Passport service site pressing for payment

helmbarrie

My daughter applied for a passport through British Passport Services. She realised it was a scam but a legal one just before she paid. She contacted me and said the company was chasing her for the payment. I went to the site and completed the form to see for myself. I did not send payment either. They booked me an appointment at the passport office. They are now texting, emailing phoning and now have sent a letter with a prepaid envelope.


I will not be paying them and have told them I do not wish to use the service.


Anyone else been harassed for payment by this or others like it?

powerful_Rogue

In the below thread from about page 79 someone is having exactly the same problem.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4869030

The issue seems to arise from the T&C's you have to agree too before you input any details, regardless of whether you pay at the end of the process of not.

The service fee you pay our independent organisation (starting at £62.40) for this service is non-refundable and is payment for use of our online booking form, our passport advisors checking the details you’ve entered for any errors or omissions and submitting the form to the Passport Offices’ processing department. This fee is due within 72hrs of completing the form. By using this service you may receive email and free sms notifications from us and other companies in our group.

Here is a link to their collection charges as well.
http://charges.britishpassportservices.co.uk/

Seems to be a way of catching people out.

bod1467

As we have said in that other thread - ignore them. They can't make you pay without going to court, and they almost certainly WON'T be doing that.

annas1974

helmbarrie wrote: »

My daughter applied for a passport through British Passport Services. She realised it was a scam but a legal one just before she paid. She contacted me and said the company was chasing her for the payment. I went to the site and completed the form to see for myself. I did not send payment either. They booked me an appointment at the passport office. They are now texting, emailing phoning and now have sent a letter with a prepaid envelope.


I will not be paying them and have told them I do not wish to use the service.


Anyone else been harassed for payment by this or others like it?

Yes my mother in law, but we found out that they never book her an appointment.

fermi

Important info here for the britishpassportservices issue

---> http://legalbeagles.info/consumers-still-caught-misleading-passport-websites/

visidigi

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Here is a link to their collection charges as well.
http://charges.britishpassportservices.co.uk/

Seems to be a way of catching people out.

Love the abusive language charge... :rotfl:

daytona0

visidigi wrote: »

Love the abusive language charge... :rotfl:

Yes I was about to comment the same thing, but the funniest thing is that the abusive language charge corresponds to the part at the top of the page "We are not authorized to charge interest on the sum due, the fee’s we charge are administration charge"

Why the hell would an administrative charge become payable for abusive language?! Haha what the hell are they doing in the company?

There are likely two reasons, and one is actually possibly a data protection breach:

1. Company counsels their employees when they are abused and take emotional distress from customers

2. Company collects information on who is being angry/abusive. This would be unnecessary data collection, and I'm fairly confident that data protection breach would be the collection of non relevant information

(I lie, there is also 3. That they are a dodgy company which is trying to extort money from people)

akkers

Hmmm...this is confusing.
Why are people using 3rd party websites to apply for passports when the official UK Passport application is so simple and straightforward (through the post or the Post Office)?

This is like applying for a Tukey tourist visa through a 3rd party for £70-80 when the official Turkey visa website charges £12 and is so easy to use.

fluffnutter

akkers wrote: »

Hmmm...this is confusing.
Why are people using 3rd party websites to apply for passports when the official UK Passport application is so simple and straightforward (through the post or the Post Office)?

This is like applying for a Tukey tourist visa through a 3rd party for £70-80 when the official Turkey visa website charges £12 and is so easy to use.

Because they don't realise it's not an official site, because some sites are disingenuous about what their fees encompass, and because Google takes money from companies in return for putting them top of the list when you search for, say, 'passport renewal'.

Franglais69

My passport was stolen on Dec 5 last year in France. Luckily for me I live in France so there was no real urgency for a replacement as I was not travelling outside of France.

However I applied online to the UK governments Belfast office on Dec 8, was dealt with promptly and helpfully by the staff there and received my new passport on Dec 28th! Not bad considering there was Xmas in between.

I even received a refund on my payment as there were no other papers to be returned to me.

Moral of the story? Go online to the UK Gov site, fill in the forms (dead easy) get the required picture (any photobooth) and send the application off with your payment. Most difficult task? Signing within the white box!

fermi

Today on 'You & Yours' - Radio 4 - 12:15pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053c3p8

Shari Vahl has investigated a website that charges for passport appointments, and explains why it is suing many of its customers.