Passports from Paris

[idun]

How long has it been taking to get british passports from the consulate in Paris?

My son ordered his about 5 weeks ago and as we always got ours back within a week or so, I think that that is too long and he should chase it up.

He tells me that there are postal strikes in France, at least where he lives. If five or six weeks is normal, then so be it.

[Bugsy]

Mrs B has just renewed her passport. It took 15 days and cost a whopping 188 euros.

.

[idun]

Yes, isn't it expensive, plus postage was that?

So 15 days sounds right to me, not weeks and weeks.

 

 

[NormanH]

Mine was lost in the post, and I had to send a fax declaring that I hadn't received it, and then they sent a replacement, but this is in the context of a series of problems I have had with La Poste (SPIT) and non-delivery.

The original never turned up.

[Judith]

Mine took no more than two weeks earlier this year - from memory - methinks he should chase it.

[Val_2]

Paid €193 in January which included the fee for mandat cash and took about ten days with delivery by courier direct to my door.

[Evianers]

Same here - it costs €188 and took 8-10 days although the stamped-addressed envelope I had included was returned to me because it was not large enough! Actually, at that price HMG should foot the cost of the postage don't you agree?

[idun]

I spoke to him today and he said that the accuse de reception took over three weeks to get back to him. He'll get onto it this week.

Which poses the question, when will they be open.......UK bank holiday on Monday, French Bank holiday Tuesday, do they take them all?????? and if so, that would really get up my nose....... that is being polite about it.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="Evianers"]Same here - it costs €188 and took 8-10 days although the stamped-addressed envelope I had included was returned to me because it was not large enough! Actually, at that price HMG should foot the cost of the postage don't you agree?
[/quote]It wouldn't be HMG who foot the the bill - it would be us - the long suffering british taxpayer who would have to pay. [:)]

[Pommier]

I think that Evianers meant that at €188 postal charges should be included. At that price HMG (or should I say the British taxpayer) are making a hefty profit.

I saved a load by renewing both our passports via my daughter's UK address at just £77.50 each.

[mint]

Pommier, I am PMing you.  Please look![:)]

[idun]

It still hasn't turned up and he has emailed them and had no reply.

I have told him not to call as it costs far too much to speak to them and I resent them getting even more money out of him.

[Evianers]

[quote user="idun"]

It still hasn't turned up and he has emailed them and had no reply.

I have told him not to call as it costs far too much to speak to them and I resent them getting even more money out of him.

[/quote]

I have worked at both the British Consulate in Bruxelles and Zürich. There is supposed to be a strict turn-around time of maximum 5 working days. The service you are experiencing is shocking. In our day it wouldn't have been tolerated, but then how many things have changed for the worse within the last 10 years?

[idun]

I agree that is what used to happen  and I haven't hesitated  to contact the consulate when I have needed information or help and very efficient and helpful they were. But I don't think that the passports  are even done at the consulate anymore. I believe that they are sent to the UK and then back to Paris and then out.

He has his avis de reception, so they got it all. In fact I'm going to call the Consulate tomorrow and if they try and pass me on to that expensive number, I will call the Foreign Office and my MP. I suddenly feel very peeved by this.

[Val_2]

The paperwork goes to Paris but the actual passports are made in the UK. Mine came to the door with DHL CDG Paris stickers on them and the flight number.

[idun]

I have called the consulate today and as I expected......... they can do nothing. Over thirty years I have used that consulate and it was very good and helpful and it is a sham now and it should be closed down if they cannot help british citizens get their legal paperwork that they are obliged to have in France, especially as they are paying excessive amounts for said paperwork!

I then called the Foreign Office and am still refered to that 72p a minute number.

 

I am now preparing a letter to the Foreign Office and our MP. And this private company is also going to get a letter from me.

 

[Evianers]

Bravo! Keep at 'em. Only way to eventually receive satisfaction. Good luck though!

[Loiseau]

Idun, try www.saynoto0870.com as there is a proper number given for the FO - and many other organisations - there.

Is there a similarly useful website for France, I wonder?

Angela

[Pommier]

Angela, try these http://www.geonumbers.com/fr/ and http://telephonie.sanjb.net/numero-telephone-non-surtaxe.php

[idun]

Loiseau, they are dirty rotten scoundrels and that is as polite as I can muster on here. The number for the Passport Care Service is 02080824729 and I had tried it on No to 0870 and it is 'not found'.

