Troubleshooter: Chapel Hill man overpays hundreds to DMV
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Paying the wrong amount for a bill is a simple mistake that should be simple to fix. One Chapel Hill man found out this was not the case.
Chris Bassett thought he wrote a check for $4.91 to pay to the DMV. When he looked over his finances, he realized what a big mistake he had made.
Bassett instead wrote out four hundred and ninety one dollars on the check. He overpaid his DMV bill by $486.
"I called them directly and I explained to them what my problem was and they said fax me all of the information," Bassett said.
He then sent all of the proof to the DMV.
"They said well, we got it in the works, we are getting it taken care of," Bassett said.
But weeks passed, and Bassett still hadn't received a refund.
"I've called them about once a month for the next four months, just call them and talk to them, 'yeah we are getting it worked out, they're apologizing, they're doing whatever,' and I got to the point where I got aggravated," he said.
That's when Bassett reached out to ABC11. We got in touch with the DMV and quickly saw results.
"They called me directly, DMV, apologizing, I got three apologies from three different people," Bassett said.
Bassett saw his $486 refund in just a few days.
"FedEx pulls in my driveway, I knew exactly what it was, signed for it, he gave it to me, it was the check, ten minutes later the DMV called me," he said.
"She said we really apologize, we really apologize, I said no problem, it's done and over with."
Kelly Thomas, the commissioner of the DMV, issued this statement:
"We regret that our process took this long and we apologize to Mr. Bassett for all oversight. We pride ourselves on providing quality customer service to all residents. Over the past two years, the Division has proactively focused on enhancing the customer service experience and we will continue to do so. DMV processes an average of 600,000 vehicle registrations per month and with our high volume, we will continue to take steps to reform our procedures and make sure something of this nature does not occur in the future."
