Drivers often complain about waiting on long lines at the Dept. of Vehicle Services (DVS) when it’s time to obtain or renew a license.

 

But a recent survey of the DVS at the Sherburne County Government Center shows about 90% of  people who use the service there are pretty satisfied.

 

“Last spring, we received a couple of complaints,” Auditor/Treasurer Diane Arnold told members of the county board last week. “So we decided we would do a customer service survey just to see how the public views the service.”

 

The department developed a short four-question survey to hand out to anyone using the service.

 

“The first two questions were related to staff,” said Letta Whitaker of the auditor/treasurer’s department. “The second two were about the overall experience.”

 

The survey was conducted over a three-week period from June 19 to July 10, the busiest time of the year for the DVS.

 

“We instructed our staff to hand out a survey at the end their transaction,” said Whitaker. “Each day, I emptied the survey box and recorded the scores and comments.”

 

The number of people who took the time to fill out the survey was unexpected. During the three-week period, 1,388 applications were processed and 1,084 surveys were returned.

 

And the response was positive, said Whitaker.

 

For the first question, “How knowledgeable and professional did our customer service representative seem to you?,” 91% gave a five on a scale of one to five.

 

The other questions: How clear was the information that our customer service representative provided to you?” - 91%;

 

“How likely is it that you would recommend our office to a friend or colleague?” - 89%;

 

Overall, how satisfied are you with the service you received at our office today.” - 92%.

 

Whitaker said less than one percent of the responses were a one or a two. And those surveyed were given the opportunity to leave their name and number if they wanted a callback from someone from the department about their experience. 

 

Whitaker said 138 people listed their name and number. She called back and reached about 25% of the people. She left messages for the others.

 

“The ones I spoke to were all positive,” she said.

 

The survey also had an area for suggestions and improvements. 

 

Of 1,084 surveys returned, there were 104 positive comments, 42 improvement comments and 17 suggestions.

 

The biggest comment (21) was adding staff to improve speed and shorten the lines.

 

Some other suggestions were: • Improve friendliness/ be more positive (7);

 

• Be open more hours (4);

 

• More signs in building directing public to license center (4);

 

• Better signage from the road (3);

 

• Free coffee/snacks (2);

 

• Background music (2).

 

Arnold said the surveys were color-coded so each staff person would know how they fared with the public.

 

“They were kind of apprehensive. They really didn’t know what results would be coming back,” she said. “So we made sure we shared it with them. We tried to keep it positive all around.”

 

Arnold said there weren’t many negative comments. She wasn’t surprised that some wanted quicker service. 

 

“We always get a few people who are not very happy or they wait until the last minute,” she said. “They come in at 4:30 and expect to get their application out and their license expires the next day.”

 

Commissioner Bruce Anderson said he understood how some people might think the application can be done in a few minutes.

 

“They’re not really complaining,” he said. “It’s just that they assume it’s going to be a five-minute process, and it’s not.”