Everyone who's been trying to renew a CHL knows it's hard to get an appointment. Mine expires in July and I've been trying for months to get an appointment at Lake county. I live in Cuyahoga, but the Lake office is way better to deal with. But the appointment scheduler has always returned "no availability".

Yesterday I had an inspiration and waited until midnight. At 11:59 pm I hit the "schedule appointment" button, no dice. But as soon as the computer clock struck 12:00 midnight I hit "schedule appointment" again. Bingo, the schedule for June 30th appeared. I booked an appointment and received a confirmation email. I don't know how long they lasted but as of this morning there was no availability again.

So if you're looking for an appointment in a county with an online scheduler, try waiting until exactly midnight.

Edit - corrected date from June 31 to June 30

Cool work-around!

June 31st ? You may want to check your calendar,.

Whoops, June 30

On a day you are free and don’t have anything better to do, just walk in and see if they’ll take you.  I had a 1030 appointment to renew mine in Ashland.  I showed up an hour early.  The guy ahead of me was just finishing up so I went up to the window and they took care of business.  They never asked if I had an appointment or what time I was supposed to be there.  
I think some of the busier urban/suburban sheriff’s only want to process the minimum amount of applications.  I’m pretty sure Lorain co. schedules one applicant every 30 minutes.  That’s why they’re booked out into July and august right now.

Portage County is another solid pro 2a sheriffs dept.  Medina, cuyahoga, and summit aren't very good to deal with.

Just a note, if you have a sheriff office or individual there that is great to deal with on CHLs drop the sheriff a note thanking them.

They generally only hear the complaints so a quick 'thanks' can go a long way to strengthen the sheriff/gun-owner relationship.

JLE

Got the wife an appointment with Sandusky county last Tuesday.

The whole process didn't take but about five minutes in the office. I was impressed! Every renewal I've been to has been 15-20 minutes or so, plus wait.