Patience was needed in Quebec City on Monday, despite the launch of new online services that forced SAAQ customers to take time off work to renew their driver’s licenses in person.
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“Obviously, everyone was on the run-in this morning [lundi]. The staff try to help us as much as possible. I have an appointment tomorrow. We tried to do it online, but it didn’t work,” said Lise Bouchard, who had to renew her driver’s license and take a new photo when met at the exit of the SAAQ branch on Boulevard Lebourgneuf in Quebec.
Photo by Diane Tremblay
At the SAAQ branch on Boulevard LeBorgneuf in Quebec City, a short queue formed outside Monday morning, around 10 a.m., on the first day of the technology transition initiated by the government agency.
Another customer, in a particular file, estimates that he waited about fifteen minutes in the queue before entering.
However, once in the waiting room, with his number in hand, he noticed that all the counters were open and staffed enough to allow for a quick turnover.
A period of transition
With the transition period due to technological changes, clients are experiencing delays of days in processing their file. During this period, SAAQ was forced to replace more than 10 billion pieces of data and restricted access to certain services. This big “movement” took place from January 26th to February 19th.
“My deadline to renew my license is today. I didn’t take a chance. I came in person. I took this morning off and I’m working this afternoon. It should be fixed there. I work on the road. If I don’t have a permit, it won’t go right,” said client Elsie Kirauk.
She wanted to try the SAAQclic service while she was waiting in line, but when she saw the steps she had to take, she thought the process was too complicated and put her phone in her pocket.
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Audrey Beaudoin-Arcand also experienced a brief moment of frustration after unnecessarily going to the LeBorgneuf branch at 8:30 a.m., only to be told the offices didn’t open until 9:30 a.m. The start time mentioned on Google does not match the one indicated on the official SAAQ website.
“There is very little availability, we have to come and take time to renew driving license with photo. We were very angry. We couldn’t get an appointment at SAAQclic,” she said.
expansion
As far as SAAQ is concerned, despite the handling of some unexpected events, we have formed a positive assessment of this first day.
“We faced difficulties in implementing the SAAQclic online platform. We are having some sync issues. We had to delay the deployment of the platform a bit, but as of 9:30 this morning, users can access their file and transact online,” explained Gino Desrosiers, spokesperson.
According to him, service centers may experience long delays as employees need to learn new work tools.
“When employees get used to new tools, there are productivity gains. Customer service is much faster,” he added.
On Monday morning, Mr. Desrosiers said.
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