FURIOUS at Passport Canada This Morning!

[Lizzzys]

Got up at 5:15 am to start calling the Passport Office to check on the status of my children's applications that were sent in at the beginning of Jan. Finally got through to the wait queue at 5:54 am. Got a real person at 6:20 am.

The rep asked for the applicants details and put them into the computer. No hits. She asked when they were sent and how, and I told her early Jan, sent through the mail. She asked for a tracking number, but I wasn't given one even though they were mailed out by Express Post (the postal worker must have made a mistake when doing the receipt and forgot to give me a tracking #)

She then tells me that there is no way of checking on their status since they are sitting in a bin somewhere and that they are just now getting to the early December applications that were sent in by mail. She said that without a tracking number she can do nothing to pull them out of the queue at the depot and have them sent to be processed sooner. (Nowhere on Canada Post's website have I read that people should mail their applications in by traceable mail and I only did so to expedite them)

I asked if they are opening them and checking the expected dates of travel on the applications when they are first received by mail and she said "no". They are only opening them in the sequence in which they are being received and when someone has time to process them. I commented that it makes more sense to do them according to urgency because someone travelling in September of this year won't need theirs for a long time, but I need ours very shortly. Why do they even bother asking for the dates of travel if they are not going to use them to prioritize? She said it wouldn't be fair because some people have been waiting since November to get theirs. Then she admonished me, saying that I should have applied in person if I had upcoming travel dates. I reminded her that that was NOT what Passport Canada was saying then, nor are they saying now. Their recommendation (at that time) was that anyone not traveling in the next 20 business days should apply through the mail. (now it is 45 days. Gone up another 5 days over the weekend)

So I said again (very nicely) "It makes no sense. Then why are they not opening the applications when they get there and putting them into priority sequence based on dates of travel so that those of us with travel dates fast approaching will be able to go?" (I must have asked her that 3 or more times during the 10 minute conversation) She said she can do nothing, she is only a call center person. I agreed, but asked if maybe there is a supervisor or someone I could speak to to recommend that they change their methods so that people who don't need to go anywhere until next September will not be put ahead of those of us who are leaving in a few weeks.

Click.

SHE HUNG UP ON ME!!!

Again, I want to stress, at NO time was I rude or angry with her. I was polite, asked very valid questions with an even tone of voice and was willing to speak to someone higher in order to make a suggestion so that people will be able to get their passports in time for their travel plans.

Now I am infuriated. Our government has let us down so badly in this fiasco. And they have not updated the public at all through this. Their last message to the media on their website was written on December 20, 2006. What is going to happen when people start missing vacations when they thought they were applying "on time"???

Liz

 

[SherylR]

If you have your receipt from Canada Post, there *should* be a tracking number at the bottom. It's just a regular receipt like you'd get from any store when you pay, not a copy of the packing slip.
I checked the Passport Canada website over the weekend and it said that they are adding 25 days onto what they were stating before, which I think was 20 days. To me it seems like it's now 45 business days.
Volume Increase
Passport Canada is experiencing a sharp volume increase in passport applications in all of its offices, by mail and through its receiving agents. Please note that we are also experiencing, up to 25 business days delays, in addition to our service standards when delivering your new passport.

I hear your frustration! Hopefully, if you have that receipt, you might be able to track it.
If you go to the post office that you dealt with, maybe they will have a record of it by tracing your name?

 

[disneyfan2]

i hear you, this is a big mess up on there part. I applied in Dec and at the time i was told i would have it in 15-10(with mailing time) days, i don';t leave til feb. However, as of January they change the delay time to add additional 10 days(now 25) but because i applied in Dec i should have had it right in Jan however, as of Friday i was told that i could not be guaranteed to have it by my TRIP!!! they would not even allow me to pick it up in the passport application because i did it at a postal receiving office(which i now find out that they consider it the same as regular mailed applications)

 

[Lizzzys]

I do have the receipt in my hands right now. I've tried every number on the receipt and none of them work as tracking numbers. It doesn't say tracking number anywhere either. It says:

Local outlet header/gst #/date/time/id.hello then an RC number (not sure what that is, but it doesn't trace)

g/s 1@$17.49
XPost Nat Pk/XPost Emballage nat
then the subtotals, tax etc.
total
Debit Card
Chg. due
receipt required for all returns
www.canadapost.ca

That's it. I will be taking it in this morning to see if they can backwards track it from the receipt. Hopefully I'll be lucky.

