d4ever21

we are with willis brazelot but getting very frustrated with the way they drag their feet !! has anyone else had experience with them ?

FlirtyKnickers

We've been with Canada Visa and I have to say they've been great...no complaints so far. If you don't mind me asking whats the prob? mrs 007

FlirtyKnickers

Well we paid $500 up front, on 20/aug/05...then when our application when in we paid another $500, that was on the 9/sept/05...we got our 90 letter in Dec 07 but didn't recieve the forms til the 8/1/08..but that was due to the xmas holidays and the crap postal service in Canada..we then got a request for the remainder of the fee to be paid on the 13/3/08 as the medical request was issued....the only thing that drives me mad is having to post everything off to Canada for it to be returned to London......I understand that it sometimes seems that your being ignored by the lawyer, but for over TWO years we had no contact with them whatsoever!!! It's hard to be patient but you have to be...there's no other way to get through this..

Andrew Miller

Sorry for jumping in here but seems a little bit of reality check is needed from the other side of the desk...

1. In most cases without arranged employment today there is nothing to report for years as nothing is happening while application just sits in the queue waiting for it's turn - thus there is nothing to update you with by your lawyer.

2. But if you really want to be updated as often as you want, then instead of paying your lawyer/consultant a fixed fee retain him/her on hourly basis. This way you will get call every week or even few times a week, even when there is nothing to report, but you'll be charged for every call or email on the basis of hour or 1/2 of hour even if call takes few minutes - you'll receive monthly or biweekly invoice with charges for preparation to call you, going through file, thinking about your case, etc.. Is this what you want?

Please understand that all of us who charge a fixed per case fee calculate our fees on the basis of average time we need to spend on the case, how much we charge per hour for hourly consultations and then most of us apply some discount to the packaged price - then, if client takes much more of our time we are being paid less per average calculated hour. If we get more clients like this then of course we have to recalculate our per case fees and everybody starts paying more.

It triggers similar effect with prices as with processing times in visa posts - more applicants and more often ask for status update the longer processing times become for everybody as officers instead of processing cases need to reply to status requests.

d4ever21

YEAH I UNDERSTAND THIS BUT WE ARE ALREADY OVER HERE LIVING THE DREAM ... OH WORKING ON THE TWP PROG ... BUT WHEN FACED WITH A PROBLEM WHERE ARE W/B ? FEEL LIKE ON OUR OWN WITH THIS !!!

Andrew Miller

I understand your frustration and you are not alone. Most who hire services of large firms (especially those offering low prices) face similar problems. Why? Let me try to explain.

There are two main types of immigration firms - (1) small ones, with one to 3 lawyers/consultants doing all work on their own and taking only number of cases they can handle per year; and (2) larger and big firms who take as many cases as they can get and simply hire more office staff (or get more law students volunteering their time) to do the paperwork.

With (1) above you get personal service and lawyer/consultant who communicates with you is the one who works on your case from beginning to the end and who knows your case. As result there is less problems and complains about lack of communication.

With (2) above it is some low level office staff member and/or volunteering law student working on your file and s/he's only going to the boss (not always though) for signature. In large firms like this obviously the caseload is several times bigger than the boss can handle, even if by "handling" I mean replying to requests/questions from clients from time to time. Those large firms are "immigration mills" who can afford low prices as 95% or more work is simply done by volunteering students or low paid (usually under $30/hr) office staff and boss who charges $300 to $600+ per hour not only doesn't have enough time to respond to each individual request and know each case, but s/he simply cannot afford doing it when there are clients waiting in line to pay those $300 to $600+per hour. As always - you only get what you paid for...

Reghuraj

you might be in a state of frustration, but kindly be polite here in this forum. No need to be rude by shouting.

regs

d4ever21

SORRY didnt mean to be so rude !!!!will watch language in future my apologies...

FlirtyKnickers

Well I never,,,,i feel the need for some prozac(anyone care to join me) mrs 007

FlirtyKnickers

No one likes to feel there on their own in all this...try and chill and take the advice Andrew has given you...

d4ever21

yeah your right thank you Andrew ...just sooooo frustrated with the whole process...but hey at least we,r further along than most.....