UK-passport.net

System

wantmemoney wrote: »

Why are there so many forum posters so ready to defend what most normal people would consider to be out and our scams?

and why do they feel the need to be so rude and insulting to the victims to get their message across?

In their defence it was you who called them bozos.

wantmemoney

goater78 wrote:

In their defence it was you who called them bozos.

that was my first post at #48. I think you will find there were numerous posts before that where the victims of this scam were being blamed and insulted and the scam was being defended.

goater78 wrote:

It doesn't look fraudulent. It looks pretty obvious what sort of website it is. It tells you clearly on the home page it's not the official uk passport site.

on your post #2 when you defended the scammers web site could you confirm it was before or after the ASA ordered Esta Visa Ltd to alter it's misleading nature.

System

wantmemoney wrote: »

that was my first post at #48. I think you will find there were numerous posts before that where the victims of this scam were being blamed and insulted and the scam was being defended.

on your post #2 when you defended the scammers web site could you confirm it was before or after the ASA ordered Esta Visa Ltd to alter it's misleading nature.

Yes but the person who actually insulted you was responding to the fact you called him a bozo. You started the insults.

On the other point if you can't read the date of my post and compare it to the date on the advert then I can see how you fell for this

wantmemoney

goater78 wrote:

Yes but the person who actually insulted you was responding to the fact you called him a bozo. You started the insults.

I was referring to the unhelpful insults being aimed at the victims of this scam. They were being made long before my first post at #48.

goater78 wrote:

On the other point if you can't read the date of my post and compare it to the date on the advert then I can see how you fell for this

so you jumped in at post #2 and numerous posts after that defending the scam with out even knowing whether you were looking at the same web site that the victims had looked at :cool:

goater78 wrote:

I can see how you fell for this

I have never remotely indicated I was a victim of this scam so it appears to be a mystery what you 'see'.

System

wantmemoney wrote: »

I was referring to the unhelpful insults being aimed at the victims of this scam. They were being made long before my first post at #48.

No you weren't as you were obviously referencing the two people who disrespected you.

wantmemoney wrote: »

so you jumped in at post #2 and numerous posts after that defending the scam with out even knowing whether you were looking at the same web site that the victims had looked at :cool:

I was looking at the website mentioned in the post (the right one). I am unsure why you are referencing a different one. I assume they are run by the same people but I can't be bothered checking.

wantmemoney wrote: »

I have never remotely indicated I was a victim of this scam so it appears to be a mystery what you 'see'.

I assumed by your anger that you had fallen for this. If you haven't I am surprised you are that bothered about it!

wantmemoney

@goater78
I have no interest in getting involved in a silly game of gob!!!!! tennis with you.

The fact is I found it suspicious that you and others were so ready and quick to jump in to defend a scam that was well known within the 'industry' and Regulatory authorities.
I also found it rather obnoxious the way some were 'blaming' the victims who had posted.

so to summerise
The lesson to the Forum is that not all posted advice and views will have members best interests at heart.

keyser666

wantmemoney wrote: »

@goater78
I have no interest in getting involved in a silly game of gob!!!!! tennis with you.

The fact is I found it suspicious that you and others were so ready and quick to jump in to defend a scam that was well known within the 'industry' and Regulatory authorities.
I also found it rather obnoxious the way some were 'blaming' the victims who had posted.

so to summerise
The lesson to the Forum is that not all posted advice and views will have members best interests at heart.

The members on here give a lot of their time to members and newbies about consumer issues and their rights in certain situations. In situations like this where the information is at hand to the consumer and they are able to make a informed decision but yet elect to make a ill informed one well that is not their problem. The members here dont dress things up all nice nicey. They are factual and to the point, which is what is needed in most circumstances.

so to summarise
The lesson here is that all posted advice and views will the majority of time be clear and factual and in the best interests of the posters, even if they do make a mistake along the way

notwavingbutdrowning

Ha ha! 'Gob tennis' - I've never heard that one before. I'm afraid I, too, must own up to having fallen for this. And yes, I realise (now) I was stupid and all the above that the rather less than sympathetic posters amongst you have been saying. And, before anyone says, I'm not asking for sympathy, either, I'm kicking myself. However, in my defence, it's not everyday I apply for a passport and I'd no idea these sites and the so-called 'services' offered even existed, or that there was anything other than an ‘official’ government site, so I quite see how us ordinary mortals might be confused. To my mind, it is a scam, a legal scam, but a scam non the less. Not fraud, and no doubt it’s a legitimate site, but in my opinion deliberately designed to catch the unwary, as it certainly does.
I thought, throughout the whole process, I was actually paying for the passport.
When I typed ‘passport’ into google this came up: Passport - Official UK Passport Application - uk-passport.net. Thinking, as it says, this was the ‘official’ site, I clicked the link which took me straight to the application page, and not to their ‘home page’ (this was by-passed). This all looks very official, and never having been to the ‘government’ site, I had no reason to think this wasn’t it.
Had the link taken me to the ‘home page’, as, surely, it would not be unreasonable to expect, I would have seen that, indeed, it does say ‘Our service is not connected to or affiliated with the Passport Office or any UK Government department’ etc etc. But it didn’t.
The Application page (the first page you see) quotes the passport prices, which is why I thought that is what I’d be paying for.
At no time, (either during or at the end of the process) did the site tell me how much I was actually being charged, (and I had no reason question this for the reason in the above paragraph) otherwise I might have been alerted; the one acknowledgement email I received is not a receipt and also did not mention or confirm how much I had been charged. The only way to find out is to check your bank statement. In my case, not suspecting anything amiss, by the time I did that it was too late to ask for a refund. All I can do is put this down to experience and consider it a lesson learned.
So, I for one, applaud and thank Dolphin, the OP, for bringing this to our attention and warning others. And for being brave enough to run the gauntlet, which, sadly, it seems to have become, (and why I don’t use it very often) of posting on ‘MSE’.

pmduk

The problem is that the OP is unlikely to deter anyone from using these sites as long as people blindly follow search engine links without using any common sense.

sillygoose

I want to warn people of a SCAM on a betting site I just used, I gave them £100 to put on 'Mr Dobbin' in the the 2.30 at Aintree and it lost! they won't give me back my money but no where on the site does it say that your horse may not win!

Where do I stand getting my money back? I have already closed my bank account and taken my savings out and buried them in the garden under the Gooseberry bush will that stop any more payments?