Monroe County Clerk Jamie Romeo said Monday that the county Department of Motor Vehicles is turning away people daily because some of them are buying appointments online that don’t exist.
She said the problem has been ongoing for months. Like most government offices, the DMV closed its doors to the public when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. When they welcomed customers back in person last June, they switched to a state-ordered appointment-only system for social distancing purposes.
Romeo said this system limits the number of customers who can be served to 915 per day.She said some customers are waiting several weeks to get appointments for in-person services like registering a personal vehicle. This frustrates some people so much that they’re responding to social media posts from scammers asking for money in exchange for appointments.
Problem is, those appointments don't really exist.
“We don’t want to see any families paying private money for appointments that might not get you in the door,” Romeo said. “We don’t have a precise number, but we do know that we turn away lots of people who don’t have an appointment that are trying to get in. Unfortunately, it's the system that we’re required to operate within.”
Romeo said she doesn’t know how much people are paying, but anything is too much because legitimate appointments are free.
She said there are also problems with some of those real appointments.
“We’ve also had a significant drop-off who are not coming to the appointments that they book, which has been a frustration,” said Romeo.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order requiring the use of this system is up for renewal in a few weeks. Romeo said she hopes that registering private vehicles online will move from a pilot program in some counties into use across the board.
She asked residents who need appointments to contact her office by phone or online.
