Now this may sound a little uninformed of me but I had never heard of Service SA until a few days…read moreago. Having to deal with an expired drivers licence that required a new ID photo, a friend dropped me off at Service SA Mitcham. Its not so much that I never knew about them, its just that I'd never had the need to use their service before. Having done so now, I'm impressed. I can't speak for other Service SA offices but the one at Mitcham is efficiently run with helpful staff and its easy to get to. I walked in through the front doors and was greeted by a lady who asked what I was there to do. She printed a ticket for me from her machine and directed to the seating area. I sat down for 5 or so minutes and was promptly taken care of - too easy! I fully expected to have to stand in line for 30 minutes or so with a whole bunch of other impatient people. If like me, you've never used Service SA before apparently you can do all sorts of things there from SA Water, land tax and emergency services levy payments to renewing firearms licences (not my thing but there you go). You can also take your test for a driver's or boat licence, renew your rego or driver's licence or register for your recreational rock lobster licence. Service SA, who knew?!?

Realising that you have to go to Service SA to complete a random odd job generally induces internal…read moresigh and groans. Luckily though, with a revolution to the queuing system, a wait at Service SA generally only takes 5 minutes, sometime more but not too often, which is a solid relief. At the door the welcome person (my title for them) says hello, asks what you're here for, gives you the required forms for whatever the task is and then helps you out with the forms if you get stuck. The counter staff are also helpful and I also like that they are quite personable with their customers and still get through things in a reasonable amount of time. Parking can be difficult but as the branch is opposite the Mitcham Shopping Centre you can easily park in their car park.

The new office is more efficient, but I still can't understand how a SERVICE centre can only keep…read moreoffice hours. It's always busy, however the times I've been here for license transfers, L plates, drivers licence renewals etc the staff have been quite accommodating - doing their best to be pleasant in a hectic environment. Give yourself time to be processed, and don't forget the 4.15 cut off for L platers (and probably other tests)

If you're trying to get your Ls consider going somewhere else. I was told three different things by…read morethree different people about what ID I needed and then was told to book another session after I had gone through the trouble of getting everything they wanted. They took my $38.95 and didn't let me do my test! They didn't even attempt to help me (in fact it seemed like they were doing the opposite) and I left feeling like they lied to me AND ripped me off. (Seemed like they were just making the rules up as they went along) Never got offered a refund for the test I never got to take. Bad customer service.

I learnt early in my young life that it's a waste of time and energy to set foot in this Service…read moreSA. No matter what time of day there'll be an insanely long line, the customer service officer's will be grouch-meisters, and you'll finally make it to one of them ony to be barked at that you were meant to be over there, or you don't have the right documents, or something equally annoying. Use ezyreg.com.au, you can do nearly all the same stuff online with FAR less hassle. In a nutshell - I shudder at the thought!

Difficult to try and pick what may be a good time to visit a Service SA centre anywhere in SA but I…read morehave to say that this one at Oaklands Park would have to be the worst I have ever been into. And I used to go here most of time so it's not based on any one visit but a whole history of awfulness. There is not really a proper waiting area to sit down. Last time I went they didn't have a ticket system at all yet and often the line up would go out the door. Plus it always seems to take ages even to do something simple. They aren't all this bad, in fact every other one I have ever been into has been quite bearable. Even if this is the closest one to you, better to go to another branch or do it early online and not have to visit the place at all. I pretty much go once every 10 years now to renew my photo and try and avoid it at all costs other than then. Even then I do not use this branch anymore due to parking difficulties and delays in service.