Post Office Passport Check & Send

peachyprice

lisa701 wrote: »

I just expected that one of the codes on the receipt I'd been given to be the barcode.

Have you tried putting the any of the codes on the receipt into the Royal Mail Track & Trace?


https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item

lisa701

Yes but none of them are recognised. I've spoken to customer services and they say I should have received a second receipt with the details on it, all I have been given is the sales receipt showing what I've paid for and my visa card details.

Managed to contact the branch, who promised to call me back before 1pm but I'm still waiting 3 hours later. Customer Services have logged it as a complaint but apparently that can take 10 working days for them to review so I'm no better off.

The most frustrating thing about is if I'd used my birth certificate and got someone "proper" to sign the form I could have applied for my student loan 4 weeks ago, but having been told doing it online using your passport was more secure and faster I opted for that route. Now £81.25 out of pocket and still nowhere nearer getting my application done.

angel00079

Did you put a mobile number on the form? If so did you receive a text to say that your application has been received?

lisa701

Yes I did but never received any text message.

lisa701

Finally obtained the barcode and called the passport office. They told me that despite me going into the post office on 20th and the payment being deducted from my bank account on 22nd, they didnt actually receive my application until 29th. Where on earth has it been for 9 days? If I had completed the forms and posted them myself by special delivery it would have been with them the very next day, not 9 days later.

Been told to give it at least another 2 weeks, thats 6 weeks in total and going on todays news I'm expecting it to be delayed even further.

I cannot cancel my application, well I can but they wont refund my payment. So I'm now around £90 out of pocket by the time you include the cost of photos, countless telephone calls, application fee and post office charge and still no nearer sending off my student loan application. Will need to follow the alternative route and send off my birth certificate (at more cost for special delivery) and wait.

Had I just done that in the first place I would probably have an answer by now, but all this has caused delay which may mean I also have to pay my first term fees as the loan will go through too late.

SnowTiger

lisa701 wrote: »

Finally obtained the barcode and called the passport office. They told me that despite me going into the post office on 20th and the payment being deducted from my bank account on 22nd, they didnt actually receive my application until 29th. Where on earth has it been for 9 days? If I had completed the forms and posted them myself by special delivery it would have been with them the very next day, not 9 days later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27789916

Hmmm, yes. The 29th may have been when your application entered their system after being stored, therefore keeping the official waiting time figure down.

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

Secure: we’ll send your application by Special Delivery™

Does your receipt have a code for the tracking?

lisa701

None of the codes on the receipt appear to be valid on the track & trace site. The barcode only appears to mean something to the passport office themselves.

I don't know who to believe. Passport Office have told me the 29th is the day it was received by then, then it was forwarded to their Belfast office for processing arriving there on 30th. Even they cannot understand why if I went to the post office on 20th it took until 29th to reach them regardless of the delays they are experiencing.

I'm starting to think the post office kept hold of it until they got their barcode printer working again hence the delay. Did seem strange they were very reluctant to provide me with that number until a couple of days ago.

Anyway, at least I know sort of where my application is now, but its going to be too late for my loan application to be procesed in enough time so I'm pretty fed up at the moment.

photome

lisa701 wrote: »

None of the codes on the receipt appear to be valid on the track & trace site. The barcode only appears to mean something to the passport office themselves.

I don't know who to believe. Passport Office have told me the 29th is the day it was received by then, then it was forwarded to their Belfast office for processing arriving there on 30th. Even they cannot understand why if I went to the post office on 20th it took until 29th to reach them regardless of the delays they are experiencing.

I'm starting to think the post office kept hold of it until they got their barcode printer working again hence the delay. Did seem strange they were very reluctant to provide me with that number until a couple of days ago.

Anyway, at least I know sort of where my application is now, but its going to be too late for my loan application to be procesed in enough time so I'm pretty fed up at the moment.

Havent you got another 2 weeks before the student loan deadline?

lisa701

Its not for a university course, its with a training provider so their deadlines are different.

They require payment by 1st August, student finance have told me to give it 6 weeks for them to make a decision so I will need to get my application submitted by 20th June at the latest. Nearer to that date, the longer its likely to take. When I explained this to the Post Office they assured me my passport would be returned well before then, but thats clearly not the case. Had I known that I would have considered paying the extra to fast track it but they said that wouldnt be necessary - how wrong they were.

I called the passport office again yesterday to ask about fast tracking it. They said it may be possible, but I would need to speak to the Belfast office to organise it. They would not give me the Belfast number so I've just got to sit back and wait for them to contact me - but given what others have said I'm not optimistic they will call me.

Air_Cooled_75

Understaffed or not I have always been under the impression that this time of the year is the worst for passport applications, everyone else seems to want to do it too

Hope you get sorted out soon.