BBC - passport website sues it's customers - Richard Howard britishpassportservices

fermi

britishpassportservices .co.uk

BBC - News - Passport website sues its customers


--> Listen to the Radio 4 'You and Yours' here <--

An unofficial passport website has sued more than 150 of its own customers after they tried to cancel or refused to pay believing they had been misled.

Some who used Britishpassportservices.co.uk said they thought they were on the government's official website when trying to book appointments for urgent passports.

But the website told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours that there were disclaimers which the customers did not read.

Some of them have now been sued.

'Threatening'

Retired City of London Police officer Mark Dilliway paid Britishpassportservices.co.uk £117 for an appointment - which is free of charge from the government.

"There was a button there to arrange an urgent appointment," he said.

It was not until he rang the official Passport Office that he realised his mistake.

"They said you haven't made the appointment through any of our offices, you've made it through a third party. That was when I felt sick. I just could not believe I'd fallen for it," he said.

Martin Wyatt, from Bristol, did not realise what had happened until he got to the Passport Office for the appointment.

His credit card company agreed to stop the payment, but later the website owners warned they would take legal action.

"They left threatening messages and by that time the cost inflated to about £177 and they detailed various calls and various text messages charging you typically £5 or £10 for each contact," he said.

'Valuable service'

Chantelle Parker Mills said she worked out it was not the official site and pulled out before entering payment, and booked her own appointment with the official Passport Office.

She said the company had been extremely aggressive.

UK Services and Support Ltd which runs Britishpassportservcies.co.uk went on to sue her, and succeeded because when court documents arrived - giving Ms Mills 14 days to respond - she ignored them.

In cases like this, if one side does not turn up, the other side automatically wins. This is called a default judgement. The case has not been looked at by a judge at all.

UK Services and Support Ltd is 18 months old, and has sued 150 people - obtaining default judgements against them.

Richard Howard, the 28-year-old director of UK Services and Support Ltd, repeatedly denied his website misleads people into believing it is the government site.

He pointed out that at the top of his site it said "no government affiliation" and it also said "our fees can be avoided by visiting the Post or Passport Offices incurring just the passport fee still due if using our service as we are an unaccredited company without any government license" [sic].

Mr Howard also insisted he offered a valuable service.

He has also set up a political party, which runs what looks like a regulator website [noparse]www.websitestandardsagency.eu[/noparse] and also what looks like a consumer advice website, consumer-rights.org.uk. Neither is official.

In September 2014, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled another of Mr Howard's passport sites [noparse]www.Ukpassportoffices.co.uk[/noparse] was misleading consumers.

Five years ago his company, Phonenumbers4u Ltd, was fined by the premium rate regulator Phonepayplus.

Exile_geordie

Interesting stuff. Someone needs to go court and challenge this though they are only offering a service so its a tough one to call really.

fermi

Post for link to Your and Yours Radio 4 broadcast.

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

DoaM

Careful fermi - you're a board guide and should know better. You've posted the same thing in several places - technically this is spamming.

(And no - I haven't reported it).

fermi

Exile_geordie wrote: »

Interesting stuff. Someone needs to go court and challenge this though they are only offering a service so its a tough one to call really.

Yes, it is going to be tested in court.

hpuse

Exile_geordie wrote: »

Interesting stuff. Someone needs to go court and challenge this though they are only offering a service so its a tough one to call really.

Putting things mildly does not wash away the root cause of these scams!

fermi

Exile_geordie wrote: »

Interesting stuff. Someone needs to go court and challenge this though they are only offering a service so its a tough one to call really.

fermi wrote: »

Yes, it is going to be tested in court.

Detail in here, and a lot more on the shameful actions of this company/person.

Exposed: The shameless copycat website's boss who threatens wary customers with court - but don't swear, he'll charge you £10 for it

The Mail on Sunday gives it a whole 3 page spread.

hpuse

Last year - people used to run polls to decide and persuade MSE to remove this thread claiming that my thread is misleading ever than copycats.

So here is my poll:

How many of you think Richard Howard has posted/postings in this thread?
YES/NO :-)

fermi

Two new Mail on Sunday pieces on Richard Howard and his passport sites.

Link -> NOTHING TO DECLARE! He's happy to charge huge fees and send emails threatening customers with court... but when we track down the Passport Profiteer to a dingy industrial unit he is unusually silent

Link -> Copycat website boss confronted: Jeff Prestridge grills Richard Howard of British Passport Services

Hiding behind the safety of a computer screen, the architect of a scam passport appointment service routinely shows no mercy in bullying customers who have the temerity to dispute his outrageous bills.

Threatening emails – parts written in red for emphasis – surcharges galore and county court claims are his speciality.But when tracked down in person last week by The Mail on Sunday to his office in South West London, Richard Howard, owner of copycat website British Passport Services, was suddenly lost for words.

He became a trembling 6ft 3in shadow of the individual who normally has no compunction when it comes to texting vulnerable customers late at night stating he may report them to the City of London Police for failing to pay his ‘bills’.

Emerging from his first-floor office on an industrial estate just outside Wimbledon, the 28-year-old refused to answer questions about the legitimacy of his business or to explain why he was happy to throw county court claims around like confetti, including one against a 51-year-old woman suffering from sensory paralysis from the chest down.

agrinnall

hpuse wrote: »

Last year - people used to run polls to decide and persuade MSE to remove this thread claiming that my thread is misleading ever than copycats.

So here is my poll:

How many of you think Richard Howard has posted/postings in this thread?
YES/NO :-)

Has your tin foil hat got a tear in it, because you are coming across as extremely paranoid? Do you think RH has posted in this thread, because I see no sign of it.

zagfles

agrinnall wrote: »

Has your tin foil hat got a tear in it, because you are coming across as extremely paranoid? Do you think RH has posted in this thread, because I see no sign of it.

I think the PP was referring to a very long and boring thread in the PVW board full of people defending the operations of shyster sites. I'd be surprised if there weren't vested interests at work there, can't be that many people sad enough to whine "should have read the website, it's all perfectly clear" as many times as in that thread if they didn't have some sort of vested interest!