Service BC Centre Nanaimo

I extend my sincere appreciation to the dedicated staff members at Service BC - Nanaimo, particularly Keeran and another team member whose name, regrettably, eludes me but the appearance is just like Keeran's. The assistance provided by these two individuals during our BC ID application process deserves commendation.

Having spent the last 27 years of my career in customer service, I am compelled to express my gratitude through this letter for the exemplary service rendered by Keeran and the unnamed team member. Their commitment to ensuring a seamless and informative experience was truly commendable.

Keeran, in particular, went above and beyond by extending a warm welcome and imparting valuable insights into the procedural aspects. Notably, their guidance extended beyond the immediate task at hand, offering valuable advice for navigating future pathways in our new home, Canada.

The humility and hospitality demonstrated by both Keeran and the unidentified team member, consistently accompanied by a warm smile, exemplify a standard of service that is deserving of high praise. It is heartening to witness such dedication to customer satisfaction.

I would like to express my gratitude not only to Keeran and the unnamed team member but also to the entire Service BC - Nanaimo branch. Your collective efforts contribute significantly to fostering a positive experience for the community you serve.

I wish the entire team continued success in all your endeavors.
Eudeesha, Thusitha, Yometh, and Ometh.

Leaving this establishment today, I feel compelled to record my experience. I am from another country and am trying to become a resident of British Columbia. In order to get my driving license, I did my research and went to Service BC. It was exciting for me because Nanaimo is the city where I want to settle down. It is supposed to be a welcoming and helpful place for newcomers and immigrants like me who are seeking assistance with the basic tasks for settling here.

It took me four visits to this location every day just to get my license. Each time I come, there is a different requirement. My coming back and forth is becoming increasingly time-consuming and costly, rather than them actually looking at my papers and informing me of the documents required in the beginning. I'm told to come back tomorrow every time I come.

Tax paying immigrants arrive here expecting a nice welcome and assistance navigating a very complicated process. Even though it can be frustrating for the public workers, aren't they trained to provide information and customer service in order to assist immigrants? Every time I came, I was sent away. The way I was treated made me feel like I was begging for a driving license. It's humiliating and dehumanizing. Although I don't want to revisit this place ever again, I had to in order to get my license. I have heard so many stories about Canada and its beauty and Canadians are known to be friendly and welcoming. After this I regret moving here. It turned out to be a horrendously regretful experience for me. It's very very frustrating.

Fortunately there’s a girl who helped me in my 4th visit she went above and beyond to try to understand the situation where I was in. To be clear, it was a rude male worker who kept sending my away the first few days. I hope he’s out soon. The job doesn’t suit him at all and he is very unreasonable with his judgment. In fact, it’s like speaking to a robot. Perhaps AI is more logical than him.

I am new to the province and I did my research before I left Ontario to come here. I knew what I needed to do in order to get my license and health card and to make sure my car was registered and insured here. I knew that it would be a process. But I accepted that. I had my car repaired so that it would pass an out-of-province inspection, I had all of my identification as outlined on the ICBC website and brought my passport and my drivers license.

I stood in line and once I got to the Customer Service Representative, I lightheartedly explained that I was "trying to become a BC person". Just trying to keep things light. The guy helping me didn't crack a smile. He asked me if I'd brought any ID, and I presented both of my pieces. He said that my passport wasn't good enough because it is a "travel document" and it has one less middle name than what is on my license. Even though my face is CLEARLY me in both pictures AND I brought 2 forms of acceptable ID as stated on the ICBC website. He told me I had to come back with my birth certificate. Keep in mind that I'm on my one hour lunch break and running out of days because of the long weekend and my out-of-province inspection was only good for 14 days, 7 of which had passed by then.

So I raced home and grabbed my birth certificate and went back and stood in line again. By this point, I was 20 minutes away from being late for my return to work. When I got back to the front of a line, I had another agent. She was at least pleasant with me. She took care of the health care part of things first. And then we got to the registration and insurance on my vehicle as well as changing my license over. I didn't have the correct proof of my license, which is 100% my fault. But it was the way I was spoken to when the agent helping me brought her manager over that sent me over the edge. The manager spoke to me like I was doing something wrong by even being there. All she did was tell me what they COULDN'T do for me. I burst into tears. I couldn't help it. I hated the way I was being told that they couldn't help me do anything related to my license, registration or insurance because my drivers license didn't have enough history on it and I didn't have the correct document needed to prove my years of driving experience. I explained that I didn't care. I would pay the higher amount for my insurance, I just didn't want to have my out-of-province inspection to expire so I needed to get the car registered and insured. I was just told "no.nothing we can do for you". OH.but what they COULD do.was take my picture for my health card. And I am visibly CRYING in this picture. I left this place having a full blown anxiety attack. It was probably the worst service I've ever had with any government entity.

