UK Services & Support Ltd BRITISHPassportServices Copycat Website issues DISCUSSION

[Scammed]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

i will ring CAB and see what they say

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

They ask you to tick some boxes and signed electronically. But I also agree when i landed on the website it's was the first result on google for typing newport passport office. And it was at the time .org.uk! What they do they ignore all emails phone calls explaining you do not wish their services until they have completed their so called services and that's how they base their rights to chase for money! All emails text message are automatically generated it doesn't address anything to each person case. All their calls are robots talking not an actuall person so you can reason with anyone. I for one is a little bit scared of their tactics. So I would really want to know if someone actually received a court claim so we can know where we are at!

Hopefully [MENTION=56780]aviduser[/MENTION] will come back to us asap with more info on the court claim.

Thanks for the hint on newport passport office.

If you can report it to CAB and mention the texts/emails etc you are getting and the letters you should be able to report to TS. Let us know how that goes.

[Mineral1]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

On phone to TS ecrime now ( well Tools is) and he says you have to report to Citizens Advice first... sorry. 03454 04 05 06

On another topic, WTF is this meant to mean



and how is that okay as a disclaimer ffs.

If they wish to reword it then

UKPassportOffices.co.uk is NOT AN OFFICIAL SITE.
If you wish to visit the official government passport
website please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/abroad/passports .

This is a case of hiding the truth in plain sight. It allows the advertiser (in their opinion) to sell... Whatever they think they are selling based upon an illusion to the reader. If you rejigged the advert to say... "Pay us a hundred pounds... Get absolutely NOTHING for it" no takers.... If however, for example you put up....... "Buy three items... Pay only THRICE THE PRICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" You probably would get a select queue of punters.... Plus although misleading by inference not untrue and legally sound....:tinysmile_cry_t:

[didactosaurus]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Mywife was unlucky enough to be duped much like the OP, in June lastyear. I saw the emails, felt suspicious so did a little Googleing anddiscovered their scam. She'd completed the form late afternoon; by6pm the same day we'd emailed telling them to do one.

Theemails and texts regarding appointments etc. continued regardless,but stopped after a few weeks. They recommenced with a vengeance inNovember last year, as seems to be the case for many others.

She'shad the 'Pre-Court Action Letter' by recorded delivery, then an emailand text message giving her until 6pm to pay on the exact date statedon the letter. She's reported them to CAB and TS and has a casenumber reference.

Hercousin is a commercial solicitor so we sent him the last letter andsome more details. He strongly advised us to fight them as he saidtheir contract, letters and communications in general were shoddy,unprofessional and likely to attract strong criticism in court. Inparticular he felt that the clause regarding cancellation bytelephone was an unfair contract term in violation of the ICAC laws,which stipulate that cancellation in writing is the default method.Email is a 'durable medium'; she emailed them stating that theirwebsite was misleading and that they should cancel their 'agreement'forthwith and remove her data from their records. They will have atough time arguing that she had waived her cancellation rights andnot used their 'cancellation method' - especially as they did notreply to her email and carried on regardless.

However,he did feel that despite its poor construction and themisleading/unclear nature of the website, their contract does statethat the consumer agrees that they will commence 'work' immediately -so they could have a case to claim for what 'work' they could havedone in the couple of hours before she emailed. The question in thatcase is how much a telephone call should cost, I assume...also, shedoes feel the site has changed materially since last June when sheused it. Even the version that comes up from June 2014 on web cachesites looks identical to the current site, and she swears it wasdifferent/more ambiguous then. I wonder if they could somehow accessand replace cached records of their site?

Whatconcerned me most was that they take all that personal data, and yetit seems to be unnecessary - from what I can see, the consumer isstill required to obtain and complete the relevant official form andcomplete it themselves. Surely everyone who has been duped has amajor case against them under Data Protection laws for obtainingpersonal data by deception? Does anyone else have a view onthis?

TheASA's ruling against their other site:http://asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudicati...x#.VMa-tZCsWo-

Thatruling is still on the ASA's website, so regardless of what BPS sayon their website about the case being overturned, it must still be inappeal/process or they would have had to amend/remove that ruling -that will be being mentioned if we go to court.

Wefully intend to defend any claim they make. We can't afford to losemoney, but there is no way in hell we are giving in and paying thesecriminals a penny without a fight.

[didactosaurus]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Sorry about the spacing issues above, I C & P'd from Open Office Writer, the site mustn't like it! Editing shall be done later...;-)

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Thank you didactosaurus. I am broadly in agreement with your wife's cousin on the subject, that 'immediate' service clause is bugging me.

