UK-passport.net

ljtough

hey chiefnoobie, I got done as well. What was the address you posted the letter to please?

Can you give me an idea of the wording you used in the letter as well, just so I can hope to get the refund that you managed! How long fif the process take? I emailed the refund email a few days ago but have had no response

Thanks in advance

manama

I cannot believe i was duped...yes okay it is only down to me ....but i am now left feeling physically sick at myself

I needed to update my sons passport and put in passport renewal and the one at the top ended in gov uk i chose, not realising it was Gov-uk

So they have taken my £72.50 ......within an hour i had spoken with my bank.....it is pending payment, they cannot cancel it, but i can dispute it as soon as it clear they said.

I have emailed the sales team straight after i spoke to my bank, and then straight away afte than the same email to the refunds one.....


I hope they come back ..okay i see i will have to pay a £8 fee, but yes okay, please respond back quickly or this is going to make me ill....... I even went back and reread everything knowing what website it is......and it is not clear in my eyes the wording is very clever on their part....and stupid people like me, trying to do something good when they have a few moments are shafted ((((

How long from people emailing did they get a response and refund, please .

Thanks

powerful_Rogue

manama wrote: »

I cannot believe i was duped...yes okay it is only down to me ....but i am now left feeling physically sick at myself

I needed to update my sons passport and put in passport renewal and the one at the top ended in gov uk i chose, not realising it was Gov-uk

So they have taken my £72.50 ......within an hour i had spoken with my bank.....it is pending payment, they cannot cancel it, but i can dispute it as soon as it clear they said.

I have emailed the sales team straight after i spoke to my bank, and then straight away afte than the same email to the refunds one.....


I hope they come back ..okay i see i will have to pay a £8 fee, but yes okay, please respond back quickly or this is going to make me ill....... I even went back and reread everything knowing what website it is......and it is not clear in my eyes the wording is very clever on their part....and stupid people like me, trying to do something good when they have a few moments are shafted ((((

How long from people emailing did they get a response and refund, please .

Thanks

What site did you use?

Alansopinion

My daughter has just come to me in a panic as she realised too late that she had not been on the actual UK passport office site after passing along her card details.She was slightly nieve and trusting and she did not read all the small print until it was too late. In her defense though the link from google is very misleading and in my opinion deliberately so.

The site she used was as follows uk-passport.net/index.php

She contacted the company to cancel the transaction and received an email from someone whose job description was the "Refunds Manager" saying that the refund would be made and the money would appear back in the account in less than 28 days.

This company is playing upon and cashing in on the whole "mistaken identity" angle. They don't check the information or add anything to the passport application process. They charge 72.50 UK pounds for pressing a forward button! They charge the same fee as the passport office to stop alarm bells ringing! They used to charge 29.95 UK pounds until they realised that the difference from the actual passport fee was causing alarm bells to ring and people were abandoning the transaction right at the end.

Anyone who uses this company by mistake to process their passport application is not a fool they are a victim. This is a confidence trick.

Pollycat

Alansopinion wrote: »

My daughter has just come to me in a panic as she realised too late that she had not been on the actual UK passport office site after passing along her card details.She was slightly nieve and trusting and she did not read all the small print until it was too late. In her defense though the link from google is very misleading and in my opinion deliberately so.

The site she used was as follows uk-passport.net/index.php

She contacted the company to cancel the transaction and received an email from someone whose job description was the "Refunds Manager" saying that the refund would be made and the money would appear back in the account in less than 28 days.

This company is playing upon and cashing in on the whole "mistaken identity" angle. They don't check the information or add anything to the passport application process. They charge 72.50 UK pounds for pressing a forward button! They charge the same fee as the passport office to stop alarm bells ringing! They used to charge 29.95 UK pounds until they realised that the difference from the actual passport fee was causing alarm bells to ring and people were abandoning the transaction right at the end.

Anyone who uses this company by mistake to process their passport application is not a fool they are a victim. This is a confidence trick.

You acknowledge your daughter was 'slightly nieve (sp) and trusting'.

The company your daughter used has said they will give her a refund.
I'd say that was a result - especially if you read some of the posts who've used different websites which have a 'no refund' policy.

Your daughter has learned a lesson - to be more careful when purchasing goods/services on line.
Hopefully, she will not get caught out when renewing EHIC or her driving licence, booking her driving test, applying for ESTA or submitting her tax return.

How can these companies be cashing in on the 'mistaken identity' angle?
They may well be cashing in - but not on 'mistaken identity'.

Perhaps you mean your daughter mistook this website for the official HM Passport Office website?
That's not 'mistaken identity'.

@Manama
If you used one of the websites that has a refund policy, I'd say you'll get your money back.

I'm not sure if your bank would be able to do anything about it even when the payment has cleared.

From a recent Daily Mail article:

Judith Martinez, 69, a widow from Greenford, West London, was also duped by the passportdirect website.

Two months ago, she paid it £69 for the renewal of her passport and realised her mistake too late. Her bank refused to refund her money while passportdirect stonewalled her emails.

ljtough

So, it seems I have just been refunded. I first emailed the request to the company on Friday night so they have dealt with it relatively quickly.

Losing £8 is much more bearable than losing £72.50. I did not get around to sending a recorded letter so at least I saved that money as well. I haven't had any reply to the emails I sent but most importantly I have the refund. Good luck to everyone else and I will be taking this as a lesson to pay more attention in the future

chiefnoobie

I got mine back yesterday from Passport.net so get a recorded delivery letter off to them quick they ignored 7 of my emails and they can say they never got any from you. Trading standards were very helpful as well. And don't give up it took me nearly 2 weeks before I got mine back.

chiefnoobie

I don't know how to add a Word doc on here but this is an example of the letter I used to get my money back. It seemed to do the the trick obviously fill it in with your details and how many times you tried to contact them etc I treid to avoid insulting them too much! and send it by recorded delivery then they can't say you never told them you wanted a refund.

Any way if you want a letter copy and paste this into word hope it helps I'm not great at spelling so forgive any mistakes.



UK-Passport.net,
Dunstable Road,
Redbourn, St Albans,
Herts
AL3 7PR.

Email address

Order ID:
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to in regards to my passport renewal application I made by your website. It has come to my understanding through watching "Rip off Britain" that you charge for a service which you can do for yourself for free. I am aware you state this on your site but you designed it to look like the government web site to make it deliberately misleading. I have asked for a refund and you have failed to respond to my many emails. This means you are in breach of contract as you clearly say you will give a refund within 24 hours. I have sent you my email address to refund my money to my Paypal account but you have not replied. I have been in contact with Trading Standards and they said if you don't respond to this letter within 7 days legal action will be taken against you. I urge you to refund my money as soon as possible to avoid this.

Yours Faithfully

Stopped_2

Hi don't give up on this when they say they will give a refund then ignore all emails sent to them I suppose they hope you will give up in the end.
Go to your credit card company they can take this up for you I have just received mine back but only when I took it further send the credit card company all the emails you have plus the terms and conditions.
Good Luck

hpuse

Check this thread, first post.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4869030

When you speak to the bank/credit card company tell them very clearly that the service was misrepresented online as "passport application".

Explain as a matter of fact, what they are doing is just personal information handling and re-keying, which is not "application".
Tell them based on the above, you strongly believe that the online service offered is deliberately misleading the customer. Also be clear on the fact that none of the emails were responded in a timely manner and there is no personal names behind the initial emails from the company which leads you think that it is a clear case of fraud.