Yeah, so far, from what I can tell, the $200ish I spent for the expediting service was probably a waste of money from an actual time standpoint. Not sure what the exact process would have been without it. When I went to do check into doing it, all I was hearing/reading is A) what a beating the process is, and B) how long everything was taking. So, in a nutshell, I used them mostly just to eliminate some of the beating factor and to be sure I'd dotted every i and crossed every t, which they did a pretty good job of helping ensure.
I'd been hearing that getting an appointment at the local county courthouse/government agency/whatever was a nightmare...can never get through to make the appointment, once you do get someone on the phone, appointments are weeks out, etc jut for the application. Had also heard that you can just go down to the courthouse (or whatever) and wait in line if you don't have an appointment, but that you have to get there at like 6:00AM to stand in line outside before they open and put your name in, which leads to a full day of waiting at said government building, to then hopefully get you in sometime late afternoon to start the application process. Fuck that.
I was feeling panicked and that money was probably for peace of mind if nothing else. With so many unknowns surrounding it all due to covid and what looked to be a constantly moving goalpost, I just wanted to be sure I'd covered my ass as much as possible. And the process was pretty easy, so no regerts I guess.