Chicago West Illinois Secretary of State Facility — Attraction in West Chicago Township

Went in to take a driving test. Mind you I've been driving since 1991. I let my license expire around 2007 since I no longer had a car and lived downtown so never needed a car. Lately I've decided I want to get my license again, so I went to this DMV since it was closest to my friend who let me use his car for the road test.

Paperwork went fine, no problems. Staff I personally encountered were well mannered and efficient. Then I got to the road test staff, and they were noticeably different right away. Louder, more aggressive, impatient, etc.

The guy I got for the test seemed reasonable at first, but I tested the waters early on by saying "hey how's it going?" as he sat in the car. He barely said anything in reply, just kind of mumbled and then just said "OK drive down to the stop sign and make a right". For the majority of the the test, he said nothing except to give me an instruction. He didn't give them too late, I understood his instructions, but he gave no commentary AT ALL as I was doing the test until I made a mistake and stopped in front of an alley on a very narrow off street (it was some kind of factory or industrial park area so it was not clear where to stop when he said to pull to the side of the road). At any rate, I accepted this as a mistake on my part and that was OK, but he literally got rude out of nowhere and said "why would you do that? On a driving test? Are you serious? Why would you do that? Why?" His tone of voice was appropriate if I had rammed a police car or jumped out of a moving car. Seriously, he sounded pissed. I didn't argue, but calmly explained that given the nature of where we were, I didn't see a better option at that moment but I will keep that in mind for the future. I assumed at that point that I failed the exam, but he continued to ask me to drive and asked questions about driving rules.

We get back to the facility and he said "OK, you failed. Follow me and I'll complete your paperwork". I expected some feedback about what I did wrong but since he offered none I assumed that I failed only because of stopping in front of an alley, which I was OK with if that was the case.

When he gave the sheet to the person who calculated the score, she said "wow, you must have ran nearly every stop sign and ignored his warnings!" So I asked her why she said that and she said based upon my score. She said I received MAXIMUM penalties for my stops. I said "that's not true. I didn't run any stops at all. He told you that I ran every stop?" She said "well based on your score you must have not stopped" I then asked to speak to that manager. He basically said that the man I was with is trained and that he (the manager) doesn't know what happened but I could come back to try the test again tomorrow. I then said to let me see the score card, and he said "NO, you can't take that out of here". I replied that I wasn't going to take it anywhere, but I wanted to see what it said. He then got very defensive and refused to let me look at it. Mind you there was NO line. I was the only person there who wasn't a worker. Then they all ganged up on me and kept telling me that I wasn't letting them speak. But they refused to give me any specific feedback on what I did wrong, and they apparently didn't even know that I had stopped in front of an alley. They kept talking about stop signs and a 3 point turn I did.

Finally got the guy who was in the car with me and he first said I wasn't paying attention when I was driving, but then said that stopping in front of an alley is an automatic fail. However, when I pretended to find that answer acceptable and said "so I just did that wrong, but otherwise I was OK?" he replied "yes, I think you would have passed if you hadn't stopped in front of the alley. But you should stop before the stop signs (whereas I was putting the front bumper on the line in front of the stop sign)"

No feedback, story changes, can even see my score...

For the most part my visit was fine but one employee in particular was an absolute disaster. I came on 9/24 for my road test to get my license and the instructor I had, Mark, an elderly white man who wears a face mask, was immediately weird and off putting. One of the first things he said upon entering my car was “you look anxious” to which I replied “maybe, but I think that’s just how I always look” and then he said “maybe it’s just your attractiveness”. Immediately no. It was my first time so I wasn’t aware that I could request a new instructor but had I been aware I would’ve immediately asked for a new one. Throughout the road test he spoke very condescendingly and obnoxiously sighed after every few minutes. My driving was absolutely fine and I’ve never been known to drive fast nor even run a yellow light. As we approached the end of the road test, we were at Lexington and Laramie. The light was red and I was told to make a right turn onto Lexington. During the test, every direction he gave me I repeated back to him to make sure we were on the same page and he agreed that I should make my right turn. I looked for any signs that said “no right turn on red” and there were none. I looked for any cars coming and there were none so I proceeded with my right turn. He then sighed loudly and sat his clipboard onto the dashboard of my car and shook his head and said nothing up until we got back to the dmv and I parked the vehicle. He handed me the paper back saying that I failed because I “ran a red light at Lexington and Laramie.” When that’s simply not true. My biggest complaint is the fact that there is no third party in the car with you, there should be an observer, even if it’s another employee. When problems arise during the test, the duty to report them falls on people like me. There is no one to back you up, it’s only your word vs. the employee. I say I made a legal turn on a red light, he says I completely ran it, that’s even what it says on my receipt given to me upon failing. I do not care that this man has been working there for 20 years, I don’t care if it was 50. If you’re not good at your job, if you come in with a bias towards people, and if you can’t even speak to people kindly, you should not be in that job position. A friend of a friend had an experience with the same man before too, apparently this man had acted racist towards someone else I know, and this isn’t even the first report made on him. All I know is that this isn’t just an isolated incident, he should be investigated and he shouldn’t be working as a road test instructor. I called and reported him, was offered an appointment for the following day at 7:30. I came and I passed my test. The...

The indifference and lack of coordination the employees had at this DMV was disappointing and frankly unacceptable and as a citizen I demand better. We show up at 10:20 am on a Saturday (they close at 2pm). The parking attendant asks what we are coming in for and we said license renewal he said thats fine please park and get in line. We get in line and wait for 20 minutes. Then two employees come to the end of the line which probably has about 400 people total in it and get to 8 people from the end of the line and say all you that have been waiting will not be guaranteed service. I want to repeat this because I had trouble wrapping my brain around this; the level of callousness was unbelievable. There were about 400 people in line and they cut off the last 8 people in line (2%) and basically said even though you've been waiting you cant get served today. I would of had absolutely no problem if someone had been at the end of the line and said sorry we are not taking anymore today, that would be frustrating but acceptable in my mind. I begged them to make an exception or ask their supervisor to and they said no you go ask yourself. then I asked if there were alternatives in the area and true to form they said sorry you're going to have to Google that one.

Not withstanding the people that made the cut would have to wait outside for the next 3.5 hours. I've heard but am not certain if this is true that DMV centers had been shut down for reasons relating to the pandemic leading to absolutely ridiculous lines at the few remaining facilities. I dont see how jamming everyone into a handful of stations is a better pandemic strategy than having more stations open and accessible.

I'm relieved to say it doesn't have to be this way. We immediately went to the Chicago North DMV 5401 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60630 and they were SO professional and helpful there. They were helping people in line make sure they had the proper documentation. They were friendly and truly cared about the people in line you could tell by their actions and attitudes. They did have to turn people away but they were ready at the end of the line and not a single person waited and was turned away like we were. I reached out to these line attendants and thanked them profusely saying they were providing a real service to the community and told them their counterparts at the facility under review could learn from their example.

If any management is reading this please put a system in place where people already waiting in line are not turned away. And customers reading this my best advice is pretty obvious but get here as early as possible and realistically expect 3.5 hours minimum, at least during...