UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSION

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISH UK Passport Services Copycat Website issues

Please be aware that there were inaccuracies in this BBC broadcast.The first being that the consumer Gavin Pearson inaccurately advises the reporter that our website was once BritishPassportServices.org.uk when he used our service. This is not the case as we have always used the domain name .co.uk for our website.

Well that's proven to be a big fat fib then.

Sadly I don't think it matters.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISH UK Passport Services Copycat Website issues

mmmm bit too alike for me

[Campana14]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

There is a video where they said that you aren't allowed to use the BPS1 application.

[EXC]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Some consumers are surprised by the number of Court cases that our company UK Services & Support has had to open to recover the £117.60 service fee that we charge for our 25 item package. Being that as a good will gesture we begin our service immediately and allow customers to pay anything up to three days after we’ve fulfilled the service we understand that there will always be certain percentage of our customers who would be inclined to take advantage of our good will and so receive our service with no intention of paying us for the work we have done however we do believe that a greater percentage of our customer based who are typically law abiding consumers refuse to pay us for the work we have done due to miss-information placed out there by rogue elements in the media, consumer bodies and government agencies.

Rogue Agents at Her Majesty’s Passport Office

Whilst the governments Passport Office has made it clear that third party websites are lawful (letter here) and that anyone who has a dispute with one should contact the website directly and read the terms and conditions on the site we have found that their are some rogue agents who are providing unhelpful and inaccurate information to consumers. We have even been told some rogue agents encourage the consumer to commit an act of Criminal Fraud by telling them to contact their bank and deceive them into believing that no service has been provided and so request that the funds be returned to them.

Some customers have been asked to sign a book logging a complaint against third party websites (even when the customer is perfectly happy with the service they received) and to ignore payment requests from the company if the consumer has yet to settle their invoice. One example of a rogue agent telling a customer that there were “scammed” with the Passport Office issuing a formal apology can be found here >>>

It is no wonder that some customers feel like they are doing the right thing when a Passport Office agent “advises” them to raise a payment dispute or ignore our requests for payment. However the truth of the matter is that these government agents are not speaking on behalf of the Passport Office nor are they helping the consumer as all accounts that incur a bad debt or non-payment are forwarded to our collections department who will reluctantly forward the matter to a debt collections agency or issue court proceedings. A consumer who enters our collection process pays an average of £160 – £200 with some also receiving a County Court Judgement (CCJ). The amount could have just been £117.60 had they not received this “advice”.

We are doing what we can to help ensure that the customer receives only accurate advice from Passport Office agents as per the HMPO policy by making formal complaints against any HMPO agents that break their policy or provide inaccurate or unlawful advice to consumers. As we are committed to ensuring that the consumer pays no or as little overdue invoice charges as possible. This can only be achieved if the consumer has access to accurate consumer and legal advice. Not the opinion of an unqualified rogue agent breaking govt guidelines.

Citizens Advice Bureau Refusing to Advise!

We consider it important that any consumer who has a complaint with our company or is unsure of their consumer rights and responsibilities on whether they need to pay the invoice for the work we have done receives Free impartial consumer and legal advice. We therefore used to offer a service where by we would introduce any consumer who requested it to the Citizens Advice Bureau so that the consumer could receive accurate advice on how to resolve the dispute and whether to settle with UK Services & Support Ltd or challenge our request for payment. We considered it important as some consumers may not get round to contacting the CAB, not know how to contact them or instead make their decision based on what some random person on a website forum who is likely not going to have have all of the facts and not professionally trained says to do.

However the Citizens Advice Bureau have confirmed that they do not share our policy. Ms Julie Durham Operations Director of the Citizens Advice Bureau has stated in a letter to UK Services & Support Ltd that the CAB will be ignoring any requests for consumer advice for any consumers that we introduce to their service and that should we continue to refer distressed customers to them then they will report this to government agencies for “enforcement action”. We found the CAB’s response scandalous and would encourage any consumers who consider this policy disgraceful to email the CAB at: feedback@citizensadvice.org.uk and call for a reversal of this policy and if you consider appropriate the resignation of Ms Durham.

We believe that a number of customer accounts are incurring overdue invoice charges and County Court Judgements because they have not received accurate advice on their consumer rights and responsibilities. Ms Durham’s policy is an aggravating factor for why this is happening. Please help us overturn this policy.

This entire section has now miraculously disappeared from the BPS site.

[Nibbler]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

This entire section has now miraculously disappeared from the BPS site.

It disappeared for some time this morning as well, then came back again.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Excellent.

At least someone is listening.

Well done.

[EXC]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Excellent.

At least someone is listening.

Well done.

Indeed.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

It disappeared for some time this morning as well, then came back again.

DAMN IT ! yes it's back again.... take back what I said, they all have their fingers in their ears going la la la (sure we have a smiley for that somewhere)

[Nibbler]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Not here. At this precise second anyway.

Try a CTRl+R or CTRL+F5 as seems to be some weird caching behaviour on that link.

[EXC]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

DAMN IT ! yes it's back again.... take back what I said, they all have their fingers in their ears going la la la (sure we have a smiley for that somewhere)

Not for me it isn't. I get this in both IE and Firefox and I emptied the cache.

[EXC]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Alexa stats for the BPS site http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/britis...services.co.uk

Top Keywords from Search Engines Which search keywords send traffic to this site?

1. british passport	36.97%
2. british passport application form	36.31%
3. passport fast track	10.84%
4. peterborough passport office	4.45%
5. fast track passport	3.71%

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Not for me it isn't. I get this in both IE and Firefox and I emptied the cache.

Not here. At this precise second anyway.

Try a CTRl+R or CTRL+F5 as seems to be some weird caching behaviour on that link.

Ahhhhh CTRL F5 looking better again then

[Mandid]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

I have just calculated the value of the court cases they claim to have won between Feb 2014 and Nov 2014 on their website, total approx £14,400! Not a bad income for sitting firing off intimidating emails. These are just court cases then you have all the victims that will have paid on top of that. I have emailed the ICO about them publishing people's names on their site by the court cases. If I loose my case I do not agree to having my case and name adding to that list. Are they within their rights to publish people's names?

[EXC]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Are they within their rights to publish people's names?

Probably. Anyone can search for CCJs at http://www.trustonline.org.uk/ although there is a £4 fee.

[EXC]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues

Probably. Anyone can search for CCJs at http://www.trustonline.org.uk/ although there is a £4 fee.

Actually I searched this morning to see if UK Services & Support Ltd had any CCJs but they aren't listed as having any.

Yet.