Georgia Department of Driver Services — Local services in Albany

Google would not allow me to put a zero star or else I would have. I went to the Albany DDS today and showed up 45 minutes early for a 10am test. The lady that waited on me first was extremely nice and very helpful. However, Lakisha the examiner who administered my CDL bus endorsement was extremely unprofessional, very rude, unhelpful and she even showed up 25 minutes late to do my driving exam. When she told me that my test time began at 10am and it was already 10:30 or later and we had not even started. I questioned her about her being late and that it wasn't right for her to take my time away from my test when she was the one that was late. I absolutely aced my test and I knew the exam like the back of my hand. I have put in months of training and have been trained by the best instructor in the state of Ga. I was told to stay away from Albany DDS before I ever went because they have such a terrible reputation of the way they treat the drivers and how many failures they have from that office. However, I accepted that as a challenge and let that be my motivation. Little did I know how accurate that advise was. My school system has only had 1 driver to pass in Albany Ga in the past 10 or more years. I went above and beyond to pass the test and was as confident as I have ever been in my life. However, Lakisha took her anger and hatred out on me. She failed me over the bus inspection and when I asked her what I did wrong or what I didn't do she wouldn't tell me anything other that you failed. I questioned her over and over for her to please let me know why so that I could fix it for my next time taking it. She walked away and said because I said you didn't pass and I don't have to explain myself. Like I said I knew everything there was to know about pretrip bus inspection. Yet, she failed me for being too thorough if anything. Lucky for me I don't need the CDL to make my ends meet, I'm only getting the endorsement to drive for athletic events for free, but I know a bunch of people that do. There is no wonder why there is such a shortage of bus drivers in the state of Georgia if all the DDS services are mismanaged like the one in Albany Ga is. Take my word and stay away from the CDL/Bus endorsement in Albany...

Georgia DDS locations per city/ county need a phone number for residents of that city to call... instead of all the calls being sent to headquarters. If you were to call right now about any questions regarding the status of your license the call would be forwarded to a voice recording that ends the call immediately. That being said today I called to inquire about my license renewal that I completed online in December my birthday is quickly approaching and the license have yet to arrive. Contrary to the website stating that it takes 30 days from the order date for the license to arrive, when I called today I was informed that it’s actually 30 days from whenever they finally mail the license. Also if you’re getting ready for your 21st birthday set aside time on your birthday or get some to take you to the dmv after your birthday, because if your first set of license doesn’t expire until your 21st you have to wait until the day of or afterwards, to get a “ normal” license that has under 21 removed. Overall my experiences with the Albany location have been good.

All in all although it’s cheaper to renew online, I’d say don’t waist your time because the process can be quite frustrating & challenging especially for college students who don’t attend university in Georgia or if in Georgia and the local dmv near the school is has no appointments that accommodate their schedule.

**Posted during COVID-19 pandemic, where most universities are still expecting students to stay on campus and are said to “offer” the option of taking classes online instead of in person. “Offer” because some professors still insist on attending in person and leave no room for students to choose the “offered” online or...

I went to take my cdl permit test and after finishing my air brakes and combinations portion I was rudely interrupted by one of the staff. While testing she preceded to ask me was I parked outside in a semi-truck and I replied yes. She then preceded to tell me how we can’t park there because they just paved the area. My question is: if I am taking an exam on the computer then why are you talking to me? If it was a issue she should have went to see if someone was in the semi truck so she could tell them to move but she didn’t and instead interrupted me and I lost my concentration. The lady that check me in , who is at the first desk area near the door was great but her coworker was extremely rude and obnoxiously loud. There was only maybe 5 people in there but she didn’t respect the space of people taking test. There needs to be some training on the noise levels...