UK-passport.net

wantmemoney

sillygoose wrote:

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!

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to sillygoose For This Useful Post: Show me >>
keyser666 (Yesterday), _Andy_ (Yesterday)

I'm assuming the above was an attempt to draw a parallel analogy with the original OP. How it's useful or what it had to do with the OP original 'heads up' warning ??????

Dolphin wrote:

Hi

I wanted to warn people not to use this website to apply for a passport - its not an application site, which i didnt realise until after I had (stupidly!) entered my credit card details and wondered why it said i had paid £29.95 not the £70 odd i was expecting to pay - this is because it checks your passport details for you which isnt what i wanted at all!

here's another similar warning for possibly the same website.

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/02/passportukcom-charges-for-advi.html
Passport.uk.com charges for advice you can get for free
FEBRUARY 13, 2013

If you Google "renew a passport" the first result is for the site https://www.passport.uk.com.

One reader who alerted us to it said: "It purports to offer information on how to apply for or renew a passport and then charges you £1.53 per minute for calls. I nearly fell for it."

The 0905 number belongs to A2B Telecom Limited, run from Hook, !Hampshire, by 41-year-old Lawrence Bingham. He's had problems with this sort of thing before.

A2B was fined £25,000 in 2007 over the website UKPassportAdvisor.com. In that case the regulator for premium rate lines ruled that "people were misled into believing the service was an official one operated by the Home Office".

When we spoke to Bingham about passport.uk.com he told us: "This site is operated by a client of ours, Who4 Limited. We supply the premium rate number to them."
But he did concede: "That £1.53, we get revenue out of it, they get revenue out of it. Yes, we make money out of it."

And he also made the astonishing admission that information on the site is available for free through the official Identity and Passport Service site.

Passport.uk.com does warn, in small print, that it is not an official government site, and this is repeated in bigger type but not until a later page.

Stephen Oliver, a director of Who4, said it had been cleared by "Google and British Trading Standards".

He added: "We don't try to mislead anybody, other sites do. We provide a service and we have lots of positive feedback."

Although his website only gives callers the option of using the premium rate number, Mr Oliver says that anyone who pays for their service is then given a local rate number.

A spokesman for the regulator PhonepayPlus said: "We are consulting on these types of services as we have a number of concerns."

System

wantmemoney wrote: »

I'm assuming the above was an attempt to draw a parallel analogy with the original OP. How it's useful or what it had to do with the OP original 'heads up' warning ??????

here's another similar warning for possibly the same website.

It's a similar warning but its a different website. The way you can tell is by looking at the website URL. They're not the same.

Interestingly this is another website that clearly explains its not the official passport website.

You appear to be advocating for a world with no personal reponsibility?

Harry_S

I take full responsibilty.. But it is sneaky, clever, the way they part you from your money, on google it is a sponsored link, stating 'official uk passport renewal' click on link and it doesn't go to their homepage (why would it take you.somewhere where they.tell you they are not.connected in anyway to the official passport renewal site) instead you go.straight to a form filling section and the proper goverment foms... I was rushing.a.bit and doing it on my phone - not the best plan!!, so I made a.mistake but this site is set up clever/sneaky to make sure you part with your money. Not.the end of the world lesson learned...

llyamah

Unfortunately my mother paid £29.95 to this company in the belief that she was dealing with the IPS and that was the fee for a new passport. I appreciate that many of us would have known that this was not what UK Passport do and take on board some of the previous comments, but people make mistakes. So, not looking for anyone to attribute blame here, but looking to see if I can help get some of my Mum's money back.

Please can anyone provide advice as to how they would go about obtaining a refund from this company? My mother has already received the pre-printed application form through the post (and, it is worthwhile pointing out, not all of the printing is within the boxes).

_Andy_

A refund on what basis though?

Harry_S

I would say if it is not fit for purpose.you could have a chance, me on the other hand... No complaints.with the.service, it's just I didn't need the service!! 30 quid to fill a few boxes out is a joke. As I said before.they (in my opinion) and going but other comments here, in the national press and other sites.think they are very devious/clever in the way you are presented with.the information..

pmduk

Sponsored link means an advert, treat it with as much distrust.

PleaseDont

I know someone who fell for this too (and admits it's his own fault for for falling for it), and came on to see whether there were any posts about it.

