Steps to take if you have been ripped-off by a copy-cat government website

Money-Saving-King

Alpine_Star wrote: »

On the legislation point an unfair term is an unfair term regardless of whether it's been read and agreed to by the customer.

But their site is perfectly clear.



This is an image from their front page. The fact of the matter is what they offer is actually perfectly clear. My point is the that the consumer is at fault. If you cannot understand the simple information on the picture above then it is your fault. Why? because it's in English & it's perfectly clear.

What someone else has decided has nothing to do with the matter of fact.

wealdroam

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

But their site is as clear as mud.



This is an image from their front page. The fact of the matter is what they offer is actually perfectly clear. My point is the that the consumer is at fault. If you cannot understand the simple information on the picture above then it is your fault. Why? because it's in English & it's perfectly clear.

What someone else has decided has nothing to do with the matter of fact.

Is that what it looked like before the ASA stepped in?

Alpine_Star

The website has been re-designed since the ASA adjudication.


Call me unorthodox but given the choice between the view of the officially sanctioned independent regulator and some anonymous soul on an internet forum, I'll go with the ASA.

Money-Saving-King

wealdroam wrote: »

Is that what it looked like before the ASA stepped in?

Yes. I remember looking when Hpuse started this thread a year ago in Jan 2014. The ASA thing is dated the 17th of September 2014 so nothing much has changed.

Money-Saving-King

Alpine_Star wrote: »

The website has been re-designed since the ASA adjudication.

The our service/HMRC bit hasn't I remember looking at all of the sites mentioned in this thread right when it started back a year ago.

hpuse

The price of a first class stamp is 62p from post office.
You can still buy it up-to 10%cheaper from a third party private store.

Likewise, people should never have to pay a premium for a government service at a set price.

Legally speaking, even if copycats advertise government prices next to theirs, that doesn't make them a premium service.
The motive of such establishments are very clear and proven beyond doubt.

wealdroam

hpuse wrote: »

Likewise, people should never have to pay a premium for a government service at a set price.

Unless they want to take advantage of The Post Office's Passport Check & Send service.

I only mention that because you mentioned the Post Office.

esmerellda

wealdroam wrote: »

Unless they want to take advantage of The Post Office's Passport Check & Send service.

I only mention that because you mentioned the Post Office.

For just £9.75 you can get your passport application right first time using Check & Send, a service that's recommended by Her Majesty's Passport Office. Get ready for your holiday with the Post Office.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/passport-check-send#Prices

And they do actually check and send. The BPS website don't, as far as I can make out from the many customer testimonials, check anything or send anything, and they certainly are not recommended by HMPO.

esmerellda

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

The our service/HMRC bit hasn't I remember looking at all of the sites mentioned in this thread right when it started back a year ago.

To be fair it hasn't changed much at all.
Current - http://legalbeagles.info/wp-content/uploads/2015-01-31-20_25_36-UK-Passport-Office-Information-Apply-or-Renew-Passport-Advice.png
Last September - http://legalbeagles.info/wp-content/uploads/ukpassportoffices-300x250@2x.jpg

annoyingly I don't think I did a PDF print back then off the front page so can't say on the ticks and crosses panel and you can't check on wayback archive as ''
User-agent: ia_archiver Disallow: / ''

hpuse

wealdroam wrote: »

Unless they want to take advantage of The Post Office's Passport Check & Send service.

I only mention that because you mentioned the Post Office.

Since this is a public forum, could you please confirm who you meant by 'they'. Could either be:

a) people who clicked copycats and realised later that they have fallen trap of a legally-designed rip-off scam OR

b) Each and every member i.e around 5.5 million passport renewal application that happens every year.