HMPO, Liverpool

Yorky said:
If I'd have gone to Bangkok to collect the passports then my wife would have accompanied me. Thereby tripling the cost. And whatever HMPO, Liverpool say about reimbursing the costs, I have little faith.
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Don't you know the way..................... or would Mrs Yorky be wearing the the trousers that day ?
 
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CO-CO said:
Don't you know the way..................... or would Mrs Yorky be wearing the the trousers that day ?
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I wouldn't have travelled on the bus. First class overnight sleeper. Then, instead of wandering around malls all day, I would have booked a dayroom in the Landmark and probably spent all afternoon in "The Huntsman".
 
Transactional Finance Team, His Majesty's Passport Office: "I am sending this email to confirm that the refund of £113.30 with respect to the above reference was made today. The money has left our account now, and should take 3-5 working days to reach the account of the card that you gave."

Me: "Do you know why it takes 3 - 5 working days from the time it leaves your account until it arrives in mine? At any time, day or night, 365/6 days of the year, transfers of money from my bank in Isle of Man to my bank in Thailand via Wise takes minutes."

Transactional Finance Team, His Majesty's Passport Office: "I am afraid I have no idea why it takes so long for the money to leave our account and arrive in the destination account."
 
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Yorky said:
Transactional Finance Team, His Majesty's Passport Office: "I am sending this email to confirm that the refund of £113.30 with respect to the above reference was made today. The money has left our account now, and should take 3-5 working days to reach the account of the card that you gave."

Me: "Do you know why it takes 3 - 5 working days from the time it leaves your account until it arrives in mine? At any time, day or night, 365/6 days of the year, transfers of money from my bank in Isle of Man to my bank in Thailand via Wise takes minutes."

Transactional Finance Team, His Majesty's Passport Office: "I am afraid I have no idea why it takes so long for the money to leave our account and arrive in the destination account."
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I guess they are using BACS to transfer the money. My refund from the Tax man took three working days too. They used BACS.

A BACS payment normally takes three working days to go through, as long as it's sent before 10.30pm. So if a BACS payment is sent Friday before the cut-off time, it should arrive by Wednesday the next week.

What Is A BACS Payment? | Transfer Times – HSBC UK

You can make BACS payments by Direct Debit and Direct Credit. Find out how to make a BACS payment in our guide.
www.hsbc.co.uk www.hsbc.co.uk
 
To: Transactional Finance Team, His Majesty's Passport Office

"Sirs,

I have today received the sum of ฿4,872.22 into my Thai account. Given the current exchange rate, c. ฿44.70 it should have been £113.30 x 44.70 = ฿5, 064.51 which adequately covers my expenditure whereas ฿4,872.22 does not. It is obvious to me that during the last 7 days someone has been deducting charges for the transfer or using an incorrect exchange rate.. Any bank or transfer charges or discrepancy in exchange rates are the responsibility of the payee (HMPO) therefore you owe me the difference.

However, I am still owed ฿425.00 (from August 2022) and ฿500.00 from May this year to which you can add the shortfall (and of course sufficient extra to cover bank charges for that transfer)

Regards"
 
Sent to Passport Complaints, 17th September 2023.

“Reference POGR2/0911657/23

On 25th August 2023, J Nixon of the Complaints Team of His Majesty’s Passport Office advised me that my enquiry regarding reimbursement of costs incurred as a consequence of an error by HMPO in issuing my passport, would be actioned within 10 working days. It has now been 15 working days plus and I have heard nothing more.

The costs in question were incurred in August 2022 (in excess of 250 working days) and May 2023 (around 80 working days) so I would request that urgent attention is given to my enquiry.

Regards.”

Received from help@customerservice, 17th September 2023:

"Dear Mr Yorky,
Thank you for your email regarding your complaint.
For us to log a complaint, you must tell us:
· Full name (applicant’s if different)
· Application number (if known)
· Date of birth
· Full postal address including post code
· Telephone number
· Who or what the complaint is about (full details of complaint)
· Relationship to applicant if complaint is not about yourself
· How you would like to be contacted (call-back or in writing)
When you give us these details, we will send these to the relevant team to investigate."

Sent to help@customerservice, 17th September 2023.

