HMPO, Liverpool

Bangkok HMPO 2:03 PM (! hour ago)
To me

Dear Yorky,

I apologize for the late reply.

I was informed by the team that the examiner never agreed to the passport being couriered to your address from the VFS.

Please follow the complaints procedure via the link below regarding reimbursement. Complaints procedure - HM Passport Office - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/about/complaints-procedure

Best Regards,

HMPO Officer.
___________________________________________________________________________
To
Bangkok HMPO <BangkokHMPO@vfshelpline.com>,
help@customerservice.hmpo.gov.uk,
Liverpool International Team 8 <LiverpoolInternationalTeam8@hmpo.gov.uk>,
consular.replies@fcdo.gov.uk

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your email earlier today.

I am not aware of who "the examiner" is therefore I do not recollect that I ever stated the examiner agreed to the passport being couriered to my address from the VFS. Nor have I stated that to anyone else in VFS/VAC Bangkok.

In response and copied to HMPO Liverpool.

Either you arrange to courier the two passports to me at my home address (which you can do despite your protestations to the contrary) and that will then be the end of this farce. Alternatively you may charge one of your employees to hand deliver the passport in person to my home in Surin; or, VFS/VAC (or HMPO Liverpool) can deposit the sum of ฿5,000.00 into my bank account in Thailand and I shall then instruct an agent to collect the passports on my behalf. However, the agent will not have a “document receipt checklist” because I haven’t got a clue what that is, nor will they have the original of my passport No ********* because I am required to return this to Liverpool on the instructions of your superiors. If you so wish, I will provide the agent with a copy of said passport.

Could you also provide scanned copies of all the pages of the replacement passport in order that I may, this time, ensure that it has been issued with the correct details prior to it arriving at my door.

As an aside, I am informed by two knowledgeable sources, that VFS/VAC frequently courier passports to their owners in Thailand.

When you respond again could I please have your full name and position within the VFS/VAC or HMPO organisation and similarly the full name of "the examiner".

Reference your suggestion that I contact HM Passport Office, Complaints procedure (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/about/complaints-procedure) I have been following this route now since September 2022 and not received a response, so I doubt whether they could achieve your imaginary deadline of 8th February 2023.

Regards,
 

From me
to Bangkok, help, Liverpool, consular.replies 4:05 PM

Dear Sirs,

Further to my email earlier and your suggestion that I should contact HM Passport Office, Complaints procedure, I have reviewed the site and see that their expected response time (which in my experience has not been achieved previously) is 15 working days. That would put it past the alleged deadline for you to return the passport to HMPO Liverpool.

Regards.
 
Me 4:36 PM
To help

Reference my email yesterday it is now the fourth day of the three days that I was expecting a response from the Passport Office which I have yet to receive.

However, I have received a response from VFS/VAC which does nothing to help matters in repeating what they have decided is their "stance".I have copied my reply under separate cover.

Regards

help@customerservice.hmpo.gov.uk 4:49
To me

Dear Yorky,
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to hear you have not yet been contacted.
I has passed your email to the office for a reply. They will contact you as soon as possible.

Regards,
His Majesty’s Passport Office.
 
Yorky said:
Me 4:36 PM
To help

Reference my email yesterday it is now the fourth day of the three days that I was expecting a response from the Passport Office which I have yet to receive.

However, I have received a response from VFS/VAC which does nothing to help matters in repeating what they have decided is their "stance".I have copied my reply under separate cover.

Regards

help@customerservice.hmpo.gov.uk 4:49
To me

Dear Yorky,
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to hear you have not yet been contacted.
I has passed your email to the office for a reply. They will contact you as soon as possible.

Regards,
His Majesty’s Passport Office.
Click to expand...
Yet another nameless civil servant who cannot be held responsible for his actions, or otherwise.
 
I'd love to see this saga turned into a special episode of "One Foot in the Grave."

It is hard to credit that we Brits must apparently endure such incompetence from each of the official bodies employed by Yorky in his efforts to obtain a vital travel document when so far from "home." All credit to him for his perseverance, and absolutely no credit whatsoever to British officialdom paid specifically to provide the service without frustrating those who pay for it.

I'm heartened that @Prakhonchai Nick has been able to return as intermediary for passport renewals, and will be sure to ask him to repeat the excellent service provided when my old one expired.
 

I believe that this email is in response to mine requesting reimbursement of costs relative to collection of said passport from VFS/VAC Bangkok (although it doesn't say so).

noreplyCSMT <noreplyCSMT@hmpo.gov.uk> 5:54 PM
to me

Dear Mr Yorky,

I can confirm that your passport was printed on the 30/12/2022 and should be with you shortly.

Please allow at least 10 working days for delivery. Any supporting documents will be returned separately, usually within a few working days of the passport. The track and trace number is 0991058888275059

This is a no-reply mailbox, for any further information please visit www.gov.uk/hm-passport-office or call +44 (0)300 222 0000, Text Relay Prefix 18001.
If you wish to contact us further, please visit https://www.gov.uk/passport-advice-line.

Please ensure the application reference number is included in any email correspondences sent to us.

Kind Regards,
R Onochie
Customer Service Management Team
HM Passport Office Operations
His Majesty's Passport Office

I'm going crazy!

I know when the passport was printed and I know where it is. Unfotunately it, and the supporting documents have NOT been delivered to me! Can you not bloody read!
 
Me
to Bangkok, help, Liverpool, consular.replies 6:38 PM

Dear Sirs,
I have now received a reply from HMPO, Liverpool regarding delivery of my replacement passport.

