Passport Renewal: Account Locked & No Refund

Scientomology

I applied for a passport renewal online for my mum where they took payment of £72.50 but my sister entered the details incorrect 3 times when she went to print the forms and they locked the account. When my sister rang to ask them for help, they told her they are unable to unlock the account nor give a refund and that a new application as well as the fee needs to be provided again. This seems like pure theft as I paid for a service/product and they have not provided it and just kept the money! :shocked:

I am going to ring them myself tomorrow to see what *** they are going to tell me about it all. :mad:

I am going to contact my bank regarding this also but the problem is that I have switched banks (through the switch guarantee thing) so my old account is closed on which the payment was made through.

Will the original bank still be required to do an investigation for me?

I don't actually remember being warned that this would happen, although they do say that if you lose your login details then they won't be given again. They never mentioned anything about keeping the money!

Can anyone please advise me further and whether what HM Passport Office are doing is legal?

Thanks

LilElvis

Scientomology wrote: »

I applied for a passport renewal online for my mum where they took payment of £72.50 but my sister entered the details incorrect 3 times when she went to print the forms and they locked the account. When my sister rang to ask them for help, they told her they are unable to unlock the account nor give a refund and that a new application as well as the fee needs to be provided again. This seems like pure theft as I paid for a service/product and they have not provided it and just kept the money! :shocked:

I am going to ring them myself tomorrow to see what *** they are going to tell me about it all. :mad:

I am going to contact my bank regarding this also but the problem is that I have switched banks (through the switch guarantee thing) so my old account is closed on which the payment was made through.

Will the original bank still be required to do an investigation for me?

I don't actually remember being warned that this would happen, although they do say that if you lose your login details then they won't be given again. They never mentioned anything about keeping the money!

Can anyone please advise me further and whether what HM Passport Office are doing is legal?

Thanks

Which website did you use? Was it one that included .gov in the address?

Scientomology

Yes of course!

It was https://passportapplication.service.gov.uk/ips-olc/

Keep_pedalling

On the "what if I have forgotten web page" it says you have to start again if you haven't paid. If you have paid it says you have to provide the application number and some personal details, so I would try ringing again and hope you get someone who knows the correct procedure this time.


https://passportapplication.service.gov.uk/help/html/pages/10.07_03_forgottenlogin_en.html?backtoPage=https://passportapplication.service.gov.uk/ips-olc/gs10_01.form

Helix

I have the print off of the last screen in front of me as I renewed my passport last week. It states that the account details cannot be provided again and should be printed off.

It also states that if you fail to submit the form within 90 days the application will be cancelled and the fee kept. I guess in this case, you can't print off the form and therefore meet the requirement to send it back to them within 90 days.

The help page does say you can contact the Passport Advice line if you forget the details after you have paid. I assume in this case they will send you a form in the post.

Plus the username is your first initial, surname and some random numbers which are made up. The password is generated too. So did your Sister enter the correct username but wrong password 3 times or did she just guess at both. In that case the account probably isn't locked you might just need to use a different browser and use the correct details this time.

Scientomology

I will call them tomorrow and see if they can send it; although I am not hopeful as my sister did try and they told her there was nothing they could do. I have been sent the login details I wrote down for her and perhaps she thought a w was a W or a 4 was a 9 and this is why it got locked. I did not have a printer at the time to print anything and they do not send login details to emails so they are just creating potential problems.

If HMPO are unable to help me and say they can't refund me (which seems ridiculous) then might I be able to claw this money back through my bank, since I'm thinking they are not entitled to the money as they have not provided me with the product I paid for? Surely I won't reported to the police for fraud if I do this?

I do not understand why they keep the money if no passport has been sent?! Under what consumer laws allows such thievery?! I'm sure I have not been the only one in this position.

Pollycat

Scientomology wrote: »

Yes of course!

It was https://passportapplication.service.gov.uk/ips-olc/

No 'of course' about it.

This forum is full of complaints from people who didn't use the official website.
It was a valid question from LilElvis.

eproctophilia

what happened with this? did you get a refund???

[Deleted User]

eproctophilia wrote: »

what happened with this? did you get a refund???

User "Scientomology" last logged into this site in September 2015, so he's unlikely to read or respond to your query.
This thread is almost a year old.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.php?u=132093

agrinnall

Eproctophilia has his own thread running on the Overseas Travel board, I think he's just clutching at straws as the answers on there aren't going his way.

eproctophilia

agrinnall wrote: »

Eproctophilia has his own thread running on the Overseas Travel board, I think he's just clutching at straws as the answers on there aren't going his way.

is there a problem?