The company is obviously skating within the law and it would be hard to argue that its actions are fraudulent. But I also think it would be hard to argue that it's an ethical organisation:

- It has paid to be listed as the first link in a Google search, which means many people who don't know any better will think it's the official site, not least because:

- The listing heading reads "UK Passport Renewal. Official UK Passport Application". If you click on this link you are taken directly to the application page, bypassing the home page that tells you it's not the official site.

- Underneath the listing are direct links (Standard Application, Express Application, New Passport Application, Passport Renewal Application) that again go directly to the application page and bypass the home page.

- On the application page the fees for passports are listed, but there is no mention of the fee that uk-passport.net will charge you.

- When you finish the process and pay you receive an acknowledgement email that confirms what you entered, gives email addresses, and says you will receive the documents in 7-10 days. The amount they have charged you is not on the email, nor is there any link to cancel your order, or even back to the website (where you might end up on the first page and realise what you've just bought).

- Last but not least, what exactly is the service that uk-passport.com is providing that is worth £30? Yes, they provide a "checking" service--but you can get that at the post office for £8.75 with Special Delivery thrown in. If they said up front that they're going to charge you £30 for you to enter your own data onto their server, rather than onto the government's website, would anyone go for this deal?

I'm also not too keen on this statement from their website: "We may pass information held on your passport and on related passport records to public and private sector organisations in the UK and abroad when you use your passport, obtain a service or when it is in the public interest to do so."

In short, yes, what they're doing may be legal, but it's pretty much the same type of business as those PPI pests. At least uk-passport.net doesn't call you at home during dinner, but it's probably only because the percentage of people reached by cold calls who want to get a passport would be vanishingly small.

Interestingly, the second link on the Google results page is for a similar company, but its link looks less official, and it goes directly to the home page, where you are told up front what they are going to do and exactly how much they are going to charge for it. They also provide an equivalent link to the official site and note that you will not be charged if you use it instead. I still can't understand why anybody would want to use this company's services unless he or she has an extremely complicated application, but at least it's up front.

Finally, there are obviously several people on this thread who walk on water and never had to learn anything, but most of us will make mistakes from time to time and didn't come out of the womb knowing what sponsored Google links are. I am a caveat emptor kind of girl myself, but geeze, try a little compassion once in awhile, guys.

spacesp1ce

I admit that I fell for this scheme earlier today. I called my bank straight away to cancel the payment but they couldn't help until the payment showed up on my statement. I then emailed the company immediately after that with the reference number and admitted to making a mistake asking them to cancel my payments and stop my application. I received an email after five minutes telling me that my application was canceled, my payments voided/refunded and my personal information had been removed from their data base.
I cant believe my luck if this is true and wont know for sure until I check my accounts tomorrow. As for identity fraud...I'm going to have to be very vigilant and not such an idiot again. I must say that their web site convinced me and I'm usually pretty sharp. I didn't see the first page with the company gen on it and it's general appearance mimics the new informal look passport pages.

Pollycat

spacesp1ce wrote: »

I admit that I fell for this scheme earlier today. I called my bank straight away to cancel the payment but they couldn't help until the payment showed up on my statement. I then emailed the company immediately after that with the reference number and admitted to making a mistake asking them to cancel my payments and stop my application. I received an email after five minutes telling me that my application was canceled, my payments voided/refunded and my personal information had been removed from their data base.
I cant believe my luck if this is true and wont know for sure until I check my accounts tomorrow. As for identity fraud...I'm going to have to be very vigilant and not such an idiot again. I must say that their web site convinced me and I'm usually pretty sharp. I didn't see the first page with the company gen on it and it's general appearance mimics the new informal look passport pages.

Well done you for following the correct procedure and cancelling directly with the website - instead of running round as others have done trying all sorts of ways to cancel. :T

There are people who do it right and those who don't.
This company seem to be Ok with refunding money if they are contacted within the timescales.

The information on how to cancel is clearly stated on the website.

You may cancel your application for our service at any time up until we have processed your application and completed our service.
If you cancel before we have processed your application, we will issue a full refund.
If you wish to exercise your right to cancel, please contact us in writing (email is best), supplying your name, address and Hipay receipt number (not essential). Our contact details can be found here.

It's not really that difficult, is it?