a second one where she could sit.
She'd taken the four online sample tests and passed them easily even though the tests actually changed at least two correct answers to wrong ones. Happened to me too. I looked back and saw I had them right originally but the scored test had changed them.
Anyway, she failed the test three times. "If she had stopped at two, I could have given her an extension," the clerk said. So, uh, why didn't you tell her that before she took the test a third time?
Now she had to reapply. And she wasn't the only one. I didn't see anyone passing the test.
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WHY HAD I BEEN LET off the hook? I thought about it a while before realizing when I applied online for renewal, I opted for the eLearning course rather than the written test or the proxied test at home (which required installing DMV software on my system).
I just had to complete the two-hour course at my computer to finish my renewal.
So when Joyce reapplied for renewal, she selected that option too and we went through it in two sessions with no problem.
Except now what?
Did we have to go in again? Or would they use the photo and eye test to finish the application and give her a new Real ID license?
There's a new option on the DMV site to check the status of your license. I had checked mine and it said my license was being processed. So we checked Joyce's. It said she couldn't renew online because her license was expired.
Well, that wasn't what we asked.
So we called the 800 number and kept insisting on speaking to someone in customer support until the call system relented. She was promised a callback which did happen, but 15 minutes late at 4:45. They close at 5 p.m., of course.
But the woman knew her stuff. When she heard Joyce had failed her test three times, she said she had to finish the second application at the DMV. Which is all we needed to know.
We'll go in Monday morning.