http://www.orlandosentinel.com/automagic/news/2000-01-06/NWSSBILL06010600.htm

It's no Y2K bug, but it's annoying

Kevin P. Connolly of The Sentinel Staff

Published in The Orlando Sentinel on January 06, 2000 .

Tina Hackett got the first hint that something was seriously wrong with the state's vehicle records in November.

That's when she received a title in the mail for a green 1997 Nissan being financed by a Tampa couple, mistakenly listing her address as the location for Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., the company financing the vehicle.

Since then, the stack of letters has steadily piled up to include notices of overdue parking fines from San Francisco, Tallahassee, Tampa and Orange County -- all for Nissans apparently either being leased or financed by the same company. But none are for vehicles she owns or leases.

The notices are for Nissan but have the address of her Orlando apartment.

"I'm getting certified mail every day. There is probably new stuff in my mailbox today," the frustrated 25-year-old marketing analyst for a Maitland insurance company said Wednesday.

Hackett's plight is the latest problem linked to the state's changeover to a new $30 million computer system operated by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The switchover, blamed for causing long lines and other problems at county tag offices this summer, is being linked to problems such as Hackett's.

Across the state, clerks unfamiliar with the new system have typed information into the wrong computer fields, resulting in huge batches of car-registration renewals incorrectly being sent to a single individual address, said Jack Pelham, the agency's chief of titles and registration.

In some cases, renewals for 300 to 400 vehicles were mistakenly sent to one person.

"I don't think she has gotten near as much as other people have gotten," he said.

The non-Y2K-related mistake happened most often when people were renewing their registrations, and a clerk mistakenly typed a resident's address into a computer field set aside for the addresses of finance or leasing companies, Pelham said.

The mistakes have changed files statewide.

After getting complaints, the state "locked out" those address fields in late December, altering the system to prevent clerks from continuing to make the same mistakes, Pelham said.

The mistakes made before the change, however, could continue to crop up.

"I'm sure there are others out there, but they may not surface until the renewal notices go out," Pelham said.

He said there have been "several other" such problems, but he didn't have an exact figure.

Worried that the overdue fines will hurt her credit and get her in trouble with police, Hackett called the Virginia dealership from which she leased her beige 1997 Nissan Maxima two years ago. It traced the glitch to Florida's computers.

Pelham said he expects to fix Hackett's problem in a couple of days, and she won't be held responsible for the overdue parking fines or other charges.

Officials said the notices were simply copies intended to go to Nissan, which has a financial interest in cars it leases and finances and is required to be notified about unpaid tickets.

Nonetheless, Hackett said the experience has been unnerving. "It's a little disturbing," she said. "I just want my name cleared."

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), January 06, 2000

Answers

Maybe we need a couple of new categories---

Annoying NOT Y2k problems
Not-Annoying NOT Y2k problems

Thanks, Homer!

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), January 06, 2000.

Done.

New category: Computer/IT Annoying? Or NOT Y2K Problems (New)

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 06, 2000.

This has already be mentioned in other threads, but I want to point it out again:

It may not be "directly" related to a Y2K bug. But one must ask the question, "Why did the DHSMV upgrade to the new $30,000,000 system?". If the answer to that question is "Because the old one wasn't Y2K compliant" then this snafu is INDEED a Y2K issue (if not a 'bug').

IF a system was upgraded in order for business to continue in the year 2000 and there are problems with it, then Y2K is INDIRECTLY responsible. Yes, I know that there are problems with even the best system installs, but how many errors are occuring because the installs were rushed and users were insufficiently trained?

It's not just the SOFTWARE folks, it's the SYSTEMS that make things go. That includes the human element of the system.

-- mark (anvilmark@yahoo.com), January 06, 2000.