Sucks to lose important documents like that and then have no recourse for them fixing the problem. I avoid the DMV like the plague.
But it just so happens I had the day off today. Decided to waste some of it at the DMV to finally get my REAL ID. Last time I went was in 2007 I believe. Did the online setup last night where I told them all about me and my current ID and what documents I will bring with me to show I am really who I say I am. Get to the DMV and after being screened for the C19 (which was handled well enough) I wait a short time until the lady working asks what I was there for. I say to get my REAL ID and she says they aren't processing them until January unless current ID expires before the end of 2020. I said, OK, but I also need to update the addresses on my vehicles since I moved recently. She says I have to do it online. I tell her I have tried a couple times but the site immediately tells me I have to do it in person. I said it told me to file a DMV 14. She says they don't use them anymore and she can't give me one. I said well how am I going to get my registration renewal notices when my mail isn't being forwarded and I can't update my address. She says do it online. I tell her if she doesn't believe what I am telling her about it not allowing me to update my address online she can watch me login to my account on my phone and I can show her that it won't let me change address online. She just gives me the stink eye.
So I tell her I can't wait till January to change addresses for my vehicles (probably not true as my next reg. renewal will probably be sent in March) so how else can I effect an address change. She says the only way other than online is to pretend I lost my plates or tags and to fill out a DMV 156 getting new stuff issued and updating the address in the process (and I assume paying more fees). I am not happy at this point but I put up with this nonsense and she goes to get me the forms. When she comes back I step away a bit to read the form. Of course at the very top of that form I read that it says in bold, If your address has changed, submit the appropriate Change of Address form. I look up at her and say something like isn't that the DMV 14?
So at this point I am talking to her in a way that got the attention of the guy who checked me in. He pulls me aside, says the DMV did the same thing to him, he works there and can't believe how broken the agency is, and said he would go get me a DMV 14 and I could fill it out then he would put it in the right spot for me, but don't tell her about it. He said they have been destroying the form inside and he knew where there were a few sitting. Sure enough 30 seconds later he comes out with one. So I went back to my car and filled it out then wandered back to the front and gave it to the guy. I didn't catch his name but I should have so I could give him a shout out on Yelp or Google or something. It did feel a bit like Good Cop Bad Cop or like I was on a hidden camera and it was all a joke.
I do wonder how I could answer questions for 15 minutes online to include that my license isn't near expiration (exp is 2022) and that I just want to get my REAL ID like the state has been asking us to do for years now, and it couldn't mention to me that they aren't currently being processed for anyone who isn't expiring in December 2020.
I asked the woman will I need to go through the online application again in January and she said no it is good for a year. I feel like that will come back to bite me though. I assume by January they will have decided not to process REAL ID for anyone who isn't expiring in January 2021. I checked the DMV website today and still don't see anything about being able to get a REAL ID only if my ID expires this month, so I am not even sure she wasn't just lying to me.
CA DMV is the most horrendously run bureaucracy I have ever interacted with and I deal with lots of them all the time. Other DMVs in other states get a bad rap because they are in the same line of work. I'm sure some of them suck but I can't imagine anything worse than what we have here, especially considering the fees we pay. My only other real experience was with the NM MVD and there is simply no comparison.
