soap

What is Trendys responce time to an appointment date confirmation , anyone know.?.

Don't know about the time to confirm an appointment,but if it's anything like the time it takes to collect a passport I would not hold your breath.

My mates daughters passport arrived at Trendys on the 19 th June it sat there gathering dust until yesterday the 17 July when someone from VFS got off their a*se and rang the mother to come and collect it.

BTW

That entails another 2,000 k journey there and back

Quote Digitaichromakey

Good news for your mate, but the fat lady hasn't sung quite yet.

I sincerely pray that this isn't the case, but I clearly recollect the lady who dealt with my application at trendy informing me that they would only hold a replacement passport there, once received, for 2-3 weeks then they are supposed to return it to Liverpool HMPO if it remains uncollected at that point....

Well Digi

If they do have the cheek to send it back,that would put the icing on the incompetence cake for sure.

I have told my mate to sue the HMPO,he's not like that but what's happens here i think its illegal.

When you think that he applied in GOOD FAITH on the 6th March before the changes on the 26 th

He took the HMPO word off their website that the passport would be sent back to his home by DHL plus he paid the appropriate fee at the time of 125 pound for a child 5 year passport in GOOD FAITH.

The HMPO did not refund him the the 60+pound ? That they charged him before they reduced the fees and

instead of returning the passport by DHL to their house they have sent it to the VFS Trendy office.

Now it's not my mates fault that they changed the rules,ok he entered into a verbal GOOD FAITH agreement with the HMPO and if they are not going to refund him because that was the fee before the changes.

They must honor their word and send the passport to their home address.

If there is any lawyer gurus looking i in what do you think?

.

.

This passport of my mates daughter is a ABSOLUTE DISGRACE,I know they sent the application forms out on the 6th March,he paid 125 pound that was the cost at the time for a child's 5 year passport.on the understanding that the passport when issued would be sent to their home address by DHL

They have only received two letters addressed to the address they have always given from the HMPO.

The first letter was a standard proof of address letter were to ask a 13 year old child to submit what the HMPO required was practically impossible,so they sent the letter back with the address that the HMPO had sent plus another form hoping that would suffice as proof of address.

Weeks later they received another letter from the HMPO with the same standard proof of address form but this time common sense prevailed as someone had handwritten at the bottom of the form that if they ask the teacher at the school she attends to write a letter in English stating that she goes to this school and her address on the schools records is off course what they said all along.they also said to fax a copy and then send the original letter from the school."nothing could be simpler than that "and the fax and letter was sent off within 3 days.

FINALLY (that's a long time )

The HMPO contacted my mate to say the passport had been issued and her mother could collect at the trendy office the following week, needless to say she was then told the passport had still not arrived and they would email when it arrives,this was after making a 2,000 k bus journey.

I have told my mate to sue the HMPO because the only words i can sum this episode up is and I will save the mods a job -----deleted,deleted,deleted,deleted,deleted,deleted,deleted

This is a update my mate sent me by email

Email

nobody on this planet could write this bloody script,

the latest news !! after finally being issued on 19th june and told i would be contacted shortly as to when it could be collected.............3 weeks had passed, so im back on to the main man asking how long is shortly ??......... a very sympathetic reply was received, and he has made it his top mission to get it sorted, he has been on to dhl and demanded they make it their top priorty to trace the exact whereabouts of it, (lord lucans back pocket ?)and for them to contact either me or hom quicker than asap...................he also guarantees it will be successfully resolved....

he said if weve not heard by tuesday at latest, to let him know and he would resume his chase !! bearing in mind, this email from him was on thursday, and if the dhl contact is from bkk branch ? ...well of course its fell on a buddhist bank holiday, friday through to monday, so earliest would be tuesday....................o.hum.

tommorrow will be exactly 18 weeks since the application dropped on the doorstep at old

Hall st

HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH

After my mate knocking his head against a brick wall pestering the HMPO in Liverpool

He finally got a response from HMPO Peterborough via the British embassy Bangkok today

(Your guess is as good as mine what Peterborough have got to do with it )

Peterborough HMPO informed my mate that his daughters passport was delivered to VFS

The Trendy office by DHL on (wait for it ) June 25th but they have not bothered to contact

Him or is wife to arrange collection.

So from the start on the 6th March to finally being informed that the passport as been gathering dust

at the VFS Trendy office it's exactly 18 weeks of one incompetence after incompetence.

The whole system is just a shambles

I handed my passport in on 26th May, reading delboys posts it's looking like I'm gonna go onto overstay, I'm good up to around 21st August.

Will call them next week and hopefully get this Martin chap on the phone. I think I should have just flown home and got this done. Ridiculous situation.

