Los Angeles County Assessor

This rating is for the general 888 number on the annual tax bill.
I waited for 2 hours to speak with someone. I asked my question and the woman gave me attitude like I was stupid while starting to answer. She finished saying one sentence and then hung up on me. I called back, waited 15 minutes, gave up, and came her to write a review.
Called the 213 number (below). It was answered within seconds of choosing a number, and the lady was amazing. She helped me 100%. This incredibly professional woman should train the clowns at the 888 number.

I feel obliged to give a little upgrade, even though nothing is different about that first bad phone experience.
I called the local number this time for the assessor and was fairly quickly connected with a real person! (Was it because I called the local number or the difference between the times of the calls, the first one being on Fri at 4pm and this one Tuesday morning?).
Although she was very confused about my situation at first and said my number wasn’t good, she was able to eventually figure out that my number was okay and that my property tax assessment was just late due to a supplemental increase in taxes due to the increase in property value. So as soon as the amounts were posted on the assessor’s site, my number worked. (It would be nice if they would clearly indicate on the website that if your number does’t work it might be because your bill has not been posted yet.)
Anyway, she explained what I own and when, and that my bill will be arrive late, and I will be given a payment extension. I was just gleeful that I didn’t have to wait on hold this time!
Now, I’d even give them another star, if they would fix their automated system. To keep someone on hold 30 min past closing hours w/​o letting them know if anyone is still answering phones is just cruel.
Tip: Try the local number before the 8-​hundred-​something number.

if i could give a negative rating, i would. like any other city/​county government department, it is filled with rude, unhelpful, inconsiderate people. if you are lucky enough to even reach a human being on the other end, you’ll be even luckier if they’ll even be able to help you with your question. god help you if you get transferred, you’ll most likely get disconnected (in other words, hung up on). i’ve always wondered, if so many people are not capable of helping you with an issue, then what the hell do they do all day?! there is one lady in particular, debbie, who is the absolute worst of the worst. i don’t know exactly which section she’s in, as i was transferred all over the place over the course of an hour. talk about rude! after trying to explain my problem to her MULTIPLE times (it was clear she had no interest in taking my issue seriously), i finally asked her if she could do anything to help, and she said, «apparently not» and hung up on me! sadly, using Unilocal to rate a government entity is like using Unilocal to rate the quality of air in your city… you can gripe all you want, but in the end, you have no choice but to deal with it. i’d normally say stay far far away from this ship of fools, but if you live in la county and you pay taxes, expect nothing but pain.

Just had to contact the LA County Assessor’s Office about changing my address for property taxes. Ay yai yai! I went online and got the phone number. Waited 15 minutes, while the recorded message kept repeating itself, and then got a message that the voice mailbox was full and it hung up.
Called again, pressed a different option button and after listening to very loud classical music with commentary (!) finally got a robotic sounding lady who didn’t want any conversation, just give me the facts, ma’am. I wanted to change my address. She couldn’t do that. She gave me a number to call that bypasses the regular recorded options. Here’s that number, if you are calling about ownership issues: 213.974.3441 At least she gave me my property tax i.d. number (couldn’t find the bill ’cause I just moved and everything’s packed), which was helpful.
Another lady answered quite promptly… but didn’t speak very good English. I had to keep repeating myself very slowly. Finally she told me she couldn’t change my address either. She would send me a form to change it.
AAAArrrrgh! Anyone who is in favor of larger government just remember this is the kind of service you get with government. Private sector wins every time.
PS: The Ownership Division is Room 205. The Public Services Division is Room 225. Is there like one little room with a person sitting at a desk with one phone? The way government does things drives me nuts.