UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSION

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Adam, can you pop onto your signedcontract page on the link they have given you and click the Breakdown of Charges bit on the righthand side and the contract and upload or email those PDF's to me too please. admin@legalbeagles.info with the subject Adam001 vs BPS

Sadly your story sounds all too familiar now

Interesting that you first called them in mid January - so that means they haven't changed their phone disclaimer messages until very recently. Also very quick to have got a court claim, although you aren't the fastest, someone who went on their site on 5th Feb received a court claim a week ago !

When you were on the phone to them the second time and they said about payment by card and you refused, did you say that you didn't want their services or anything to cancel any purported contract ?

What you need to do first is to go to moneyclaim.gov.uk and register, log in using the password on the claim form and ACKNOWLEDGE the claim. Tick I intend to defend in full - don't contest jurisdiction - and don't complete any defence argument etc.

The acknowledgement being submitted will mean you have 33 days from the date of issue to organise your defence.

Just setting you a thread up.

Sharon
xx

[didactosaurus]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

We have struggled to attract media attention to third party services and thank you for bringing us an opportunity to raise awareness that customers have a choice on whether to use a government service of private company when renewing their passport. We hope this publicity leads to a greater public understanding of government and third party services and awareness that consumers know longer need to take the day off work and trek what is in some cases half way across the country incurring time and travel expenses to lodge their passport when a third party company can do all the work for them for a modest fee.

1. '...thank you for bringing us an opportunity to raise awareness that customers have a choice on whether to use a government service of private company when renewing their passport.'Firstly, it's 'government service OR private company.' Secondly...BPS, you dunderheads: YOU CANNOT RENEW A PASSPORT. YOU MAKE A FREE APPOINTMENT AND THEN CHARGE THE BEMUSED 'BUYER' £117.60 FOR THE PRIVILEGE. To insinuate that consumers have a choice over WHO renews their passport implies (WHICH MEANS 'SUGGESTS') that YOU have the ability to renew passports. YOU ARE NOT THE PASSPORT OFFICE. Which, apparently, your website clearly states...?

We DO so wish you'd make your tiny little minds up.

2. '...that consumers know longer need...' should be NO LONGER NEED. This is a basic error that a child capable of achieving a level 5 in English (ie. over 75% of Year 7 children, or thereabouts - aged 11-12) should be able to identify and correct.

Please feel free to contact me to sign up for my Basic Adult Literacy Course. I'm proud to have no government affiliation and am nothing whatsoever to do with the passport office - which I hereby make absolutely clear, unlike your good selves.

To follow the lead of a certain someone: Fee's in advance are £1,117.60. And once you've even looked at this post, YOU OWE ME. :tinysmile_twink_t2:

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

. We hope this publicity leads to a greater public understanding of government and third party services and awareness that consumers know longer need to take the day off work and trek what is in some cases half way across the country incurring time and travel expenses to lodge their passport when a third party company can do all the work for them for a modest fee.

Just on this, not a single person who has discussed their case has said they used the 'authorise an agent to pick up your passport for you' service ?

[didactosaurus]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Just on this, not a single person who has discussed their case has said they used the 'authorise an agent to pick up your passport for you' service ?

I bet no-one has. Also, has anybody received a completed passport application form from them to take to HMPO? Because I'm sure that's one of their 'services'. I know we didn't.

What absolutely baffles me is how he's got so many default judgements. Are people REALLY that unaware that they wouldn't take steps on receiving official paperwork?

I was thinking that the sheaf of sh*te that comes included with the 'Pre-Court Action Letter' may be in part responsible for this. Maybe people saw the 'Court Form' from BPS - then nothing happened - then the REAL Notice of Issue arrived and they just thought it was BPS sending them more tripe?

The whole thing stinks. It really doesn't add up. I can only accept a small percentage of people ignoring Court correspondence - which either means he's conned way more people than we think, or there is something very shady going on.

[MIKE770]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Duty of care by Government agencies comes to mind, as these sites are allowed to hoodwink the Public!

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Well, many people are in a position like PrincipleoftheMatter who posted last night, worried about credit ratings and thinking it is worth the £117 odd to avoid all the stress of going through court proceedings. POTM though is arguing it because of the principle.... many won't bother. Many people who aren't knowledgeable of the court system think if they defend they will have to go to a court hearing straight away, and also his threats and harassment are actually quite convincing unless you know....

ALSO - his preaction letter includes a EXAMPLE claim form, like Chantelle who was on Radio4 yesterday, she got the EXAMPLE Claim form, panic'd and checked it out with CAB and the Court and they said it was fake, correctly, but then she received another letter with almost identical papers in, so binned them thinking they were fake too ..... but they weren't.

