You can't board a plane or cash a check without a complete and correct government identity card. If you don't have one you could be left stranded and that was the concern of a peninsula woman and her daughter.
Inger Bischofberger measured her daughter, Irene, at our request. We wanted to make sure Irene is not really 6'5" tall. This is important because the DMV was determined to make her that size. Turning 18 years old Irene needed I.D., so mother and daughter went to the DMV.
"So we went to the San Mateo DMV office and filled out he paperwork and her first ID card came back with her height as 6'5"," said Inger.
All the information is correct, but the height. It says 6'5, but she is only 5'5". So mother and daughter went to the Redwood City DMV to see if they could get a right.
"They were really surprised and they said, 'Oh, I don't know how this happened, but we will get it straightened out,'" said Inger.
And the second ID came back with a height of 6'5". The DMV seemed determined, but not more so than Inger, who got her daughter and headed back to the San Mateo DMV.
"I kind of gave her a hard time because she kept dragging me back over and over again," said Irene.
But back they went once again and talked to another DMV clerk.
"She was just absolutely amazed and couldn't believe that we had two wrong ones," said Inger.
Problem solved, right? Wrong. A third I.D. came in the mail and again, it said 6'5".
Finney: Are you sure you are not 6'5"?
Irene: I am 100 percent sure.
Finney: How many hours do you think you spent dealing with this?
Inger: The whole process I would say a cumulative amount of eight hours. At least a day.
Finney: With a ticked off teenager.
Inger: With a ticked off teenager.
Well, we couldn't have them spend any more time in line, so we took the problem to the DMV and things started happening fast. A new I.D. came in with the correct height. And the DMV told us it strives for perfection but "...there are very few cases where human or computer errors occur. This is one of those unfortunate incidents. We sincerely apologize."
"First she as a little concerned, 'Why did you contact the news, Mom?' Well, who else are you going to turn too, I don't know. So, it worked. Thank you," said Inger.
Now if you have a problem with the DMV let me know about it.