I got back to work an hour late. I spent TWO hours being turned away at this location. I decided that I would call an Autoplan Broker to ask if I could at LEAST get my car registered and insured before the inspection lapsed and I'd have to pay to have another one done. I asked if I could do this while having my Ontario drivers' license. I was told that I could. So I went there after work. THE SAME DAY as my visit to ICBC. I was in and out of there with my car registered, insured and plated in half an hour without any hassle and I received probably the BEST customer service I've ever received.

Now WHY would ICBC on Selby NOT allow me to do exactly what I did at an Autoplan Broker that same day with ALL of the same information I brought with me? Why do I get the feeling that I'm doing something wrong by just trying to get everything switched to BC from ON? Why are you so focused on how quickly you can say no or decline something without paying attention to the details that a client is providing? I tried to go back today on my lunch to just get the license part done with. Stood in line for 25 minutes. Did not move. I won't go back to this location. Brutal.

The customer service reps that I dealt with were patient and clear and informative on why I was there and help me with each step on what I needed to fill out on the forms I brought them!

Thank You Selby st. Nanaimo, BC Access Centre

Easy to find, clean, line moved fast, had a rep come to the line to check our needs. The Service rep was quick, friendly and efficient. Fast and great experience.

Suggestion: My picture looked extremely dark. The light in there was hardly sufficient for people with darker skin. I would highly look into that. I am now stuck w. An ID where you can hardly see my face. Atleast have options to lighten it in system.

Very nice staff. Went in on a busy Monday but they still got through the line up efficiently!

It was very quick. All over experience was excellent but I'm sad I can't apply for my sin number at this location.

Changed my Korean driver's license into a BC one. What great service! Fast, efficient and knowledgeable.

I completed a name change here but made an error. I had to come back 30 minutes later to make an additional change and went to the same till. I was concerned that they would not be able to reverse the change or it would be a big hassle but I was in and out in less than 10 minutes with the correction.

UPDATE:
An agent from the office has reached out and issued an apology, and worked with us to find some solutions to the issues we were seeking help with. This outreach and acknowledgement of the encounter has gone a long way to making us feel more safe and welcome in seeking assistance with Service BC, and we are hopeful that our experience will be better next time. I will update after the next interaction.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
The first employee we spoke with was incredibly condescending and patronizing throughout our encounter. I understand that it can be frustrating for service workers, especially when dealing with immigrants to Canada (as we don't always understand the processes here). However, there's no reason to take out that frustration with a tax-paying, law-abiding resident, who is just trying to navigate a complicated system.

The employee had no empathy with the fact that we were struggling to understand the processes, and the way she spoke to us was frankly dehumanizing. She would frequently interrupt us when we were trying to explain (resulting in her misunderstanding what we were trying to say) causing us to need to start over to explain it. My wife had to step out and is now afraid of returning, as she doesn't feel safe in an environment where a worker can act that way around patrons.

I stuck around and asked calmly but firmly if I could speak with a member of the management team. She was very resistant to facilitate that, but eventually relented, and I was able to speak with an interim supervisor. The supervisor was willing to explain the regulation more clearly, and provide us a path moving forward, but a lot of the damage is still done.

To be clear, we aren't asking you to change the rules, or make exceptions for us. We are just asking for you to help with explaining the processes for unusual cases. Human experiences don't always line up with the intention of the regulation, but people with unusual situations still need to be helped, not interrupted, spoken down to, and shoved off to be someone else's problem.

It's not totally clear if it was a matter of race, immigration status, or if this first employee was just a calloused, rude, individual, but it was incredibly disheartening to be treated so poorly in a country we've come to love so much for it's warmth and welcoming atmosphere.

We shouldn't have to ask to speak with leadership in order to be spoken to like human beings.

Went to renew my ID lady threw out my old id because it was expired leaving me with nothing I daclearing bankruptcy and I'm trying to open up a new bank I can't even do this I'm basically screwed I can't even go to the food bank because I have no id