What happened?!?
Service Ontario queues are insane now
- Thread starter Baggsy
- Start date
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
That was generally my experience, must have hit the one in a million shot this year. Made an appointment for D.L. and health card renewal(photos needed) here in Lindsay. Arrived about 25 mins. early and went straight in, all done, pay the man and back in the car before my actual appointment time. As always YMMV. I`ve seldom used this location as it was crazy busy and drove 20 mins. to Fenelon Falls CTC kiosk ....it was always walk in walk out, usually no one around.
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
If you`re in the GTA,....look outside of it. In the past I`ve also found don`t do a walk in at busy/peak hours. My appointment was for Tues @ 1:45, there was maybe 6 people there, none had booked an appointment looking at the board, I talked to a couple of them for 2 minutes before I was called.
@Baggsy was it an agency SO or a government run one? I don't know if there is an easy way to tell. Government locations are probably bilingual and normally staffed by entitled hags that dgaf about you or anybody else. They are making bank and invincible. Agency stores are often dingy with staff that look they have been beaten down as they make just over minimum wage but they are normally much friendlier. I go to an agency location as I know the owner. The lineup at that one is normally not bad. I went to a location in vaughan once years ago and apparently their line was over an hour almost all the time.
EDIT:
On a related note, wtf is this? Our tax dollars at work. A mobile SO to serve a reserve in southern ontario. Bilingual staff as I'm sure people on the reserve need a french speaking person to be able to communicate. :/
EDIT:
On a related note, wtf is this? Our tax dollars at work. A mobile SO to serve a reserve in southern ontario. Bilingual staff as I'm sure people on the reserve need a french speaking person to be able to communicate. :/
I went to Stittsville near opening, which is the wrong time.
The issue with my earlier run might have been getting the X removed from my license at the same time. An hour after opening would have been a better time to show. Walkley, which is the drivetest centre is a nightmare unless you have an appointment, and sometimes when you do. One of my sons fell through the cracks for his driving test. Fortunately, we noticed and went to the info desk and got him squeezed back in. It’s a rough job in some ways and I’m grateful that there are people willing to step up.
The issue with my earlier run might have been getting the X removed from my license at the same time. An hour after opening would have been a better time to show. Walkley, which is the drivetest centre is a nightmare unless you have an appointment, and sometimes when you do. One of my sons fell through the cracks for his driving test. Fortunately, we noticed and went to the info desk and got him squeezed back in. It’s a rough job in some ways and I’m grateful that there are people willing to step up.
Add in end of the month as many people believe their license expires at the end of the month instead of on their birthday.
Priller
Well-known member
Most infuriating experience I had was at the private one on Centennial in Hamilton about a year ago. The number machine was broken (naturally), so they had a plastic bin with numbers written on paper for you to take. Line was hours long, people out the door, but I'd taken the afternoon off work so I stuck it out.
What was happening was people were giving up on waiting, so they'd put their (lower) number back in the basket. This meant people coming in later would pick up that lower number and get served ahead of people who'd come much earlier. Once people figured that out, it led to a feeding-frenzy of people racing to grab a lower number from the basket every time someone left.
What struck me was the absolute contempt that the staff had for the punters in line. They seemed to enjoy the rising fury as people got extra cranky that they'd been crammed in for three hours with little discernible system. They closed at 5, and I got seen at 4:55. Anyone behind me who'd been waiting for hours was told to leave at 5. It was Kafkaesque.
Ever since, I'll drive to the one in Smithville. It's over an hour round trip, and will occasionally have a line, but it's never that bad and I at least know I'll avoid jail for the attempted murder of a staff member or queue jumper...
What was happening was people were giving up on waiting, so they'd put their (lower) number back in the basket. This meant people coming in later would pick up that lower number and get served ahead of people who'd come much earlier. Once people figured that out, it led to a feeding-frenzy of people racing to grab a lower number from the basket every time someone left.
What struck me was the absolute contempt that the staff had for the punters in line. They seemed to enjoy the rising fury as people got extra cranky that they'd been crammed in for three hours with little discernible system. They closed at 5, and I got seen at 4:55. Anyone behind me who'd been waiting for hours was told to leave at 5. It was Kafkaesque.
Ever since, I'll drive to the one in Smithville. It's over an hour round trip, and will occasionally have a line, but it's never that bad and I at least know I'll avoid jail for the attempted murder of a staff member or queue jumper...
That number machine has been out of service for years.
I go to the little shop in Grimsby instead.
I was 3rd in line last time.
The one in the Fortino's plaza on Dundurn is my go to. Always has 3+ of 6 wickets open and the line, if there is one, moves quickly.
Mikedezo44
Well-known member
I waited 2.5 hours at upper james in Hamilton 2 weeks ago to change the weight rating on truck. only to get to the desk where she told me I needed a copy of a business license to change anything on ownership now due to fraud...I frantically searched through my email to find one from 2016 only for her to tell me it expired 2021 (never received an email asking for renewal that I know of) (also truck was registered in business name, so what if someone else used my business name in the last 5 years while it was expired?? hmmm)
There was almost NO chance I was wasting my trip there/waiting in line again, I stepped back from the counter, called the number she gave me at 5pm now and I'm worried the business hours will be finished... that directed me to a website and I made a new one in about 15 minutes...not sure how that eliminates fraud when you can make a new one and put down whatever you want on it and she was happy with my new pdf. (she was actually helpful and let me text it to her so she could print it) man what a stressful 3+ hours.
There was a new one on Upper Ottawa in Hamilton for about 4-5 years that was a little quieter but they shut down over a year ago, not sure why.
My parents in Simcoe say they are in and out in 20 minutes but that's an hour drive for me...the one time I did go before I visited them I was unlucky and it took about 40 min wait. Busy day I guess. Caledonia or other smaller places are probably a bit better too.
There was almost NO chance I was wasting my trip there/waiting in line again, I stepped back from the counter, called the number she gave me at 5pm now and I'm worried the business hours will be finished... that directed me to a website and I made a new one in about 15 minutes...not sure how that eliminates fraud when you can make a new one and put down whatever you want on it and she was happy with my new pdf. (she was actually helpful and let me text it to her so she could print it) man what a stressful 3+ hours.
There was a new one on Upper Ottawa in Hamilton for about 4-5 years that was a little quieter but they shut down over a year ago, not sure why.
My parents in Simcoe say they are in and out in 20 minutes but that's an hour drive for me...the one time I did go before I visited them I was unlucky and it took about 40 min wait. Busy day I guess. Caledonia or other smaller places are probably a bit better too.
AllistonGT
Well-known member
I'm outside of it. Don't come here.
Noticed I had a document missing last week so hopped in the car, went to service Ontario expecting to be there forever and was in and out in 5 minutes with my new document. I was in shock actually. Usually, like outlined above, the staff delight in the angst and anguish of the customer but they were positively pleasant.
I’m at the one in Georgetown often and while busy it always seems to move quickly.