Another WHINGER

Oh yes. I remember well. I'm sure he will get his passport, but now he knows what a sphincter twitch feels like, especially with the new overstay blacklisting without leave to appeal, on the horizon.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

UPDATE...quote Pattaya pat

My application went in on the 26th, my credit card was debited on the 29th

So far I have been impressed with the service....apologies if that offends anyone on here.

Impressed with the service

BTW PP

My friends daughters passport application is now going into its 18 th week and still NO PASSPORT

I handed my passport in on 26th May, reading delboys posts it's looking like I'm gonna go onto overstay, I'm good up to around 21st August.

Will call them next week and hopefully get this Martin chap on the phone. I think I should have just flown home and got this done. Ridiculous situation.

Another WHINGER

Anyone know any news with the Australian network,they say is going to close,

and no more Aussie rules

My wife spoke with Pattaya immigration for me earlier today. They are aware of the problems with delays with British passports and are helping out where they can.

Question ...

How many months prior to the expiry date of the existing passport is one allowed to apply for the new passport, is it 12 months, 6 months, or 3 months. ?

If an existing passport has six months left prior to expiry date and one applies then for a new passport does the new 10 year passport include the remaining six months of the old passport.

Fellows that made the UK passport application and received the new passport should know of course what toke place about this.

Please let us know .... thanks.

I believe you can apply for a new passport 9 months prior to the expiry date of your old passport.

You will be credited with 10 years plus whatever months when you applied up to 9 months on your new passport

I'm not worrying, just concerned that, until I receive my new passport, some hitch may arise with my application. I posted on here just as information for others caught up in this mess.

In my case, my current passport expires in June 2015, and my visa extension is to November 2014. If I apply for a further 1 year extension in November on my current passport, I will only be given an extension up to the date my passport expires. Then, once I receive a new passport, I will have to apply for a 1 year extension in June 2015.

If I apply for my extension on my new passport (assuming it arrives before November) then I should get a full 1 year visa extension to November 2015.

I had originally decided to apply to Liverpool by mail in July, until the new system was introduced. I then decided not to wait, but to apply in May. Under the circumstances, I'm glad I did.

So, unless I need to leave the country, I should have no serious problem, just the stress of the unknown.

If only they had a tracking system in place, so that we could just check online to see where our application is in the grand scheme, it would surely save HMPO being swamped with phone calls. Even an automated E-Mail system to send off notifications as the application passed through the system would fit the bill, say "Passport Received, payment deducted" "Passport under examination" "Passport sent for printing" "Passport dispatched". At least we would know what was happening.

I said something similar right at the start of this thread, but to read through all the posts now would be akin to reading a rather large Stephen King novel 555.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I think it would be nearly impossible to have a tracking system,when you also have a fast track service in place.

When you have the powers that be cutting job,services etc hoping they will get a pat on the back or a lump of sugar from the likes of George Osbourne for putting an extra few million in the treasury coffers only to be pisxxd down the sink on the likes of benefits,golden handshakes etc.

So you will have the scenario of a HMPO member of staff starting to process little Joe Bloggs passport

Who lives in Mae Sai north Thailand and the boss saying "forget about little Joe Bloggs"we have a big order of fast track passports just come in that take priority.

So it becomes a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul,plus the fact you have staff holidays staff sickness days

Here's a link to the latest BBC News.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28113519

Whose idea was it really to move foreign passport appljcations to the home office?

Paul Pugh is a disgrace and should fall on his sword or get the push.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

You can rest assured Mr Paul Pugh will finish up with a knighthood,a couple of big fat pensions for services rendered.

And of course his FREE annual lifetime exotic Kuoni Holiday

Well how about this for the Guinness book of records.

My friends daughters documents for a five year child passport were sent off on MARCH 6th 2014.

On March 12 th the payment of 125 pound that was the payment for a child passport plus a DHL fee to deliver the passport back to her house was deducted from her fathers account.After numerous phone calls to HMPO trying to find out how the passport was progressing only to be fobbed off by a variety of different staff.

Nothing was heard about the passport until about the 1st MAY when her mother received a letter from the HMPO that was addressed to the address that was stated on the first application forms on the 6th March.

The letter was a standard proof of residence that required the applicant (a 13 year old girl) to provide a

Tax letter,or a employment record,or a letter from a government department,or a utility bill,etc etc that had to be translated into English showing her address. So she sent back the letter from the HMPO that had her name and address on, that she had received on the 1st May.

She received another standard letter giving the requirements for proof of residence on about the 4th June

plus also stating that they would consider canceling the application if the information was not received by the 24th June.

But please don't tell me common sense could prevail,they had hand written at the bottom of the letter that they would accept a letter from her school saying in English that she went to this school and her address on their records was what she had said all along.

Now what could be simpler than that,if they had stated in the first place that this would be accepted,they would not have put her parents under the stress i know they went through and have them run around like a blue arxsed fly.

