Refund for incorrect passport application

Peggy0628

Was trying to renew passport online but got confused and accidentally clicked on 'apply for first adult passport' instead of a renewal. Noticed the mistake only after I entered credir card details and confirmed payment.
Is there a way to cancel this incorrect application and get a refund of the fees already paid (it's £75.50)? Need the passport but can't afford to pay for it twice...
Tried calling the CC company immediately after noticing the mistake but they said they can't stop the payment
Is there a way to get the money back? Thanks for help!

da_rule

You could contact the passport office and see if they can refund you and cancel the application or if there's some way they can transfer the payment.

DCFC79

Phoning them is the most obvious solution. If that dont work then dont know what other option you have.

Peggy0628

That's what I was thinking but I did some search and found this (see below) and it worries me now. All I did was tick a wrong box on one page and it took me from 'renewal' to 'apply for 1st passport' without me realizing untill in was too late. The website clearly is not as fool-proof as it should be... I won't be able to contact the passport people untill Monday afternoon, I hope it won't be too late.

Refund of fees
IPS no longer refunds fees for unsuccessful and withdrawn applications. This
was prompted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) amendment
of the definition of the Consular Fee Order (CFO). The CFO definition was
amended to charge customers for administering the passport application,
rather than for issuing a passport, and this took effect from the 1st of May
2008.
This means that the fees for passport applications made in the UK and
overseas after 01/05/2008 are non-refundable in the event that the application
is unsuccessful or withdrawn. It applies to all forms of passport applications:
first time applications, renewals, replacements...

Valli

Which website did you use? Adult passports are £72.50.

shaun_from_Africa

Valli wrote: »

Which website did you use? Adult passports are £72.50.

You can also opt to pay an extra £3 to get any documents that you had to provided returned by secure post.
If this is what the OP chose then it would explain the £75.50

da_rule

Peggy0628 wrote: »

That's what I was thinking but I did some search and found this (see below) and it worries me now. All I did was tick a wrong box on one page and it took me from 'renewal' to 'apply for 1st passport' without me realizing untill in was too late. The website clearly is not as fool-proof as it should be... I won't be able to contact the passport people untill Monday afternoon, I hope it won't be too late.

Refund of fees
IPS no longer refunds fees for unsuccessful and withdrawn applications. This
was prompted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) amendment
of the definition of the Consular Fee Order (CFO). The CFO definition was
amended to charge customers for administering the passport application,
rather than for issuing a passport, and this took effect from the 1st of May
2008.
This means that the fees for passport applications made in the UK and
overseas after 01/05/2008 are non-refundable in the event that the application
is unsuccessful or withdrawn. It applies to all forms of passport applications:
first time applications, renewals, replacements...

Can't hurt calling them to check. But if that is their policy and you are essentially withdrawing the application due to your own error then it might be there isn't anything you can do.

alumende27

Just write a covering letter explaining your mistake. They won't charge you twice.

Source: Been there, done that.

photome

What did they say when you called them

agrinnall

dsdhall wrote: »

Just write a covering letter explaining your mistake. They won't charge you twice.

Source: Been there, done that.

It might work, but they are processing applications within a few days just now (source: just renewed mine) so by the time a letter arrives they may have already dealt with the OP's request. I think ringing them up would have a better chance of sorting things out before they get too far down the line.

alumende27

If OP has filled out an application for a new passport online, at the end of process it will produce a pre-filled form for download. That'll require signing and countersigning by a third person along with a couple of photos. The covering letter should accompany that.

I agree that a phone call to the passport office would be the right first course of action, but they (should) then tell the OP to write a covering letter accompanying the application explaining the error they made.