"Dear Mr Yorky,

I can confirm that your passport was printed on the 30/12/2022 and should be with you shortly.

Please allow at least 10 working days for delivery. Any supporting documents will be returned separately, usually within a few working days of the passport. The track and trace number is 0991058888275059

This is a no-reply mailbox, for any further information please visit www.gov.uk/hm-passport-office or call +44 (0)300 222 0000, Text Relay Prefix 18001.
If you wish to contact us further, please visit https://www.gov.uk/passport-advice-line."

I presume given the phrase "should be with you shortly" means that HMPO, Liverpool have instructed you to courier the replacement passport to me without delay.

Regards
 
And to rub salt into the wound, I receive regular emails from AgeUK telling me how much effort they are expending to have my energy bills reduced. They couldn't give a shit about normalising the cost of living increases for pensioners.
 
Me
to help Tue, Jan 17, 8:55 PM

Thank you for your email.

Given that the initial question of compensation was raised by me on 27th September 2022 and to date I have not received a response, either yes or no, perhaps you could offer me a time scale as to when I may be provided with an answer?

VFS/VAC are still threatening to return the replacement passport to HMPO Liverpool by 7th February 2023 (for reasons known only to themselves) and it will not be collected by then if I do not receive a satisfactory answer to my request.

Best regards
 
Yorkie-You last post says-It won t be collected by 7/02 ,if I don t recve a satisfactory answer to my request!.
However you ve posted many times you have no intension to go to BKK as you hate the place!
So maybe you ve now decided to take Nong & yourself on hols for a few days in BKK to bring this long saga to a close.
 
EnglishAlan said:
Yorkie-You last post says-It won t be collected by 7/02 ,if I don t recve a satisfactory answer to my request!.
However you ve posted many times you have no intension to go to BKK as you hate the place!
So maybe you ve now decided to take Nong & yourself on hols for a few days in BKK to bring this long saga to a close.
Click to expand...

Alan, if I wanted to go to Bangkok with my wife (or even without my wife) for a holiday I would do so. I don't hate Bangkok - I just do not like it.

However, I'm not going to allow some tin pot Little Hitler wankers dictate when and if I go. If VFS/VAC decide to return the passport to Liverpool, so be it. I shall then resume my battle with HMPO, Liverpool for probably another 10 months.

If you read my last "ultimatum" to VFS/VAC you will see that the three options for delivery of my passports to Surin do not include a personal visit by me to Bangkok.

Could I ask you @EnglishAlan, if you paid ฿9,000.00 for an item which turned out to be a crock of shit through no fault of your own, would you be prepared to spend another ฿10,000.00 to have it replaced?
 
Last edited:
Yorky said:
Alan, if I wanted to go to Bangkok with my wife (or even without my wife) for a holiday I would do so. I don't hate Bangkok - I just do not like it.

However, I'm not going to allow some tin pot Little Hitler wankers dictate when and if I go. If VFS/VAC decide to return the passport to Liverpool, so be it. I shall then resume my battle with HMPO, Liverpool for probably another 10 months.

If you read my last "ultimatum" to VFS/VAC you will see that the three options for delivery of my passports to Surin do not include a personal visit by me to Bangkok.
Click to expand...

My next target will be VFS Global in Dubai focusing on Quality Control.
 
@Yorky - I wonder whether or not you have considered contacting Martin Lewis (i.e. the money expert.com) regarding the difficulty you are experiencing?

To supplement that question, have you considered the Ombudsman route, or the service provided by the Independent Examiner of Complaints? See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-complaint-to-the-independent-examiner-of-complaints

"Complaints the OIEC can look at
The OIEC looks at complaints about these business areas:

UK Visas and Immigration
Immigration Enforcement
Border Force
Detention and Escorting Service
***HM Passport Office***
General Register Office"

Where it implies that the OIEC may only deal with problems AFTER the passport office has said it refuses your complaints, I believe that where the complaints made to HMPO fail to generate a refusal letter from them to remedy the current situation within 3 months of the complaint being made, then OIEC will treat your claim as if it had been refused.
 
Merlin said:
@Yorky - I wonder whether or not you have considered contacting Martin Lewis (i.e. the money expert.com) regarding the difficulty you are experiencing?

To supplement that question, have you considered the Ombudsman route, or the service provided by the Independent Examiner of Complaints? See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-complaint-to-the-independent-examiner-of-complaints

"Complaints the OIEC can look at
The OIEC looks at complaints about these business areas:

UK Visas and Immigration
Immigration Enforcement
Border Force
Detention and Escorting Service
***HM Passport Office***
General Register Office"

Where it implies that the OIEC may only deal with problems AFTER the passport office has said it refuses your complaints, I believe that where the complaints made to HMPO fail to generate a refusal letter from them to remedy the current situation within 3 months of the complaint being made, then OIEC will treat your claim as if it had been refused.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that @Merlin. However, I am now dealing with VFS/VAC, Bangkok, and once I have the full name(s) of the employee(s) with whom I'm dealing, I intend to take it up with their head office in Dubai. Should I not receive their name(s) I shall inform Dubai of the refusal.

Should VFS/VAC carry out their threat to return the passport(s) to HMPO, Liverpool I shall request HMPO, Liverpool to courier them back direct to my home (an action that they have previously refused to do). Given one negative response to that request, I shall then pursue your suggested route(s) without further delay or contact
 
I recommended the Ombudsman Post No 69 December 2nd last

I currently have a case with the Ombudsman regarding Royal Bank of Scotland. Seems they are very busy -or short staffed they have indicated a wait of 4 months before they can look into my complaint
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top