Atlanta Tag office

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Here is a personal experience with Y2K "fixes".

I went with my mom to get the tag for her new car. The dealership was supposed to do this but they "lost" her file. After getting it faxed to us we went to the local DMV to get her a tag. After an hour of waiting (with only 7 ppl in line) we heard that the printers were down. Finally we got there and they went down again. After 30min they got it back up and running. I asked the girl behind the desk what was going on and she said that the State of Georgia had put a new system in place that links all of the offices to each other. The only problem was that they had 83,000 car tags and titles that the local office, not statewide just local and we live in a small town, that they couldn't enter into the system because it would crash the ENTIRE state system. Also if there is a storm in another part of the state that causes that local computer there to go out the ENTIRE system goes down. She said they call this the Genesis system but it is getting the nickname of the GrabAss system.

-- dragoneyez (dragoneyez@mindspring.com), September 14, 1999

Answers

Dragon,

Here's a related article"

New tag system fails first test

09/09/1999 Amy Wolfford Staff Writer

Georgia's new vehicle registration system was supposed to eliminate lengthy lines at tag offices -- but there were so many problems on its first day that the Columbus office not only had long waits, but shut down 90 minutes early Wednesday.

Columbus Tax Commissioner Lula L. Huff said there were glitches with some of the state's vehicle registration software in Atlanta, forcing her to close about 3 p.m.

Her employees had already been hampered by sluggish computers that stacked the line of customers up to 150 people deep. Crowds already were larger than normal because the office was closed Monday for Labor Day and Tuesday so the computers could be installed.

"We were kind of shot by Murphy's law," Huff said. "All the counties were having problems."

A Georgia Department of Revenue spokesman could not be reached late Wednesday for comment on how the new Georgia Registration and Title Information System worked in other parts of the state.

The Columbus office is expected to be open normal hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today, but Huff suggests people call 653-4211 before heading to the Government Center office to make sure computers are operating. And they should be warned that waits could be long again.

Huff said those who need to get their tags renewed can mail in completed forms to avoid waiting in line. The turnaround is two to three days. Others may want to drop off forms at the office and have their tags sent to them by mail.

Also, no penalties will be assessed for anyone whose tags expired on Tuesday or Wednesday.

"I'm expecting that it's going to be slow," she said. "I'm hoping the system will be up and running all day."

Most county tax offices -- 128 of the state's 159 -- were converted to the computer system Wednesday. These account for about 85 percent of the state's 7.5 million vehicles. State officials hope to have all of Georgia's counties on board by the end of next year.

The revenue department is funding the $9.5 million project which will allow county tax offices to process tag and title transactions online with a central state database. Currently, county officials mail title information to the state Department of Revenue, which then takes about 15 days to produce a new title.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

http://www.l-e-o.com/news/0909NOGRATIS1.htm

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), September 14, 1999.


Yeah I saw that one yesterday AFTER we got through. What a pain in the a$$. So much for timely information.

-- dragoneyez (dragoneyez@mindspring.com), September 14, 1999.

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