Poor service highlights Red Oak tax office

ELLIS COUNTY – Next time you visit the Ellis County Tax Office, you might want to make sure you doublecheck what you are leaving with so you don’t have to make another trip. 

Tax office employees are supposed to work for Ellis County residents; however, this week customer service did not work like that.

On a trip to the tax office in Red Oak to purchase a renewal vehicle registration sticker for my vehicle, I was given a sticker for July 2023, which I already have on my vehicle – and it expires in a few days. 

I had purchased a sticker for July 2024.

I didn’t check the employees work, but when I got home to replace the sticker I noticed the error.

I called the Red Oak Tax Office to tell them of the error and to inquire if they would mail me the new sticker since after all, residents often must take off work if they need to visit the tax office during work hours. Most do not have the luxury of making a second trip the following day due to a tax office error.

The Red Oak Tax Office closes at 4:30 p.m. When I called around 4:25 p.m. I was put on hold, and then at roughly 4:29 p.m. the person who answered the phone came back on the line to tell me she was transferring me to the individual who made the mistake and gave me the wrong vehicle registration sticker. 

The phone was transferred, but since it was 4:30 p.m. the person I was transferred to did not pick up the phone.

Again, poor customer service since I had clearly called before closing time and it was obvious, I was being transferred since I had been put on hold by the person who answered the phone.

Ellis County Tax Assessor-Collector Richard Rozier did return my phone call, and he is looking into the error because it appears the printer should have printed out a July 2024 vehicle registration and not the July 2023 registration. 

Rozier is also big on customer service and always takes these situations very seriously.

Unfortunately, his hands and the Ellis County Tax Office’s are tied for another 48 hours because there is an automatic 48-hour hold by the State of Texas before the mistake can be looked into as to why the error occurred.   

Now I must take another day to go back to the tax office to correct the mistake later in the week.