Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Jun 20th 2007, 8:35 am
#1
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Joined: Jan 2005
Location: Asia Pacific
Posts: 4,922
Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
So - my wife wants to renew an expired UK passport. Sent the darn thing off to the High Consulate in Canberra and her credit card was debited a couple of weeks ago.
Its quite urgent she gets her passport to travel with in a week so she calls the consulate just to ask what the time for processing is or whether or not she should panic since it might have been sent back to us but not received etc.
Do you get a phone queue or put on hold ? Nope - what you get is a choice to either call a telephone number that you will be billed $1.50 per min or you can choose to speak straight to a customer officer for a mere $7.50 which you can conveniently pay by credit card before they will answer a simple question.
And there was me thinking that I had escaped being fleeced by the UK government (and instead get fleeced by the Queensland government
)
I know its not a lot, but since the passport application fee is frankly - HUGE, you would have thought that they could at least give you an idea of how long the processing time may be without charging you a couple of bucks more.
Its quite urgent she gets her passport to travel with in a week so she calls the consulate just to ask what the time for processing is or whether or not she should panic since it might have been sent back to us but not received etc.
Do you get a phone queue or put on hold ? Nope - what you get is a choice to either call a telephone number that you will be billed $1.50 per min or you can choose to speak straight to a customer officer for a mere $7.50 which you can conveniently pay by credit card before they will answer a simple question.
And there was me thinking that I had escaped being fleeced by the UK government (and instead get fleeced by the Queensland government
)I know its not a lot, but since the passport application fee is frankly - HUGE, you would have thought that they could at least give you an idea of how long the processing time may be without charging you a couple of bucks more.
Jun 20th 2007, 8:38 am
#2
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Cheeky bar stewards 
Jun 20th 2007, 8:49 am
#3
Proudly Deplorable
Joined: May 2003
Location: Alloha snack bar
Posts: 24,246
Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
So - my wife wants to renew an expired UK passport. Sent the darn thing off to the High Consulate in Canberra and her credit card was debited a couple of weeks ago.
Its quite urgent she gets her passport to travel with in a week so she calls the consulate just to ask what the time for processing is or whether or not she should panic since it might have been sent back to us but not received etc.
Do you get a phone queue or put on hold ? Nope - what you get is a choice to either call a telephone number that you will be billed $1.50 per min or you can choose to speak straight to a customer officer for a mere $7.50 which you can conveniently pay by credit card before they will answer a simple question.
And there was me thinking that I had escaped being fleeced by the UK government (and instead get fleeced by the Queensland government)
I know its not a lot, but since the passport application fee is frankly - HUGE, you would have thought that they could at least give you an idea of how long the processing time may be without charging you a couple of bucks more.
Its quite urgent she gets her passport to travel with in a week so she calls the consulate just to ask what the time for processing is or whether or not she should panic since it might have been sent back to us but not received etc.
Do you get a phone queue or put on hold ? Nope - what you get is a choice to either call a telephone number that you will be billed $1.50 per min or you can choose to speak straight to a customer officer for a mere $7.50 which you can conveniently pay by credit card before they will answer a simple question.
And there was me thinking that I had escaped being fleeced by the UK government (and instead get fleeced by the Queensland government
)I know its not a lot, but since the passport application fee is frankly - HUGE, you would have thought that they could at least give you an idea of how long the processing time may be without charging you a couple of bucks more.
http://www.australia.org.uk/lhlh/contact.html
So it's 'rip off Australia' too!
Jun 20th 2007, 8:55 am
#4
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Back home :)
Posts: 1,706
Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
So - my wife wants to renew an expired UK passport. Sent the darn thing off to the High Consulate in Canberra and her credit card was debited a couple of weeks ago.
Its quite urgent she gets her passport to travel with in a week so she calls the consulate just to ask what the time for processing is or whether or not she should panic since it might have been sent back to us but not received etc.
Do you get a phone queue or put on hold ? Nope - what you get is a choice to either call a telephone number that you will be billed $1.50 per min or you can choose to speak straight to a customer officer for a mere $7.50 which you can conveniently pay by credit card before they will answer a simple question.
And there was me thinking that I had escaped being fleeced by the UK government (and instead get fleeced by the Queensland government)
I know its not a lot, but since the passport application fee is frankly - HUGE, you would have thought that they could at least give you an idea of how long the processing time may be without charging you a couple of bucks more.
Its quite urgent she gets her passport to travel with in a week so she calls the consulate just to ask what the time for processing is or whether or not she should panic since it might have been sent back to us but not received etc.
Do you get a phone queue or put on hold ? Nope - what you get is a choice to either call a telephone number that you will be billed $1.50 per min or you can choose to speak straight to a customer officer for a mere $7.50 which you can conveniently pay by credit card before they will answer a simple question.
And there was me thinking that I had escaped being fleeced by the UK government (and instead get fleeced by the Queensland government
)I know its not a lot, but since the passport application fee is frankly - HUGE, you would have thought that they could at least give you an idea of how long the processing time may be without charging you a couple of bucks more.
its meant to be 20 days to process, presume 'working' days........
good luck
x
Jun 20th 2007, 9:16 am
#5
Thread Starter
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Location: Asia Pacific
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Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Jun 20th 2007, 9:24 am
#6
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Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Jun 20th 2007, 10:10 am
#7
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,560
Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Mine took 5 weeks cost $560 in total for a adult passport and kids one plus courier fees alot of money more than double you would pay renewing it in the uk
kezx
kezx
Jun 20th 2007, 10:35 am
#9
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Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Jun 20th 2007, 10:53 am
#11
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Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Cant i just get a form sent over from the uk?
Jun 20th 2007, 11:19 am
#12
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,560
Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
you download forms from www.britaus.net that what i did.
Jun 20th 2007, 11:22 am
#13
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Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
Jun 20th 2007, 11:39 am
#14
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Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
My two kids passports have just ran out. So rather than have two I thought I`d just wait until we become citizens next year and just get them Ozzy ones!!
Jun 20th 2007, 11:54 am
#15
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Joined: Jan 2005
Location: Asia Pacific
Posts: 4,922
Re: Rip of Britain - well the High Consulate anyway
We're just delaying our flight for a week or so until we get the darn thing back for her.