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Question: I recently took my 95-year-old mother to get her state ID several days before her current one was due to expire. I made an appointment because I didn’t want to subject her to the hours-long wait I had heard about. The earliest appointment was six weeks away. I booked the appointment but checked back frequently for earlier ones and was able to get one. I took her to the better appointment and received prompt service and was done in a hour. I attempted to cancel the previous appointment, but the system could not find it. So, before the city thinks of charging for no-shows, perhaps it should check its system reliability. (Fortunately, the original appointment was on one of the Hurricane Lane down days, so I didn’t deny anyone an appointment time.)
Q: Is it even possible to cancel an appointment for your driver’s license online? I tried and I couldn’t. I got the message “appointment not found.” Since the city is complaining about no-shows, it must be possible to cancel, but it didn’t work for me.
Answer: Yes, it is possible to cancel an appointment by several methods. If you tried online and saw “appointment not found,” you may have mistakenly entered your phone number, rather than the appointment’s unique confirmation code as required. Or you may have encountered an unexplained technical glitch.
You are two of many Kokua Line readers who raised this issue after the city said it might start requiring a $6 deposit to make driver’s license and state ID renewal appointments (808ne.ws/noshows) to discourage people from making multiple reservations and reduce the number of no-shows.
Sheri Kajiwara, director of the city’s Department of Customer Services, explains three ways to cancel an appointment. These are distinct methods, not steps in a single process.
>> When you make an appointment using a text-capable mobile device, you should receive a text confirming the appointment and containing a unique confirmation code. Save that text. At the bottom there is a one-step option to click and cancel the appointment.
>> Go to license.honolulu.gov. Click on the “appointments” tab, then click on “view or cancel my ticket.” Input your last name and the unique confirmation code for the appointment you wish to cancel. Do not enter your phone number; your appointment will not be found. If you made more than one appointment, be sure you enter the confirmation code for the one you wish to cancel.
>> While you are at the driver’s licensing center or satellite city hall to get your license or ID, let the clerk know that you have a future appointment that you no longer need. The clerk will cancel it for you. This would apply whether you decided to walk in ahead of your appointment date or made multiple reservations and kept the earliest appointment.
As of this week the city will be sending out a reminder via text the day before a scheduled appointment; the reminder will include a cancellation option, Kajiwara said. Texts will go to those who made their appointments using a text-capable device.
In addition, for people who did not use a text-capable device, the city intends to set up a phone line allowing them to contact the city and cancel an unneeded appointment by leaving a voice mail with the relevant information. This line is in the process of being set up, Kajiwara said. We’ll publish details when it is operational.
Many thousands of people each month need to renew their driver’s licenses or state IDs on Oahu. Making a single appointment and keeping it should help the system run more smoothly, by reducing the amount of time clerks waste waiting for folks who aren’t going to show up.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
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