The first Google review of the Olivette License Office is full of praise, highlighting a worker who greeted the writer at the door.
"Everyone was polite to the public," Katherine Harms wrote. "The person [who] waited on me was pleasant and good at her job. I won't dread it next time."
Scroll down to the next review, and it's like entering an alternate dimension.
"If I could give this place less than one [star] I would," read the comment by Google user Physics Reader.
Reader said she went to the office with her recently widowed daughter, who was trying to transfer her deceased husband's title into her name. The review said a worker there treated her daughter so poorly that another person in the office noticed.
"My daughter went outside, trying so hard to hold back tears when a random stranger came up to her and said: 'Saw how that lady in there treated you, I was next to you the whole time, and I couldn't believe her attitude towards you. Please, let me do something positive for you to make your day better,'" Physics Reader's review read. "With that, she handed my daughter $100!!!. Now THAT was a super nice lady ... inside that license bureau ... was a really bad human being. I will never ever go there again."
You don't need a reporter to explain that DMVs don't have the reputation for being the happiest place on Earth. (Someone else owns that trademark.) And according to rankings developed by SEO Backlinks, the Olivette License Office has the reputation for being worst license office in Missouri after aggregating the reviews of more than a million Google reviews of DMVs across the country.
The top 10 worst-rated DMVs in Missouri, according to the list, are:
- Olivette License Office, Olivette
- Rolla License Office, Rolla
- Cape Girardeau License Office, Cape Girardeau
- Branson West License Office, Branson West
- Poplar Bluff License Office, Poplar Bluff
- Independence License Office, Independence
- Kansas City License Office, Kansas City
- Waynesville License Office, Waynesville
- Platte City License Office, Platte City
- Clayton License Office, Clayton
The Olivette office has an average Google rating of 2.31 out of five stars. It also has the honor of ranking as fourth-worst in the nation, according to the same study. Many of the reviews point to long wait times, poor customer service and only one person handling driver's license renewals.
"I have never seen a wait less than an hour," Ron Gubitz wrote in a review. "This place is ridiculously bad, slow, unkind but very serious about what chairs you sit in the lobby."
Some even gave a warning.
"Let me just start off by saying that if you even think about coming here, turn around right now," reads a comment by Sedzida CJ Dolic.
The Olivette License Office could not be reached for comment. No one responded to an email request or picked up the phone and the voicemail box was also full. A reporter drove to the office last Thursday only to find it closed because its computer system was down. Calls to three other local DMVs that same day went directly to voicemail.
"I had renewed my license, and they gave me a temporary license and said the other one would come in the mail," Jerome Cornute said outside his car after attempting to go to the Olivette office. "It hasn't come yet, so I came down here to find out why and to see if I could get my permanent license."
DMV criticisms are, of course, nothing new, but Missouri operates those offices differently from most states — it actually doesn't run them.
Instead, the Department of Revenue contracts with individual operators through a competitive bidding process. There are more than 170 license plate offices across the state all with contracts with the department.
There used to be state-run DMVs, which all closed in 2005. License offices receive revenue from transaction fees — those had been $3.50 per transaction for about 20 years. The Missouri Independent reported that license offices have faced financial difficulties, leading to a recent fee increase of $9 per transaction to help keep them open.
In the best-case scenario, the most efficient offices can have fewer wait times and excellent customer service. Missouri was ranked ninth for best DMVs in the U.S. The aforementioned rankings included a list of the best DMV offices across the state:
- Glenstone License Office, Springfield
- Steelville License Office, Steelville
- Twin City License Office, Festus
- Harrisonville License Office, Harrisonville
- Sarcoxie License Office, Sarcoxie
- Arnold License Office, Arnold
- North Kansas City License Office, North Kansas City
- South Springfield License Office, Springfield
- Butler License Office, Butler
- Carthage License Office, Carthage
Google reviews for many of those offices praised the offices for short wait times and customer service so great that you'd think you were at a Trader Joe's or an Apple Store.
"You were greeted when you walked through the door by someone standing there saying 'you have come to the right place and we can help you!'"
In a glowing review of the Steelville License Office, Kurt Schulte wrote he would happily return.
"Even if I lived a 100 miles away, I'd still visit there to do my business," Schulte said.
Could that have happened at a state-run office? I guess we'll never know.
License offices, especially ones already struggling, could be facing even rougher roads next year.
New-Press NOW reported earlier this year that a number of offices are worried about closures. In February, dealerships, and not license offices, will collect sales as they sell cars. It's part of the state's Fifty Unique Systems in One Nexus system. The state said this would reduce the need for temporary tags. But operators speaking anonymously to New-Press NOW said they worried their offices would see fewer customers and lose revenue.
That could mean even the best-reviewed license offices could face financial difficulties and potential closures.
A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Revenue said the changes are aimed at eliminating temporary tags and the amount of time waiting at license offices.
"We're hoping that this will eliminate some of those lines and some of the hassle of having to come back in to get your car licensed and registered," said JoDonn Chaney, director of Strategy and Communications for the Missouri Department of Revenue.
Chaney said that this won't eliminate the need for license offices and that while this will change license office operations, it's hard to predict how.
"It will affect license offices, obviously," Chaney said. "To what extent, I don't know the answer to that."
Earlier this year, the Missouri State Auditor's Office announced it would investigate consumer service complaints within the Department of Revenue, which oversees driver's license and license plate renewals. The audit follows years of complaints from Missourians over the license renewal process, Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said in July.
The state's auditor office said it couldn't comment on an ongoing audit but encouraged anyone with issues at license offices to reach out through the auditor's whistleblower hotline.
Or if you have a bad time at a license office, wait outside. Maybe a kind person will give you $100.
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