Her mother received word on Thursday June 19 th that she could collect her daughters 5 year child passport at the trendy office today June 24th.

So from start to finish on the 6th March to June 24th i make that 111 days or just short of 16 weeks to renew a child passport,and i can assure you that the only issue they had was proof of residence

Oh I forgot the agreement her father entered into and paid 125pound was for the passport to be delivered by DHL to her home.Needless to say her mother caught the overnight bus to Bangkok as that was were the passport was sent to.Surely this must be illegal for the HMPO to deduct from your account a payment to deliver the passport by DHL and then change the rules and make you take a 2,000 k journey to collect the passport.

I find it very hard to describe in words the HMPO only to say Bungling,incompetence,hypercritical parasites,

And beaurocracy in bulk comes to mind

Sorry

It must have been the Thai language problem, but the passport as still not arrived,

The child's mother did go to the trendy office on the 24th June for a visa application and hoping to collect the passport while she was there.She was told that the passport had not arrived and they would email when it arrives,so she can make another 2,000 k journey to collect the passport.

So now its 17 weeks since she applied for a British passport,and I must stress that the only issue the HMPO had over the passport was her proof of address.

Her father paid 125 pound that was the fee before these stupid changes,on the understanding that the passport would be delivered to her home by DHL only for the HMPO to renege on their promise.

Hi

I have my appointment for the renewal of

my sons passport on Tuesday at Trendy.

This is the information I have ready to take with me;

His old passport

1 app form with sections 1,2,3,4,5, 9 and 10 filled out

x2 passport photos (1 countersigned)

Colour photo copies of every page of old passport (each page signed by me)

Letter from his school (translated into english) Original and copies

Letter from the court about custody (translated into english) originals and copies

Debit card form filled out with my UK debit card details.

I hope I have got everything in order, but please let me know if I have missed

something.

Many thanks

Assume your son is under 12.

All looks ok, presume the letter from the school confirms his name and Thai address.

Good luck - current delays are around 8 weeks from application to collection, assuming no issues, worst case to date is 16 weeks.

Hi

The school letter gives both parents names and his name stating he goes to his school at Mueang District Udon Thani, year education 2014.

It does not have the home address!? Sh*t!

You will need to get the address on the letter,as this looks like the only proof of address they will accept.

This is the one thing I feared when signing up with CTH .They have no office in Chiang Mai so no human being you can even talk to.The installer doesn't want to know about any problems so you are out on limb. So ABC Oz being on in Cha Am, lucky you, but not in CM makes perfect sense if you follow the rules of Thai logic.

We told you at the last hash you attended in Chiangrai to come and live in Chiangrai, as everything you want is there ha ha

Australia network is gone forever.

CNA was taken off air by the current administration.

The Australia network is still showing on the K+ vinasat package from Vietnam

Well, we've managed to rattle the cage enough to get the powers that be to accept some people are unable to travel and will allow a third party to present the application at Trendy on their behalf. Staying silent and accepting a poor service would have achieved nothing, so well done everyone that did their bit.

I hope by the time I need another passport HMPO will have learned from the banks, insurance companies, online retail businesses etc that the internet can be a very useful tool and will commission someone to design an overseas application procedure that is safe, secure and second to none.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I would also like to thank the likes of Whatso, digital,soi hok for keeping up their persistent whingers about a system that had no regard for people less fortunate than themselves,were common sense nearly went out the window to be replaced by illogical reasoning that encouraged knocking your head against a brick wall.

How the powers that be and their followers on this thread could sanction these new changes without taking into account the effect on British citizens who live outside of Bangkok.Well they must of been at the back of the queue when they were giving the brains out

A quick update on my passport application.

I am not 13 days into my overstay, however my dear mother in Edinburgh contacted her local MSP to complain since I was getting nowhere with HMPO.. As it turns round they managed to get my application fast tracked so i received an email on Tuesday asking for proof of residence.. I explained my overstay situation so they agreed that i could scan it and email it that day..

Later on Tuesday they confirmed that my passport had been sent for printing and would be posted out immediately..

Does anyone know how long it takes to print and send to here.. I'm hoping i can receive it by tomorrow..

Scott

Well done,hope you get sorted now.Did your mother have to pay for the fast track service ?

Picked up my passport from Tendy today.

Went in just before 9.00 am (2 people said I would not be seen until 10.00 am) and walked out at 9.15 am with the new shiny passport.

I shall email HMPO and ask them why they issued a 32 page passport when I requested a 48 page jumbo version !

You do know it will take a while.

The last time i renewed my passport,i was entitled to ten years and nine months,needless to say my passport showed only ten years.

As i was in Liverpool, i went to HMPO to point out their mistake,i could not believe the amount of security, X-ray machines there was,you had a better chance of breaking into fort Knox.

