Side hustlers sell Secretary of State appointments on Facebook Marketplace
FOX 2 - The pain of waiting in line at Michigan's Secretary of State's Office is familiar to most drivers as they wait for new tags or a plate. But some enterprising residents are filling a need by holding spots for you.
Head to Facebook Marketplace and type in Secretary of State Appointments and you'll find dozens - if not hundreds - of offerings. Instead of searching for an appointment at the state's office, you pay the other user a fee of $20 or $25, and ta-da, you have your appointment.
But is it actually that easy? Secretary of State spokesperson Tracy Wimmer said you shouldn't do this because you could lose your spot AND the money.
"We are aware of it and you should not buy one because when we find out that happens we cancel the appointment," Wimmer said. "Please don’t spend your money in that way."
In some cases, the same handful of people are hoarding appointments and hoping to cash in. Others are doing it a bit more legitimately, including one woman who told FOX 2 she charges to make an appointment and logs in every day at 8 a.m. and noon, when the SOS releases 15,000 appointments each day.
Wimmer said there's a better solution.
"If people need help then they should use our free service, dial 1-888-SOS-MICH mich and press 2, you will be able to speak to someone. We are adding call center capacity to make sure that people are connected in a timely matter to a human - and that’s free of charge," she said.
You can still set an appointment online but Wimmer says they're adding 35,000 more appointments each month and increasing staffing at call centers.
"It's usually taking two or three tries before people are getting a next day appointment," Wimmer said.
The days of grabbing a tab and waiting for hours are over. Now you just have to nab an appointment online.
"The data is showing once people get an appointment they are largely happy with the appointment system because they are in and out in 20 minutes from a branch office," Wimmer said.