I'm going to have a look see if I happened to screenshot the site - we were looking at copycat sites a fair bit around June time last year so I may have captured it.
They are able to request history is wiped on the wayback machine - but of course they have also changed names since then so it could be there under a different URL. I'm pretty sure the basics looked the same without the purposefully misleading disclaimer.

[MENTION=56780]aviduser[/MENTION] - any sign of the scans of that court claim?

[Nibbler]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Does not seem a very fair term for a consumer contract? But I'm far far from an expert on that side of things.

[trigs]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Quick addition.

Someone I know is having problems with this site as well and asked me, I pointed them here but they also showed me this "contract" that people are seeing.

What the site has done is taken the details required for a passport application, including an uploaded scan of a signature for the passport, and subsequently a few months later collated this along side other terms into what looks like a paper contract with your signature in a "sign here" type box as if that signature refers to agreeing with the terms stated, the name printed along side.

I have no idea how legally binding a click etc is or the terms and conditions are considering it's a scam, but the contract document that they're using to take people to court is a fabrication and extremely misleading ( and I'd hope outright fraudulent )

HTH

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

It's this

A significant change under the Regulations is that a seller can only start providing services during the cooling-off period if a consumer makes an "express request", and acknowledges that they will lose their right to cancel if the contract is fully performed. Even if the consumer makes such an express request, they will not lose their right to cancel the contract during the cooling-off period unless it is fully performed; however, they will be required to pay (normally on a pro-rata basis) for the services they received up until the point at which they gave notice of cancellation.

However, there are rules on pre contract information which I don't believe they complied with. However that came in in June 2014.

UK by the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (the "Regulations") and will apply to the vast majority of consumer contracts entered into in the UK from 13th June 2014.

Requirements for distance contracts concluded by electronic means

14.—(1) This regulation applies where a distance contract is concluded by electronic means.

(2) If the contract places the consumer under an obligation to pay, the trader must make the consumer aware in a clear and prominent manner, and directly before the consumer places the order, of the information listed in paragraphs (a), (f), (g), (h), (s) and (t) of Schedule 2.

(3) The trader must ensure that the consumer, when placing the order, explicitly acknowledges that the order implies an obligation to pay.

(4) If placing an order entails activating a button or a similar function, the trader must ensure that the button or similar function is labelled in an easily legible manner only with the words ‘order with obligation to pay’ or a corresponding unambiguous formulation indicating that placing the order entails an obligation to pay the trader.

(5) If the trader has not complied with paragraphs (3) and (4), the consumer is not bound by the contract or order.

(6) The trader must ensure that any trading website through which the contract is concluded indicates clearly and legibly, at the latest at the beginning of the ordering process, whether any delivery restrictions apply and which means of payment are accepted.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Quick addition.

Someone I know is having problems with this site as well and asked me, I pointed them here but they also showed me this "contract" that people are seeing.

What the site has done is taken the details required for a passport application, including an uploaded scan of a signature for the passport, and subsequently a few months later collated this along side other terms into what looks like a paper contract with your signature in a "sign here" type box as if that signature refers to agreeing with the terms stated, the name printed along side.

I have no idea how legally binding a click etc is or the terms and conditions are considering it's a scam, but the contract document that they're using to take people to court is a fabrication and extremely misleading ( and I'd hope outright fraudulent )

HTH

A copy of that would be marvellous if you can get a hold of it.

You can sign contracts online with a tick box.

Adding your signature given for a different purpose onto a contractual document would be fraudulent.

Been through all images on my puter and on LB and can't find any earlier screenshots of the site.

What other webaddresses did they use?

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

http://web.archive.org/web/201405161...ervices.co.uk/ - 16th May 2014

[trigs]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

I'll get it for you, or I'll download mine and see if it is the same (I've only been avoiding it as don't want the tracking to an IP etc, they're big on the "we can see you did this from xxx IP address and take that as blah blah blah pursuant to court action...").

I'll have to check web addresses but the site will have been cached by google and the waybackwhen machine probably (although the back end won't have been).

I'm working and a bit busy, it might be this evening before I can do it. Cheers.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Don't worry they can't view your IP used to post on here.

[trigs]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Sure, but they can if I download the contract from their server, the URL is unique (it contains your name) and records the visit and details and I'm not on my usual laptop, I'm at work. I'll check mine, if it's the same I'll fwd it to you, if it's not I'll get my friend's one and redact it slightly.

[Amethyst]

Re: UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

Ahhh. Slightly obsessive of them.

Thanks for your help xxx