After i pointed out their mistake,they took the passport back and told me they would issue a new passport with the correct date to expire,i received the new passport about ten days later.

So if you are going to send it back,i would not go booking your annual Kuoini holiday,as you could be in the monkey house on the charge of staying without a passport.

special provisions and services for people with disabilities - my a**

See post 1183.

It was pointed out to the officer I contacted in Newport that the reason my girl isn't living with me is due to her disability, but no special provision was offered and no suggestion made (other than travel to Thailand to apply in person, then travel back there again for collection).

So I would take what ever they say on the web site with a pinch of salt.

Newport also told me that there was NO provision for anyone,old,young, disabled, housebound,but to travel to Bangkok for the ten minutes it takes to present your documents,

Also a Mr Stanford from HMPO Newport told jip99 ? that the laws of Thailand say you must carry your passport. With you at all times,but now trendy wendy say you can nominate any tom dick or harry to collect your new passport if you send them your old passport.

So whose right and whose wrong.All i know is that a British citizen in Thailand is treated completely different than a British citizen in the UK.

You can imagine the outcry in the UK if they told anyone never mind elderly or disabled that they had to travel from lands end to john O'groats to spend ten minutes giving their documents.

I'm sure the likes of age concern etc would have a thing or two to say

We left the UK, we longer contribute to that country by way of taxes etc. Of course they are going to see us as being further down the pecking order. Get over it.

The whinging on this thread is incredible even by this forums standards.

It seems that the word whinging is accepted on this thread.

If that is the case i will go on whinging until these stupid rules are changed..

It just shows you,that the great majority of posters on this thread have the common sense to know that

My whinge with regard to making a British citizen travel,no matter what state is health is in over 2,000 kilometres to present their documents and then make the same journey when their new passport arrives

Is a valid whinge.

For those one or two posters who remind me of Victor Meldrew who would rather see their fellow British citizens have two feet in the grave rather than one foot in the grave and would show no compassion for the hardship that those less fortunate will have to endure to renew a passport and have the cheek to call them whingers.

Thank god i am not disabled,and my passport is valid for another five years, and with a little bit of luck when the time comes to renew my passport if these stupid rules are still in place i can travel to Bangkok to see

Miss. Trendy wendy.

And for those who think i am whinging,well you had better get used to it because as long as these stupid rules are in place i will have my whinge,well after these people who think its whinging.Have their passport and gone back to the football forums

special provisions and services for people with disabilities - my a**

See post 1183.

It was pointed out to the officer I contacted in Newport that the reason my girl isn't living with me is due to her disability, but no special provision was offered and no suggestion made (other than travel to Thailand to apply in person, then travel back there again for collection).

So I would take what ever they say on the web site with a pinch of salt.

Newport also told me that there was NO provision for anyone,old,young, disabled, housebound,but to travel to Bangkok for the ten minutes it takes to present your documents,

Also a Mr Stanford from HMPO Newport told jip99 ? that the laws of Thailand say you must carry your passport. With you at all times,but now trendy wendy say you can nominate any tom dick or harry to collect your new passport if you send them your old passport.

So whose right and whose wrong.All i know is that a British citizen in Thailand is treated completely different than a British citizen in the UK.

You can imagine the outcry in the UK if they told anyone never mind elderly or disabled that they had to travel from lands end to john O'groats to spend ten minutes giving their documents.

I'm sure the likes of age concern etc would have a thing or two to say

Well of course it's not 'just us' do some people really beleive that they treat applications from Thailand different to anywhere else? It will be the same for expats in all far flung places..

I contacted HMPO (again) yesterday and the woman I spoke to claimed that the delay in issuing my new passport was down to the additional security checks they have to do for applications originating in Thailand. She may have been bluffing, maybe not - I have no idea.

Just a update on my mates 13 year old daughters saga renewing her passport.

The documents were sent on the 5th March,the payment of 125 pounds (this was the fee for a childs passport

under the old rules)was taken out on the 12th March.

I cant remember what documents were sent off on the 5th March,only to say that the passport would have been returned by DHL to the address that they had given (common sense )

They then received a letter addressed to them at the address they had given in the first place,saying the HMPO wanted more information about proof of address this was on the 1st May.They sent the letter from the HMPO that they had received with their address on plus one or two other photo copies.

They have just now received another letter from the HMPO with their address on stating what the new rules are for proof of residence.With a Ryder at the bottom of the page saying if she gets a teacher at her school to write that miss so and so goes to this school and her address on record at the school is so and so.

They will accept that as proof of residence.

The HMPO very kindly sent a stamp addressed envelope (mind you her father did pay 125 pound for the privilege of getting a stamped addressed envelope)

Its now going into the 12th week, so i would think another 3weeks before before she gets a five year child passport.

CHARMING.