We do have some figures around somewhere on % of claim forms actually responded to, it is ridiculously low.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Here, this gives an idea....




works out about 14% are defended, and 3% reach a hearing.

So it is a pretty good bet that if you submit a bunch of court claims, 85% will just pay or go to default judgment.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Nice new addition to BPS website

. Which.co.uk It is important to us that any customer who has a dispute with our company can easily secure professional advice on consumer law so that they can make an informed decision on how to resolve the matter. We have done this by offering to pay for one months access to 9 fully qualified solicitors from Which Legal..

However it would appear that the “consumer champion” Which.co.uk does not agree with this position as they have asked that we stop directing customers to their legal advice service. We politely declined their request stressing that it was important to us that customers could secure affordable legal advice and fully understand their consumer rights before making a decision. It is policies like this and the one adopted by the CAB that we believe are making it for difficult for customers to make an informed decision on how to settle a dispute with our company and is leading to some consumers turning to unqualified “advice” from forums or on media articles which are often about another company’s website.

We believe this goes a long way to explain why we have such a collections issue and more court proceedings then the average company. We were also concerned by the number of user comments on one of Which.co.uk’s articles where a number of users were dispensing “advice” on how to resolve a dispute with our company when they not appear to be qualified to provide consumer or legal advice.

This thread also seemed to be used by some consumers who had a complaint about our service and so we contacted Which.co.uk suggesting that either on this post or in a forum on their website that they allow any user to pose any question, compliant or concern to us and we would address it publicly so that the customer, Which.co.uk, the media and anyone else who visited their website could get both sides of the story. We have suggested this on two occasions and are still waiting on their answer.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

For what it's worth Richard, you are quite welcome to join here and have your say.

[enaid]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

a dispute with our company and is leading to some consumers turning to unqualified “advice” from forums

'unqualified' eh pmsl

[Kati]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

We could always start a new thread for users to post questions (and then send him a link to it) :lol:

[Mineral1]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

The only service they appear to offer is harassment and unjustified litigation... Strangely enough, not that popular, consumers are just so picky these days.....
On other matters, does any one know if Mr Harris has been routinely putting his VAT number on his VAT invoices? It's a requirement I believe.. I notice one recent one has this information however, I have seen no further examples....

[Campana14]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

more news from this company:
his website is operated by the Privatize for Prosperity political party. Mr Richard Howard who helps maintain and write some of the articles for this website is also managing director of UK Services & Support Ltd. We are not backed by the government and have no accreditation or ability to issue consumer advice and so all information on this website should not be considered professional advice.
This websites purpose is to provide factual information on consumer experiences with websites particularly in the third party website industry as we consider there to be a worryingly amount of dis-information on the Internet about whether “copycat” websites are lawful, whether consumers can just cancel payments made to third party websites or ignore payment requests when a consumer signed a compliant contract and received a service that matched what they ordered. Some unhelpful news, articles, comments from consumer bodies and government officials refer to all third party “copycat” websites as “scams”, “cons” when this is not the case. Some are illegal and others are lawful.
Furthermore many consumers receive “advice” from the internet which in some circumstances has led to some pay more to a third party website a late date and could have been avoided if they had received professional advice from a consumer body or government agency. We encourage consumer interaction on our website and welcome any comments whether they be positive or negative on any of our posts even if they critical towards our political party or UK Services & Support Ltd as we do not want this website to be biased. We want consumers to speak their mind.
In other cases we have been told that our website has saved some consumers money or assisted them get their money back from a rogue “copycat” website due to the information on our article or use of our directory of consumer bodies and government agencies. We are passionate about helping to ensure that consumers is not ripped off by cowboy operates and that if they are entitled to a refund, a cooling off period or any invoice for payment being cancelled then we can at least point them in the right direction for securing this.
The range of articles on this website explain the facts of the third party website industry along with a number of case studies of disputes between customers and third party companies. With that being said consumers are reminded that the articles nor the comments made by visitors should be considered professional to acted upon should you currently have a dispute with a “copycat” website. What action you should take will depend on the company that you used, circumstance or your dealings with this company and a range of other factors. As stated throughout our website it is highly recommend that you speak with a government agency, consumer body or your solicitor before taking any action.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

Guessing he wrote that himself then. Is that on the consumer-rights site? ah yes http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=uk

What does the bold bit actually mean?

Furthermore many consumers receive “advice” from the internet which in some circumstances has led to some pay more to a third party website a late date and could have been avoided if they had received professional advice from a consumer body or government agency.

[Poltergeist]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSI

This might sound like a stupid question, and it may have been answered elsewhere (apologies if it has), but do we have conclusive proof that Sam HARRIS does not exist?