Avoid Passport Shyster Sites

smudge56

WelshDaf wrote: »

Hi

I recently thought that I'd lost my passport - agt roughly 8pm I tried to book an appointment at the Liverpool passport office.

Fortunately, I found my passport the next day and canceled my appointment at around 12pm. On cancelation I received an email outlining that I still owed them £117 for their service.

I thought I was paying the £117 for my passport.....

I have then been given a reminder of payment and a threat of increasing fees (eg £10 for every email that they send me......)

Any advice?

Ignore it and block them from sending you emails. It's a company that charge you for making an appointment. Which you can do for free yourself.
Report them to the Advertising Standards Authority https://www.asa.org.uk

naganalf

Warning....do not use https://www.passport-uk.co.uk as they're a scam site despite it's legality charging you £69 for doing nothing.
I received my passport docs.from them without checking the site T&C's and then proceeded to fill it in and send to UK Passport office separately.
When I discovered that this was a scam I emailed them and asked them where my passport application had got to,and received a mail back saying they'd applied to UK Passport officer on 18th Feb.which was the date I paid on my credit card.They're scammers and liars.

Pollycat

naganalf wrote: »

Warning....do not use https://www.passport-uk.co.uk as they're a scam site despite it's legality charging you £69 for doing nothing.
I received my passport docs.from them without checking the site T&C's and then proceeded to fill it in and send to UK Passport office separately.
When I discovered that this was a scam I emailed them and asked them where my passport application had got to,and received a mail back saying they'd applied to UK Passport officer on 18th Feb.which was the date I paid on my credit card.They're scammers and liars.

Is it really a scam if you say they are legally charging you?

These websites have learned that they need to be up-front that they are not affiliated to the official body - in this case HM Passport Office.
The link you've provided takes you to a page that states - at least twice - that they are not affiliated with HMPO.
They even provide a link to the official website and a comparison of the 'additional services' they offer.

How did you miss this?

naganalf

Misrepresentation regardless of small print is s cam and a fraud...:mad:

Pollycat

naganalf wrote: »

Misrepresentation regardless of small print is s cam and a fraud...:mad:

But the information isn't in the 'small print'.

It's smack in the middle of the home page - twice.

Pollycat wrote: »

These websites have learned that they need to be up-front that they are not affiliated to the official body - in this case HM Passport Office.
The link you've provided takes you to a page that states - at least twice - that they are not affiliated with HMPO.
They even provide a link to the official website and a comparison of the 'additional services' they offer.

How did you miss this?

It's not misrepresentation if you don't read what's in front of you.

zagfles

Google really seems to have nailed these parasites at last. I've just checked a google search for "passport renewal", "uk passport", "uk passport renewal" and such like.

Every hit on the first page was official gov.uk sites (unless you exclude UK from the search in which case you get the official US gov site as well, fair enough!)

Hopefully that'll be an end to these predictable "I've been scammed" followed by "you should have read the webpage" tedious threads.

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

Google really seems to have nailed these parasites at last. I've just checked a google search for "passport renewal", "uk passport", "uk passport renewal" and such like.

Every hit on the first page was official gov.uk sites (unless you exclude UK from the search in which case you get the official US gov site as well, fair enough!)

Hopefully that'll be an end to these predictable "I've been scammed" followed by "you should have read the webpage" tedious threads.

Not quite.

Google 'renew driving licence' and the first hit is an ad.

zagfles

Pollycat wrote: »

Not quite.

Google 'renew driving licence' and the first hit is an ad.

This thread's about passport renewals, not driving licences. I remember a year or so ago you'd do a google search for passport renewal and the first page be would full of shyster sites. Nothing now. Excellent news, except perhaps for some of the regulars on that very long and sad thread in the Praise, Vent and Warnings board :rotfl:

naganalf

Stop being pedantic!

naganalf

Pollycat wrote: »

But the information isn't in the 'small print'.

It's smack in the middle of the home page - twice.



It's not misrepresentation if you don't read what's in front of you.

Regulation 7(1) of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999:T:j