"Dear Sirs,

I do not require my complaint to be logged. It has already been logged under Reference POGR2/0911657/2. Full details should be available from your records."

Received from help@customerservice, 17th September 2023:

"Dear Mr Yorky,

thank you for your reply.

I have passed your email onto the relevant department that can deal with your enquiry, they will reply to you directly within 3 working days.

Regards,
His Majesty’s Passport Office"
 
Yorky said:
"Dear Mr Yorky,

thank you for your reply.

I have passed your email onto the relevant department that can deal with your enquiry, they will reply to you directly within 3 working days.

Regards,
His Majesty’s Passport Office"
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DWP told me to expect a reply email in about 8 to 10 weeks FFS!
 
Ivor the Engine said:
DWP told me to expect a reply email in about 8 to 10 weeks FFS!
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Unfortunately it goes like this:

You can expect a reply within 72 hours which you are likely to receive. However, that reply states that it has been forwarded to the relevant department and you can expect a reply within 3 working days. The reply from that department states that they are looking at it and you can expect a reply within 10 working days, but they are very busy so it may be longer. Note that the department which is very busy is the complaints department.
 
"Dear Mr Yorky

Thank you for your 25 August call (call?) regarding your claim for expenses incurred relating to your most recent passport application.

We are accountable for public funds and it is essential that any reimbursements are auditable and justifiable for the taxpayer

Please provide receipts for any outstanding refund claims you may have for reimbursement consideration by emailing CustomerServiceManagementTeam@hmpo.gov.uk ensuring that you quote the above reference number in the subject line of your email. Please note that if your reference number is not included, your email will not be actioned or responded to.

Once I have received the information, I will be able to review the matter further. If we do not receive your response within the next 5 working days, we will file your case pending further contact from you.

Please do not reply to this email as this is a no-reply mailbox and emails are not monitored. For contact information regarding a new or closed complaint, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/passport-advice-line

Kind Regards,

S Armstrong
Complaints Team
His Majesty’s Passport Office"

"To CustomerServiceManagementTeam@hmpo.gov.uk

Dear Sirs,

I have today received an email from a S. Armstrong of your complaints team requesting receipts for costs incurred by myself in relation to replacing a passport which was issued to me with an error.

The amounts outstanding are ฿425.00 and ฿500.00 and the costs were incurred in August 2022 and May 2023 respectively. Receipts were sent to you at the time and were subsequently agreed due for reimbursement. However, reimbursement has not been received to date.

In addition and in respect of an associated claim, an amount of ฿5,000.00 was reimbursed as ฿4,872.22, the difference apparently being charges levied for the cost of the transfer. This is not acceptable.

I would remind you that HMPO were originally informed of the error on the passport in March 2022, some 18 months ago and although the passport has now been replaced (May 2023) these outstanding matters just drag on apparently due to the inefficiency of HMPO departments.

I would request that in view of the above, urgent attention is given to reimbursement of my costs (฿1,052.78 outstanding) in full.

Regards"
 
Yorky said:
"Dear Mr Yorky

Thank you for your 25 August call (call?) regarding your claim for expenses incurred relating to your most recent passport application.

We are accountable for public funds and it is essential that any reimbursements are auditable and justifiable for the taxpayer

Please provide receipts for any outstanding refund claims you may have for reimbursement consideration by emailing CustomerServiceManagementTeam@hmpo.gov.uk ensuring that you quote the above reference number in the subject line of your email. Please note that if your reference number is not included, your email will not be actioned or responded to.

Once I have received the information, I will be able to review the matter further. If we do not receive your response within the next 5 working days, we will file your case pending further contact from you.

Please do not reply to this email as this is a no-reply mailbox and emails are not monitored. For contact information regarding a new or closed complaint, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/passport-advice-line

Kind Regards,

S Armstrong
Complaints Team
His Majesty’s Passport Office"

"To CustomerServiceManagementTeam@hmpo.gov.uk

Dear Sirs,

I have today received an email from a S. Armstrong of your complaints team requesting receipts for costs incurred by myself in relation to replacing a passport which was issued to me with an error.

