[unclebilly]

Yup. I had this experience only worse with my father earlier this year. What a 5hit show and I ended up getting politicians involved to get it sorted and only then it was sorted after I cc’d the media on a follow up email 3 weeks later.

When my dad turned 80, his (revoked) BC drivers license and health care card expired. Apart from his passport, he had no valid government issued ID. With dementia, it was not a priority for him to get this sorted…

I took him to the local Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (equivalent to the DMV) office to get a new BC ID card since he could no longer get a drivers license. The plan was to then replace his health care card when the BCID card arrived in the mail. 2 weeks later, dad broke his hip and would up hospitalized for 4.5 months. In the mean time, and several months later, a letter arrived from ICBC stating that he needed to return to and ICBC office due to a data discrepancy… obviously this could not happen.

After many visits to ICBC offices and Service BC offices as dads POA and hours spent on the phone with ICBC we we able to determine that the ‘data discrepancy’ was that the clerk at the initial office used dad’s middle initial instead of his full middle name on the ID. Regardless, ICBC dug in their heels and said they couldn’t issue a new ID without him being present in one of their offices. One of the ICBC agents even suggested that since dad was hospitalized, he probably didn’t need ID anymore… what the F?

At this point, I sent an email to dad’s MLA, the minister responsible for ICBC, the new president of ICBC, and the head of ICBC’s fairness department. No reply for 3 weeks until I threatened to go to the media.

Within minutes, the office of dad’s MLA called and said they would raise this with the minister of ICBC.

The next day, I got a cryptic email from the head of ICBC’s fairness department stating that a new BCID card would be mailed out in the next 72 hours.