Vfs Bangkok, A Warning

[CeeGee]

Following a number of recent comments regarding the behaviour of staff at the UK VFS Office in Bangkok, I think our recent experience should be born in mind when dealing with this organisation.

Sorry about the length but I think the full details are need to explain everything

Last week my partner had an appointment to submit a VV application at VFS for a UK visa.The appointment was booked on line and appointment time of 10.50-11.00am was given and confirmed.

My partner turned up at VFS at 10.45(this is our sixth application, so she is well aware of the procedures and documents required) only to be told by security that she did not have an appointment scheduled. After ringing me in the UK(at almost 4.00am)where I confirmed all the details, the security guard eventually told her that her appointment was at 10.00 am not 10.50 and that she was late.After she suggested the security guard speak directly to me he agreed to let her in. As she was “late” she had to wait over 2 hours to be processed..

I sent a strong e mail to VFS regarding this as I had the confirmation e mail of her appointment and knew that it was not a 10.00 appointment.

VFS replied stating that they had investigated and stated that she had arrived at 11.40 and explained that she had been held up in traffic and then she had gone to the bank downstairs to get the bankers draft.

All of which was totally untrue as she had rung me at 11.00am whilst standing next to the security guard, had come by motorcycle taxi from the bus station and had obtained the bankers draft before going to the VFS.As I have said before, this was her sixth visit to the VFS, so the procedures were not new to her.

I e mailed VFS back stating quite bluntly that I did not accept their version of event and that I was going to make a formal complaint to the Embassy because someone in their organisation was lying.

Less than three hours later I was phoned in the UK by a Mr Roy(Operations Manager?) who then told me that the matter had been investigated and that my (and my partners )version of events were correct and that she had arrived in time for her scheduled appointment.

I asked why they had sent their previous e mail with the totally untrue version; he replied that the guard would undergo training on how to “handle customers”.No further explanation as to where their previous version had come from.

Just to make others aware certain people at the VFS are prepared to lie and that if you want the truth from VFS you have to keep pushing and threaten to take the matter higher.

As a final indication of how this company operates, I asked for a letter of apology to be sent to my partner (in Thai).Mr Roy replied that would be difficult as he did not speak Thai and only after I suggested that he had many Thai speakers in his organisation and maybe he could get someone to translate into Thai did he agree.(After all they are only in Bangkok, sorry thats a bit sarcastic)

If you have a problem dealing with VFS don't always accept their first explanation.

[Romfordboy]

Thanks for your post, and I'm sorry to hear you had problems with this shower as well.

I am absolutely disgusted with what I hear about VFS Bangkok. I can well believe that you and your girlfriend were lied to in this way. Whoever sent that bullshit email saying your wife was late should be severely disciplined, if not sacked.

As for Mr Roy, in my opinion he's just as negligent with his efforts to turn a blind eye to the lies and happy to have them convenienty swept under the carpet.

My wife got messed around when she went for her appointment. She arrived on time, went inside and waited and waited. After 30 minutes she went and spoke to someone and was advised to wait a bit longer. 30 minutes later she was still sitting there, while another lady who strolled in late for her appointment got seen to first!

I genuinely think that the Thai loss of face culture is a big factor in why this company has so many problems. You have staff who are prepared to lie to customers simply because they are too embarassed to admit they've made a mistake or don't know what they're doing. Add to that an inherent lack of responsibility and accountability and you have a recipe for bad customer.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

Ensure you forward this to the Embassy dealing with VFS daily they are removing documents & causing various other problems.

[Romfordboy]

I think you should bring this to the embassy's attention as well. It's far too serious an issue to leave in the hands of VFS.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

Its happening all the time the embassy will only listen to VFS version of events but if enough people complain then they will have to take note.

[lovelaos]

My wife had similar problems with them last year whilst applying for a family visit visa. They told her she was late for the appointment when in fact she was 5 minutes early! It wasn't until I spoke very sternly to one of their staff members on the telephone and pointed out the correct time that they backed down and let her through. They are a vey arrogant bunch of people in that office.

[Basil B]

Behavior of a budget airline, close the check outs early, sell the ticket to some on stand by and force the unlucky passenger to pay for another ticket.

What is annoying here is they are being paid by the British Government to do a service which judging by yours and other reports to do a service for which they are clearly not preforming and even worse are clearly being deceitful in their activities.

Reporting to the Embassy is a start but I assume the decision to engage VFS in the first place was decision taken in London not Bangkok and any decision on canceling the contract and making alternative arrangements would be down to the appropriate government department and minister.

May be conceder copying in your MP on this, he(she) may/may not take any notice but if they do a question raised in the "house" may be a lot more effective than a letter to the Embassy.

[VisasPlus]

One of the problems is that there are very few companies that offer this kind of service. The two main companies, I believe, are VFS and Worldbridge, and I don't think Worldbridge operate in Thailand. Some of the Schengen countries use a company called TLScontact, but I have no idea where they come from. VFS are pretty much the UK government's choice world wide.

Perhaps VFS could do with some competition in the market. They have pretty much the monopoly on this business. It is, of course, a money making operation. I have no idea how much the UKBA now pays VFS ( they pay per application ), but in Thailand VFS's income will be around $ 1 Million a year based on the current number of applications that UKBA receive here.

Maybe UKBA should see if TLScontact can offer a better service ?

Edited March 15, 2012 by VisasPlus

[Romfordboy]

Like Thaivisaexpress says, more people need to complain directly to the embassy, not VFS. You can hardly trust them with your complaint when they're pulling these sort of stunts. Even if you're successful and get issued a visa, I really think people need to follow through with a complaint.