I arrived at ~2pm on a Friday (right after getting my picture taken at the Pharmacie Jean Coutu…read moreright next door) and there wasn't a big line-up. When I went to the pre-screening line, the security guard asked me if I filled out the form (which I did and showed him) and whether I had my old passport as well as my photos. I showed him both. I was maybe the third person in the pre-screening line. So far it was off to a great start.
When I got to the counter for the pre-screening, the lady took a look at my documents and mentioned that I forgot to sign two places on the passport application form and highlighted these sections. She asked me how I would be paying and I informed her that I would be paying by credit card. She then gave me a number to wait for the actual process. The way the numbers work at this location is that there is a letter in front of the number (ex: A, B, C, etc.) and this is followed by the number (923, 924, 107, etc.). The paper that she handed me was C923.
I immediately sat down in front of the counters and took a look at the panel displaying what counter was serving which number. It showed numbers with A, B, and F (but no C) so I waited. When the C actually came up with a number, it was C924. When I went to the counter to tell the passport agent that they never called my number (C923), the person with C924 was behind me and indicated that she had C924. The agent then asked the security guard to help me and I informed him that after getting my printed ticket from the pre-screening line, He then went to one of the pre-screening agents and asked her for another number. When he came back to me with this new ticket number, he informed me not to lose my place again. I repeated to him that I didn't miss my place and my number never came up. I was sitting right in front of the display sign showing the numbers and could not have missed it if it did come up. There were also not a lot of people waiting (at most 10 people/families waiting) so it wasn't like I decide to leave and come back a few minutes later.
When my new number was finally called, I went to the counter. I was asked the standard questions about whether I would need my passport immediately (rush) and I informed the agent that I didn't. She took my current passport and invalidated it but punching holes into the first few pages and informed me that I should expect my passport in roughly 14 days.
If there wasn't a screw-up with the ticket numbering system that gave me an original ticket that was never actually displayed/called, I would have probably rated my experience a perfect 5 stars but because of the numbering mishap where they blamed me for missing my number when their system gave me a number that was either already called or skipped altogether, I gave them 3 stars. Their ticketing system should also not have letters in front of the numbers since by the time you notice a problem, you might have been already waiting for a few minutes. The only reason that I can see for them doing this is that it doesn't let the person know how many people are actually ahead of them.
I'm just glad that I won't have to be back here (or another Passport Canada office) for roughly 10 years since I opted for the 10 year passport option.
