JAJ

If this was happening at any of the passport offices in Britain it would be front page news.

I wonder would any of the British newspapers be interested to know how bad the overseas passport service is (especially in Washington).

lyonsden1193

Here is my 2 pence worth... comments please

I see a lot of discussion over the Embassy website and what it says...
When I (and a lot of other people applied ) it said 4 weeks turn round from send to return..it has now been CHANGED.. SO WHAT... when I purchase anything I expect some semblance of a promise kept.

now on to what is reasonable (prev post)

I consider it reasonable for it to be done in double the amount of advertised time in my case that should be 8 weeks for a renewal.

Dont book travel before having new passport!

I like most people work for companies that impose some regulation about when you can take vacation AND like most people that subscribe to this site, I have limits on funds and have to book airfares I can afford.

Careline

Call to Careline was useless. if any other Org/company operated like this some of us would be talking to a lawyer to get our money back. Some of us would probably be calling the press. I find it disgusting that a service is offered, charged for, and then hides behind the 'data protection act' to avoid doing the very job it was set up to do.

The ignorance of power


Have sent 3 complaints (e mails ) to FCO ... all bounced back as undeliverable!!!
sent complaint (e mail) to Careline ... no response!!
sent complaint to number 10.. no response!!
Oh what a suprise!!

12/04 recvd DC
18/05 CC taken
31/05 careline (wow what an expensive waste of time and money)
09/06 still have not got a clue when??
30/06 probably a cx'd trip!!

Many on here have received help from Dean Churm. Very admirable on his part but I think he is probably pulling his hair out.

As i've said before Third world service from a moneygrabbing First world nation!

trinbrit

so much said here is true but what about first time apps,we too are still waiting extremely long periods and right again if someone told me that a british insitution was taking this long to do this i would have told them never i would not believe them,but something serious must have gone wrong for these things to be so late and lets not forget the terror threats so it has to have alot of back ground checking going on hopefully soon they might just have a wash of pp being sent off at the same time and the back log brought under control.

StephieFaith83

My credit card was charged today.

Timeline so far:

Received in Washington 05/05
Credit Card Charged 06/08

renu5idhu

Hi Guys,

So i finally got a call back from washington, only to tell me the same thing as careline, my application is still not showing in the system... And that it might be in the mail room still... she is going to look and call me back by tomorrow.. i guess its a start, oh she also re confirmed the reciving of over 300 applications a day since April. Mine was sent out may 4 received i hope May 9.. hope you all have better luck today...

mcphopkins

How long was it to get the phone call from DC after you called the careline?

renu5idhu

hi, i first called on the 30th may and they said someone will call back in 72hours... i called again yesterday after no call and they put in a second request and i got a call back this morning...

cheryl56

So here is a update to my situation...brief recap:
Applications received washington March 5th
First call to Careline beginning of May...they have a backlog and should receive them in a couple of weeks!!
Second call to Careline 30th May,spoke to a nice young man who told me oldest daughters passport app is showing up in system,not 2nd daughter!!! Given a case # and should hear from someone within 3 days!!!No phonecall!!!
Friday 3rd June,called Careline,should hear from someone before end of business day!No phonecall!!!!Sent a nasty email to Careline which generated a automatic reply back stating they weren't able to actually do anything about passports and to call the passport office in Washington...DUH!!!!
Discovered this website which actually made me feel better in the fact of not being alone in this stressful situation.PM Dean who got back to me quickly with advice to call LA,our nearest Consulate
Daughter called them Monday 6th June and was basically told our trip was too far out to expedite(June 28th)!!!! Call back in about week/week and half!!
PM Dean again,very quick to respond back,gave me more advice.
Tuesday 7th June daughter got a message from Washington to call them asap.Called and left message Tuesday night.Very helpful young man called her first thing on Wed 8th June,just needed to email him 2 more forms of ID,(done) and the passports would be sent out at the latest Monday 13th!!
I am now breathing a bit easier but will do a little dance when I have them in my hand.This has been a nightmare and there is just no excuse for it.I bought my family's airline tickets late April thinking 4mths was plenty of time for them to renew 2 passports!!! My husband is definitely going to contest the phonecall charges to careline which produced no results!!
One good thing that has come out of all this is that I found this great site

Jerseygirl

Every cloud has a silver lining.

renu5idhu

Iv had my credit card chargrd today!! yippeee i guess they found the application... now lets hope it will arrive on time...

kensha

Hi Dean, My application was received 21st Apr and CC was charged on the 26th of May. I'm a Graduate student and I need my passport to apply for OPT. My time for it is running out. Pls advise what I should do. Thanks

trinbrit

Hey guys has anybody had any luck with regards to first apps other than renwals? is the status on this the same as the renu's because its been like what 10 wks since i posted,
i mailed off on the 1st april recieved dc 4th apr money taken out on 16th may and its now 9th june and i think the more i read here the more i get frustrated because the fact that other people are going through this doesnt help the situstion.
should i send dean a msg i havent done and i really dont want to be another bother to him his inbox must be scary.

lyonsden1193

Kudos to Monty python... I didn't think many years ago that Monty python would be apprapo to this situation.

If you have a problem .... call Careline
Call Careline ..... cant help. .... Data protection act!!
Complaint to careline....Cant help ... Data protection act!!
e mail from careline complaints dept ...says call careline for help???

memories of dead parrots and ministry of silly walks.

or in plain english.. official stupidity run rampant!!

DanniU

I think we are on the same timeline, they received mine may 9th, and no payment taken yet. So the fact they took yours, gives me a little hope. perhaps they will take payment in the next few days, and if not, then I will really panic...

trinbrit

Well its not the fact that the payment is gonna be taken its how long its taking,the majority of people here when applied did not have the warning of the backlog so everybody was barganing that they ewere gonna get there passports in 4 to 6 wks. So thats why everybody is a lil worked up. People dont like waiting aswell as unpleasant surprises its human nature.