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| Special "agents" help DMV customers |
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Members of DMV's special Customer Care Unit.
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Good customer service usually means making things easier to get — but not when it comes to state-issued identification.
“Customers want secure identification, and that means making it harder to get for people who shouldn’t get a driver license or ID card,” DMV Administrator Tom McClellan said. “The unintentional result is that it can be harder for everyone. Each time DMV tightens issuance rules, we tighten them for all customers.”
A new set of restrictions went into effect Feb. 4, when DMV began electronic verification of Social Security numbers for all customers applying for first-time, renewal and replacement driver licenses and ID cards. This rule change came as a result of an executive order issued by Gov. Kulongoski in November 2007.
“For most Oregonians, this requirement actually made renewing driver licenses and ID cards simpler,” McClellan said. “If your SSN verifies electronically, only one document instead of two is required to prove your identity.”
But it also made obtaining, renewing or replacing a card difficult for some customers – for example, those whose name and birth date at DMV don’t match the data at the Social Security Administration, or customers who lack the necessary identity documents.
So for these customers, DMV set up a special temporary “Customer Care Unit” in its Salem phone center in mid-January. The agency hired five phone agents to specialize in assisting customers with difficult identity situations, such as lack of physical ID proof.
“We set them up in the two weeks before the new rules took effect Feb. 4, and they were busy from the start,” said DMV Customer Assistance Manager Kathy Bush. “These are calls where the customer needs more in-depth help, such as advice on the best way to meet the ID requirements for the customer’s particular situation or the time constraints of their license expiration date.”
The most common advice the Customer Care Unit provides is detailed instructions on how customers can obtain their birth certificates.
“In some cases, it’s a challenge to know where to start looking for a birth certificate – people born in the back seat of a car, people who were adopted,” Bush said. “The customer must do the leg work, but we can help point them in the right direction.”
Although DMV phone agents handle the vast majority of customer calls in English, three members of the Customer Care Unit also speak Spanish, and a few other languages are available, thanks to other DMV employees.
Oregonians who are having difficulty meeting the new ID requirements can reach the Customer Care Unit simply by calling the local DMV phone number – all those calls are routed to the DMV phone centers in Salem. When phone agents hear questions or situations that involve special identity requirements, they transfer the caller to the Customer Care Unit. DMV expects to keep the unit in place until mid-2009.
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