So you call and a bloke's voice says that it is 72p a minute. 'Care', do they not know what care is? Abuse Line....would be an apt description... as their charges are abusive............so if the first couple of minutes are about calls being recorded etc along with a menu choice, then wait to an indeterminate time to actually speak to someone.............. a call to this line could soon be very expensive.

The UK resident Premium Passport service ie one day service is £129.50 one pays for prompt service. The one week service being £112.50. The next down being the basic service of £77.50 and their aim is to return the passport within three weeks, which sounds fine to me.

 

However, to British Citizens who are not in the UK or are overseas residents in France, then one pays for €164 + €25 courrier fee. Plus ofcourse the amount to have sent the passport application recommande avec accuse de reception. Which even at current €/£ rates makes that approx £150 for a service that they say takes approximately 4 weeks and could take up to 6 apparently.

 

It stinks. In monetary terms, those renewing passports via the consular service are paying for a premium service and yet are being treat disgracefully with a service that is even slower than people using the very basic 'slow' system in the UK. And as the clue in the C1 form is that these passports are being issued by consulates, they should be prioritised. People are 'living abroad' and may need to get home quickly.

 

I am in the process of writing to the Foreign Office and Home Office and the IPS, not forgetting my MP. The more who complain the better surely? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Loiseau]

[quote user="Pommier"]Angela, try these http://www.geonumbers.com/fr/ and http://telephonie.sanjb.net/numero-telephone-non-surtaxe.php[/quote]

Thanks Pommier!

Actually, I didn't need them - I was just musing, and trying to hep idun find a UK geographical  number. 

But have bookmarked them, as they look v useful.

Angela

[idun]

Well this morning my son had his passport delivered. He applied on the 10th of April.

 

I had contacted various offical people and do you know what, they asked for his 'reference' number!!!!!!! So they do not know how this works either.

 

This has taken 6 full weeks and basically he had no proper ID for all that time. If anything had happened, I could not get to see him or he to see us without the expensive paper that they issue. And then what for him, his new passport was in the system and would have gone to France when he was in the UK.

 

If expats are happy being treat like scum and paying way over the top fees for the priviledge, well so be it. And those 72p a minute phone lines, well, daylight robbery. I am not.

 

I have checked on the French Embassy, London web site and they try and guarantee that they issue their expat citizens within 7-10 days, which is reasonable and mistakes etc will happen, but that is what they say and I believe them. That is what the british embassy in France used to say, now they have unhelpful, curt people working there, nothing to do with them apparently.

 

I am so enraged by this. This is not right on so many levels.

 

I would be happy to know that it is not just myself who has contacted the powers that be, MP's, William Haig and Theresa May. 

[Evianers]

Bravo that it has finally been received.

HMG are not going to like what I write, but whilst I was working at the Zürich Consulate, this was closed with the loss of +20 senior positions : whilst working at the Antwerp Consulate, ditto [although with fewer job losses]. I began to wonder whether it was ME. But no, it all fell under the "cost cutting" axe and subsequently, the Geneva Consulate has also been closed. How on earth do they intend to keep up standards? Your son's sorry saga will probably become par for the course in future if the axe cuts any further.

[idun]

I realise that, but the IPS, has taken this over.

The insult is that in the UK they have a premium service for £129'ish for UK residents including postage and one can get a passport within 24 hours. At 189€ including postage, it is now four to six weeks for expats in France. Even a basic passport in the UK £77.50 is issued within 3 weeks.

It is also mentioned that they do not make any profit on the consular passport service. What can I say but mon oeil, what with the 72p a minute 'Care' number and the horrific costs they have inflicted.

I am writing to a complaints office now. I am contacting the french embassy in London and asking what they do these days, as I know that the applications for passports for french expats are sent to France.

 

This really is down to the IPS and their bosses. What happened to common sense?

 

 

[woolybanana]

Just out of interest, new passport requested and forms etc sent off registered late afternoon of Friday 11th May, received back here  at 1500hrs today. Just under two weeks with a long weekend thrown in.

I have no complaints about such service.