UK-passport.net

powerful_Rogue

wantmemoney wrote: »

who would trust this guy with their personal details including bank and phone numbers.

@Least it's ok because he's legal......he's regulated by the ICO.

Quite an important line from the article.

He was not responsible for the scam but we've asked what kind of checks he carried out on Johnson - and he hasn't replied

.

hpuse

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

"Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team."

That very much sounds like it's talking about adverts for the site probably Google or Yahoo paid ads. Otherwise it means nothing is wrong with the site itself.

In my view, only if they rename their service label to application for "check and send personalised application forms"....

If anyone is interested in purchasing this service then at that point of entry, then they should know make it clear that it covers the service provides. For e.g; in case of passport application "personalised information handling and forwarding service to UK passport office for an additional cost of £69"

Pollycat

hpuse wrote: »

In my view, only if they rename their service label to application for "check and send personalised application forms"....

If anyone is interested in purchasing this service then at that point of entry, then they should know make it clear that it covers the service provides. For e.g; in case of passport application "personalised information handling and forwarding service to UK passport office for an additional cost of £69"

Hpuse
when are you going to make your views known to OFT and your local MP?

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Third time lucky! Have you or will you be complaining to your local MP and the Office of Fair Trading about these sites?

Posting your views doesn't make it happen.

missprice

hpuse wrote: »

In my view, only if they rename their service label to application for "check and send personalised application forms"....

If anyone is interested in purchasing this service then at that point of entry, then they should know make it clear that it covers the service provides. For e.g; in case of passport application "personalised information handling and forwarding service to UK passport office for an additional cost of £69"

You do realize that as clear as these sites can make it, people will still use them.
Its pretty clear now. Even if all that you want is added, there will still be people that "fall" for this trap. Its not the sites fault if people dont read what they are doing/signing for. I bet you could Put in big red letters WE ARE A CHECK AND SEND SERVICE ONLY WHICH IS FREE ELSEWHERE.
people will still not read it.


Again try telling the powers that be all about this problem. I won't do it for you. Pointless wasting your time on this site to keep telling us same thing, you could be emailing your mp to get it sorted.

laffoley-scam-lane

So after reading most of this discussion and press releases on the same subject, I would say these copycat websites are catching out a lot of people, (thickos) as one poster describes them. Those comments are pretty degrading I would say.
What I would say is that a British citizen should be able to apply for a passport, driving licence, congestion charge payment without without being ripped off by these fast buck companies who are run by scum directors.

jacques_chirac

laffoley-scam-lane wrote: »

So after reading most of this discussion and press releases on the same subject, I would say these copycat websites are catching out a lot of people, (thickos) as one poster describes them. Those comments are pretty degrading I would say.
What I would say is that a British citizen should be able to apply for a passport, driving licence, congestion charge payment without without being ripped off by these fast buck companies who are run by scum directors.

They are able to do so, just some choose to use non official sites!

wealdroam

unspecified_author wrote: »

What I would say is that a British citizen should be able to apply for a passport, driving licence, congestion charge payment without without being ripped off by these fast buck companies who are run by scum directors.

I agree.

And it is my understanding that people can still do that, and have been able to do that, without issue for many years.

You seem to be suggesting that these rogue websites are stopping people using the legitimate government websites.

Have you thought about promoting AdBlockPlus?

This actually stops the adverts appearing at the top of search engine results lists.

When I google UK passport, the first result I see is an official .gov.uk website.

laffoley-scam-lane

How many people have been caught out by the copy cat websites, I cannot imagine all have chosen the non official sites as Chirac has said.


It is just a real shame people are inadvertently paying out money they maybe cannot afford.
The passport office are quite happy to take appointment bookings from these non official companies and after speaking to someone on the inside, the passport agency have no real concerns and will not listen to internal concerns with regards to non official applications.

wealdroam

unspecified_author wrote: »

How many people have been caught out by the copy cat websites, I cannot imagine all have chosen the non official sites as Chirac has said.


It is just a real shame people are inadvertently paying out money they maybe cannot afford.
The passport office are quite happy to take appointment bookings from these non official companies and after speaking to someone on the inside, the passport agency have no real concerns and will not listen to internal concerns with regards to non official applications.

You mention 'not listening'.

Did you bother to read my post just before yours?

Do you think that some people could do something to help themselves?

Have you thought about proposing changes to your MP?

Have you thought about presenting your evidence to the OFT so that they can re-open their investigations?

Can I also take this opportunity to suggest to you that creating a username by using a real person's name and inserting 'scam' in the middle is really silly and asking for trouble.

wantmemoney

Money-Saving-King wrote:

"Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team."

That very much sounds like it's talking about adverts for the site probably Google or Yahoo paid ads. Otherwise it means nothing is wrong with the site itself.

http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/12/IQ-Channels-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_245713.aspx

Background
Summary of Council decision:

Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.

Ad
A website, estavisas.co.uk, for a company that offered online applications for an ESTA visa.........

Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading because it:

1. gave the impression that it was for an official service, rather than a commercial service that incurred a significant fee; and

2. failed to make clear that applications incurred a significant fee in addition to the standard cost of an application.
[........]
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.

The AD they referred to was clearly IQ Channels Ltd's estavisas.co.uk main web site.

how you could read the ASA adjudication and summarize that they found nothing wrong with it is mystifying