Judith Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 "You are lucky it wasn't lost in the Post in this neck of the woods..."Well it went registered post to be signed for to Paris, and was returned from the UK and I suspect Paris (two separate items, old and new passports) by DHL couriers. So La poste was only involved in its outward journey, and since it had to be signed for, it it would have been treated more carefully, I am sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Angel,Any joy with your passport yet? Mine was maybe so quick as I did use the cc mandate, it does say that with the other method it can take some time ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 I received my old passport back today! The man that delivered it said that I would receive my new passport back sometime next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 [quote user="Judith"]"You are lucky it wasn't lost in the Post in this neck of the woods..."Well it went registered post to be signed for to Paris, and was returned from the UK and I suspect Paris (two separate items, old and new passports) by DHL couriers. So La poste was only involved in its outward journey, and since it had to be signed for, it it would have been treated more carefully, I am sure.[/quote]I had my passport lost when I renewed it, and I had to fax the embassy with a letter swearing that I hadn't received it. It was then replaced just in time.I also had my certificates of birth marriage and divorce 'lost' by La Poste, who in fact returned them to the sender (the Newcastle Pensions office) several months later claiming that my address doesn't exist, despite having delivered the replacements which Newcastle had kindly arranged for me and sent to that same address.Documents sent by the DRIRE in Montpellier also went missing.The 3G sim card I bought from Orange (spit) was disactivated by Orange because the bill was returned as 'address unknown' (even though it had been paid by Direct debit, but that's another story) It seems in the Hérault that if the sender doesn't pay for registered post there is a very good chance that mail even from official organisations won't arrive.If I sound sour it is from experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 That is pretty bad NH with all this stuff going missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Norman,I'm in the Herault too, but I think the other end from you - maybe if your post comes from the Montpellier end it can "go astray"due to size of region and lack of personal knowledge. I think our post is done via Lezignan, which is a bit smaller. .... mind you I do sometimes wonder if we get all our post - but I don't think I've had the same problems as you. Though with soemthing valuable I would always send registered - it was not that much more expensive to have peace of mind. Perhaps you live in a place which is difficult to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I've had two similar things happen to me here, Norman. Happily, not as important as yours but I did have a cheque which I was trying to deposit sent back as address unknown. As it's CA in Caen and what's more is CEDEX, I just don't believe they couldn't have found the bl**dy place if they'd tried. Another was a Christmas card which was sent back as "couldn't find post box". I've been sending cards to this person for a few years now and he tells me nothing has changed his end. Plus the envelope was typed so it wasn't the fault of my dreadful handwriting. Makes you spit. Grr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Just received my passport......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Brilliant - it's a wonderful feeling - I felt "whole" again when mine arrived!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 It's just useful to have just in case of an emergency and have to go back to England! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Yes, I thought I had better do mine as it expired some years ago and my CdeS is almost up again and you can't renew that without a passport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Ice-ni Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 [quote user="Angel"]It's just useful to have just in case of an emergency and have to go back to England![/quote]In which case I will tell most people that mine has expired and is too expensive to renew.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Here in our village, we have a neighbour who often has packages delivered for her work. She often tells us that they are not delivered/returned to sender. She thinks that if the courier has no-one else to deliver to in our village, or in the area, they just don't bother and either leave it for someone else to deliver another day or return it as 'not known' etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 [quote user="Mr Ice-ni"] [In which case I will tell most people that mine has expired and is too expensive to renew.John[/quote]And at that point won't you will be living illegally in France? That is what I was always told and it makes sense, to me at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Mine arrived earlier. Completely different layout and no microchip as per my son's one. No mention of the issuing office as Paris or anywhere else and it came in two DHL envelopes from CDG Paris via courrier to my door. Not bad as it went off on Jan 9th and I could not have got it done cheaper in the UK considering the travelling costs etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 All in all, I am satisfied with the passport service. I mentioned earlier that I and two other members of my family got the passports back within 12 days of applying, but our son's passport was still missing yesterday, 5 weeks after sending it off for renewal. I was sitting there, worrying what to do, when a most helpful chap from the British consulate rang me out of the blue to ask if I got the passport for my son! He was going through a long list of passports issued but not delivered by DHL and ringing people around France. He gave me the DHL office number and the passport tracking reference. I rang them et voilà - the passport arrived earlier today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 [quote user="Val_2"]Mine arrived earlier. Completely different layout and no microchip as per my son's one. No mention of the issuing office as Paris or anywhere else and it came in two DHL envelopes from CDG Paris via courrier to my door. Not bad as it went off on Jan 9th and I could not have got it done cheaper in the UK considering the travelling costs etc.[/quote]Val there is a chip in it. Cannot remember where, but we did look for it as it wasn't obvious when my son got his passport in early December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I didn't bother to read the accompanying papers with the passport when it arrived (mostly about travel and problems etc).Anyway putting it away I thought I would read through and throw any bits not needed and it does say on the piece where you note your number and date etc that the chip is now inserted into the cover.Can't feel anything so it must be very small or flat. My son's is quite a hunk of metal on one page near the back. Glad its back though and to be honest, if people want to try and save money by doing it in the UK then good luck to them,but to be honest I can't be bothered to worry about sending it to my girl over there and then for her to send to London etc which would mean a special trip into the nearby town and then have to return it to me because I don't think we would have saved much with courrier/registered post costs really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 More or less everyone seems to be very happy with the service and so I'm I. That is, how quick it was processed and returned back to me! But it still doesn't excuse charging 160.00€ for a passport which is nearly double the price of an English one!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 No, I agree there should be a fixed price of say €100 inclusive as they are compulsory items if you are outside the UK but I suppose like everything else these days with prices rising every five mins,you can't expect something for nothing. End of the day, I used to easily spend that amount in the supermarket doing a family shop every so often and had nothing to show for it after a few days, so we are getting ten years worth of something[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I think I might have said this before - yes, it does seem expensive compared with the UK price, but given that it saved me the hassle of a trip over (with all the costs that entails) and that once I'd sent it, it was back well within the time scale they suggested, I'm happy to accept the higher cost because I got the service I paid for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 We have never avoided the fast track in the UK which is £112.50 and getting to the passport office, which we never have the luxory of being close to. So I reckon that we paid the equivilent of 170€ at least. I realise that there is a slow service, but that needs planning and circumstances have been against us so far, ie mine needs renewing soon and because of some things happening I dare not send mine off to renew. So I'll end up paying a lot again. We'll see.My husband's passport has a big chip in it, but he has had that a while now, got it not too long after they started chipping the passports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I've just realised OH's passport is due to expire next month, and have searched out the forms etc on the FCO website.There's one thing I'm confused about (and shouldn't be really as I renewed my own passport only 12 months ago but cannot remember what I did then) and that's the counter-signatory - I'm sure that it used to be the case that if you were renewing and enclosing your old passport, you didn't need to get it counter-signed, but I can't find anything anywhere now to confirm this. I don't remember getting mine counter-signed - not a clue who I would've asked to do it.Any help from those of you who've done it recently?Thanks in advanceLou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 You need NO countersignatory if your appearance has not changed in the past few years since the last photo and its a straightforward renewal. Just done mine three weeks ago and it came back on friday. It does tell you in for the info onscreen for the passports in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Yes, Val is right Lou. I never got my photo's signed. It's only if you've drastically changed in the last ten years and apart from a wrinkle or two, I was fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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