Banff Registry — Local services in Banff

I've lived in Banff for 50 years, so safe to say I've dealt with this office since it's inception. Probably best to first clarify that this is not a Gov't office, it is a private registry service. While the office gained a reputation for being challenging over the years, the most recent owner seems to have worked to turn things around. A few things to keep in mind that might help with expectations: The driver examiners were not employed by the office. There was one male examiner who had a bad reputation for being excessively pedantic in order to fail candidates. Thankfully he is no longer a factor. I believe the Alberta Gov't changed the system for driving examiners after years and years of complaints about their system of contracting private driving examiners that got paid by the exam leading to abuse of the system. I think the independant licensing offices sometimes got tarred with the same brush. Long lines in a tourist town with numerous foreign workers are an inevitable consequence of a large transient population. Choose the time you attend to avoid peak busy times. If your needs are going to involve a wait, prepare for this by bringing your own reading material or media on your phone (if the latter have headphones), or eReader. The reading material on site consists of some well thumbed magazines and coffee table books that may not be of interest, and the TV on the wall features a live news stream which has CTV news at the time of writing. For most of the history of this office, the only currency of tender was cash, although this may have changed by now. Sometimes the owner can be seen in the backgorund helping out the two staff at the service counter. An arrangement where client inquiries can be emailed and answered in a timely manner (by someone even working from home), rather than trying to get through on the phone, may be of benefit to mitigating some of the client angst. Or what about a live webcam accessible via internet that would allow someone to check the waiting line length before they head down?

I recently attended this office for passport photos and although I had to deal with the line and wait for photos (a wait that was still less time than driving to some other location), I found the staff to be helpful, and their attitude respectful. I suspect this would seem to be consistent with reviews that probably reflect the majority of more recent experiences at...

Couldn't be more unwelcoming.

I don't usually write reviews for anything positive or negative but the good people of Banff need to be warned. The women who run this office are the rudest, most unwelcoming condescending cows to walk the earth.

I work in the service industry so I get it, sometimes you have bad days where your patience are thin and you just can't handle one more silly question. That being said I have been in to this office three times for three different reasons and I have never been so uncomfortable in my life. The women who work here are the kind of people who walk in to any establishment and say "i'm local" and expect a red carpet to be drawn out in front of them. The first time was to renew my licence and I had a few parking tickets to pay. The attitude I got from the woman helping me was similar to a 13 year old child who is trying to imitate the bully from her Favorited Disney channel TV show. Similar encounters happened the last two times as well, I could go on but I wont.

If you live in Banff, you should drive ANYWHERE else to get your stuff done, avoid this office at all costs. Its not worth the emotional battering.

If you work for this office and are reading this thinking, "Its just another crazy customer, this review isn't accurate, i'm the best front counter agent in the world" Your wrong, and you could do with either being fired or going through a serious...

Despite being both warned and overly prepared with all of my documents (as per reviewers advice) Jennifer still found ways to make me feel foolish for choosing her registry.

Whilst busy on a phone call, she looks at me and the 5 people clearly lined up behind me and barks “well who’s next” - as if I should have invited myself to the counter to be helped while she was busy. She asks what I need and I say a drivers license and she huffs at mine and says WHY?! And I retort back “well it’s clearly expired” adding a level of spice I would only initiate in retaliation. “Oh” she says and dials up the customer service voice to a 3/10 and throws me some paperwork to sign.

From a paying customers perspective, it’s astounding a business can get away with making their patrons feel like a burden and inconvenience. No one wants to go to the registry any more than you apparently do Jennifer, but don’t worry I’ll be one less person to burden you in the future!

Life is hard enough, I’m not looking for a fight to obtain basic services I’m paying for. Heaven forbid you don’t understand a form or have a question. Just because it’s the only registry in town doesn’t mean it’s the only choice—only 20 minutes away is Canmore Registry where they have a very convenient line up system and friendly staff who treat you like you’re a...