Liz

If you have your receipt from Canada Post, there *should* be a tracking number at the bottom. It's just a regular receipt like you'd get from any store when you pay, not a copy of the packing slip.
I checked the Passport Canada website over the weekend and it said that they are adding 25 days onto what they were stating before, which I think was 20 days. To me it seems like it's now 45 business days.
Volume Increase
Passport Canada is experiencing a sharp volume increase in passport applications in all of its offices, by mail and through its receiving agents. Please note that we are also experiencing, up to 25 business days delays, in addition to our service standards when delivering your new passport.

I hear your frustration! Hopefully, if you have that receipt, you might be able to track it.
If you go to the post office that you dealt with, maybe they will have a record of it by tracing your name?

 

[SherylR]

it would say
Tracking No: 09395308343
It's usually right at the very bottom and you don't even notice it. But if you haven't seen it by now, sounds like they didn't add it.
Good luck!! I'll be pulling for you!

 

[Mickey1Fan]

I do understand your frustation but at the same time this has been coming for three years. We applied in 2005 even though we had no plans to travel. Figured we should have them rather than be in the situation that many, many travellers are in right now.

Good luck!!!!

 

[Albertan mom]

I am sending mine today. I am thinking it will be lucky if we have them back by May!!!

Good Luck!

 

[iluvflorida]

I feel for you but you should know anything to do with Govt. is slow and not polite. I am afraid you also should have applied long ago as we had lots of notice it was coming.

 

[Lizzzys]

There was no good reason to apply earlier as I did not have a need for them earlier. I haven't travelled to the US with my kids since 2002. When this trip was planned (in Nov.) I wanted to keep it a surprise and since the passport office (at the time) was saying that we only needed to have 20 business days to get them, I thought surely to God leaving double that time in order to get them would be sufficient. Guess not. Whether you think so or not, not everyone who doesn't travel outside of Canada regularly will get a passport for every member of the family "just in case". Passports are costly and have expiration dates on them. I thought I was doing things properly by doing them according to what was recommended by Passport Canada themselves.

Update on the Canada Post tracking number: I went to the outlet, they have no way of finding the tracking number. Apparently the tracking numbers on the Express Mailer envelopes do not appear on the receipts. You are supposed to receive part of the peel off sticker which contains the tracking number, but that didn't happen. I'm likely hooped. Nothing they can do.

Liz

I feel for you but you should know anything to do with Govt. is slow and not polite. I am afraid you also should have applied long ago as we had lots of notice it was coming.

 

[jeffd101]

I do not agree with the comments that appear to be of the "I told you so" variety.

Did we know it was coming? Yes.

Did Passport Canada say that they were expecting abnormal amounts of applications and that they would immediately increase their expected turnaround time or increase resources to deal with the backlog anticipated? No.

When you have to pay $87 (or $37) for a document that you may not have to use or did not anticipate needing until this time frame (because many people have to make emergency trips - it's not all about people taking luxury vacations), I see no need to apply and have it sit and gather dust for three years until needed (especially when it has a limited shelf-life anyways).

Again, its easy for those who travel all the time, or for those that having an additional $250 tacked onto the cost of a trip is no big deal, to get one in advance. Just wait until five years from now when we'll deal with the whole mess again because the vast majority of the passports in circulation will come due at the same time. Think they'll be ready then?

Look at the history of the announcements about the requirements and subsequent numerous delys, misinformation, backtracking, etc that went on with the whole fiasco. Is it any wonder that people held off so long? They even changed the date (mind you only by 22 days) for implementation at the last minute.

Assigning blame or making people feel bad who may miss out on a trip because the processing of a simple document is in the hands of an organization that did not properly prepare itself is a little harsh.

That said, we go in May and will be going to Halifax to apply in person after applying on-line. I will feel badly for those that are not informed and may not get the documents in time to travel. But I will not say "I told you so" and "You should have known better".