The amounts outstanding are ฿425.00 and ฿500.00 and the costs were incurred in August 2022 and May 2023 respectively. Receipts were sent to you at the time and were subsequently agreed due for reimbursement. However, reimbursement has not been received to date.

In addition and in respect of an associated claim, an amount of ฿5,000.00 was reimbursed as ฿4,872.22, the difference apparently being charges levied for the cost of the transfer. This is not acceptable.

I would remind you that HMPO were originally informed of the error on the passport in March 2022, some 18 months ago and although the passport has now been replaced (May 2023) these outstanding matters just drag on apparently due to the inefficiency of HMPO departments.

I would request that in view of the above, urgent attention is given to reimbursement of my costs (฿1,052.78 outstanding) in full.

Regards"
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There has been no response to date so I wrote to the "helpline" on Saturday. They replied the same day:

"Thank you for your email regarding your complaint reference POGR2/0911657/23. I have escalated your complaint to the relevant department. We will contact you as soon as possible."

No name given
 
Yorky said:
There has been no response to date so I wrote to the "helpline" on Saturday. They replied the same day:

"Thank you for your email regarding your complaint reference POGR2/0911657/23. I have escalated your complaint to the relevant department. We will contact you as soon as possible."

No name given
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Don't tell them your name Pike!
 
14th October 2023

Dear Sirs,

Another week has elapsed without even an acknowledgement of my email (dated 20th September 2023) from CustomerServiceManagementTeam@hmpo.gov.uk That is 18 working days and is totally unacceptable. Please advise when I may expect a response and payment of the monies owed to me.

Regards

Dear Mr Yorky,

Thank you for your email regarding complaint reference POGR2/0911657/23. The issue that you have raised has been passed to the relevant department who will investigate this and respond to you directly.

Regards

Dear Sirs,

I note that you use the wording "respond to you directly". Perhaps you would like to look back into your records for Mr S Rafferty's email of 31st January 2023 who used a similar phrase:

"Thank you for your email of 29 January about your complaint. After reviewing the receipt you enclosed, I have authorised the following refunds:
  • £7.37 (300.00 Thai Baht) for your postage costs
  • £2.95 for your taxi fare
Please note the above amounts are based on today’s exchange rate, as we are unable to process payments in foreign currency. Our finance department will be in touch with you directly to arrange your total refund of £10.32."

Regards
 
Sent to Helpline this morning:

Dear Sirs,

Ref: POGR2/0911657/23

I refer to extracts from a letter received from D Markey, Head of Customer Service Management Team dated 18th October 2023.

"A receipt is required for the remaining ฿500.00 claim relating to costs incurred in May 2023 for the transfer of visa/immigration documentation from the incorrect passport to your replacement passport, as referred to in your 25 May email."

Unfortunately I cannot now find the said receipt (from 5 months ago) however, I would refer to the following extract from HMPO's letter of on or around 9th July 2023 ".... we are prepared to offer a total payment of £136.76 to him [me] to cover any travel costs, etc. ($5,000 Thai baht; as previously suggested by the complainant) incurred in collecting his new passport, transferring his visa to the new passport ($500 Thai baht), and for posting the other passport back to us (as previously agreed via email on 31 January 2023 for postage costs totalling £10.32)."

"Regarding the outstanding ฿127.78 associated to the transfer cost of the ฿5000 refund, please provide supporting documentation for reimbursement consideration."

I do not have supporting documentation for this amount. I was due ฿5,000.00 and only received ฿4,872.22, hence the shortfall of ฿127.78. How HMPO transferred the monies, who they used as a third party and what exchange rate was used I have no idea. Perhaps the third party could supply this information/documentation?

I would reiterate that of the ฿5,925.00 expended I have only received ฿4,872.22 and trust the the balance may be paid in full (without third party charges and/or use of incorrect exchange rates). The current mid market exchange rate to the Sterling is ฿44.22.

Regards"

It must cost them (and indirectly me) 25 quid every time they write a letter!
 
Ivor the Engine said:
The latest date for me to get a reply to my June DWP complain letter about my forthcoming pension on 22nd Dec, is next February!!!
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I know that it's not funny but..................

And my case for compensation submitted to IEC back in July 2023 is still awaiting action. I'm anticipating Christmas at the earliest.
 
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