 

[mbb]

.... I thought I was doing things properly by doing them according to what was recommended by Passport Canada themselves.

....

You did.
And I can't imagine how frustrated you must be.

Just wanted to pass along a , and some pixie dust

 

[calgarygary]

They even changed the date (mind you only by 22 days) for implementation at the last minute.

The delay in implementation has nothing to do with Passport Canada, it was a U.S. decision.

 

[mickeywho?]

I do have the receipt in my hands right now. I've tried every number on the receipt and none of them work as tracking numbers. It doesn't say tracking number anywhere either. It says:

Local outlet header/gst #/date/time/id.hello then an RC number (not sure what that is, but it doesn't trace)

g/s 1@$17.49
XPost Nat Pk/XPost Emballage nat
then the subtotals, tax etc.
total
Debit Card
Chg. due
receipt required for all returns
www.canadapost.ca

That's it. I will be taking it in this morning to see if they can backwards track it from the receipt. Hopefully I'll be lucky.

Liz

It's been a little while since I worked at an outlet but here's my two cents!

The RC# is the location it was sent from (the postal outlet's id #) They sold you a package of Xpresspost envelopes for $17.49.
They probably asked you to move to another part of the counter to get your envelopes ready/fill out your labels etc. and then you handed them the envelopes to put in the mail bag. They should have taken off the duplicate of the mailing label - a very flimsey piece of paper. It has your tracking number on it. Something like this: 77 191 405 922 in the bottom right hand corner in small black type.
If they scanned the label again you would have gotten an additional receipt but it's the same #. If you dropped your envelope in any mailbox you would still have this flimsey piece of paper as you need to take it off to put the label on the envelope.
If you've thrown out this receipt (it never seems important at the time) you can go back to your postal outlet and see if there is anything else they can do. I really don't think there is but it won't hurt to ask...
Hope that helped ...good luck

 

[almacdonald]

Think of a passport as a form of travel insurance. You might not need it but if a surprise trip or emergency arises you have it, no hassles. Insurance is expensive and sometimes you never even use it, same with a passport (although passports really AREN'T that expensive compared to the cost of a cancelled trip)

 

[jeffd101]

The delay in implementation has nothing to do with Passport Canada, it was a U.S. decision.

Isn't the whole thing a reaction to a US decision? Still, that particular delay only served to provide a few weeks of relief for Passport Canada.

 

[jeffd101]

Think of a passport as a form of travel insurance. You might not need it but if a surprise trip or emergency arises you have it, no hassles. Insurance is expensive and sometimes you never even use it, same with a passport (although passports really AREN'T that expensive compared to the cost of a cancelled trip)

True, but would you buy trip insurance if you weren't going on one?

 

[nosnobunny2006]

Isn't the whole thing a reaction to a US decision? Still, that particular delay only served to provide a few weeks of relief for Passport Canada.

I don't know that I'd call it a "reaction". The US simply will not let you into their country which is their right.

Beth

 

[calgarygary]

Isn't the whole thing a reaction to a US decision? Still, that particular delay only served to provide a few weeks of relief for Passport Canada.

Not so much a reaction but compliance with a US policy/decision. Passport Canada had no control over when this law became effective. If people think the delays are bad now, wait until next year when all people entering the US, including by land, will require passports.

 

[RainbowsMist]

My niece is flying from Calgary to MCO in March to meet us. She mailed her passport stuff into Passport Canada the 1st of December and still has not received it. Not quite in panic mode yet but she has a backup plan if she doesn't receive it on time. Drive to Montana, get a bus to Denver and catch her connecting flight there. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that though.

Just a thought...could you have a backup plan?

 

[jeffd101]

To the OP, I hear your frustration.

Canadians were forced to react to the US decision to better control their border - fair enough. The reality is that the Canadian government and Passport Canada knows the number of Canadians that travel to the US on an annual basis, and could reasonably have foreseen the deluge of applicants they are now receiving.

To respond by telling people now applying that they are the ones unprepared and should have applied earlier is a bit unfair - where did Passport Canada say during the lead up that it would be reasonable to expect delays over their current processing time of an extra month to month and a half?

The OP has very valid concerns and was right in trying to relay those at Passport Canada.