Wow at passport speed!

[zippy99]

Just had to post on here about my passport experience. My daughters passport expired at the beginning of the month so I was desperate to get it renewed quickly to avoid the esta charge. I went to the post office on Tuesday and sent off the forms. Would you believe it - it arrived today!

What a service!

 

[cazzie]

That is quick, we had to renew ours this year and it only took a week to get them back and I thought that was impressive.

 

[london75]

That is impressive, it's a sorry state of affairs when we think that's good though that they reprinted a document only changing a single date in three days!

That sounds exactly how quick it should have always been. 1 day to get there, 1 day to print, 1 day to get back.

Now why did it take 6 weeks as little as 5 years ago!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Fab!

 

[2Tiggies]

My DD's also arrived at record speed. Posted check and send at the Post Office just after 5 pm on the Thursday and it was delivered the Monday morning.

Maybe they knew your name is Zippy

 

[orangetiggs]

fantastic i have to do my girls and mine before esta starts charging!!!

 

[2Tiggies]

fantastic i have to do my girls and mine before esta starts charging!!!

Have you had their photos done yet? I love my DD's baby passport now. It has well expired, but it is so cute when you look at this tiny person in the photo She was only a couple of weeks when she had her first one done.

 

[iluvtot]

Have you had their photos done yet? I love my DD's baby passport now. It has well expired, but it is so cute when you look at this tiny person in the photo She was only a couple of weeks when she had her first one done.

Ahh! That's a nice keepsake to have. My kids were all on mine and then got their own 5 years ago. Not so cute as by then they weren't allowed to smile, so they all looked miserable!
I had a strange thing with DD2's passport though. I waited untill the girls turned 16 so they could get adult passports, so took them into the PO a couple of weeks ago, with new photos. Was then told the photos had to be signed, (even though they were renewals), as they had changed! I couldn't believe it, as of course they looked older, but you could see it was still them! Anyway, the assistant was adamant, so a couple of days later I was back with the signed photos, handed over the additional £24 for the check and send (x3), and was then told that even though they were checked by the PO they didn't guarantee that the passport office would accept them!!
Luckily they did, and a week later(I thought that was quick!) 2 arrived in the post, but one of the envelopes was torn open. The following day their old passports were returned, but DD2's still hadn't arrived. The next day (Sat), her old one arrived. As they all went together, I was a bit concerned, so I phoned the passport office. I was told it had been approved for printing and it should arrive soon. I said I was concerned because the others had had their old passports returned after their new ones, and one of them had been tampered with. I was asked if it had just come unstuck, or if the envelope was torn. I said torn, but then she just said Ellie's should arrive by Wed.
Anyway, (sorry this is so long winded) about 4pm, there was a knock on the door, and Ellie's passport was hand delivered, and I had to sign for it! Still don't know what that was all about.....

Jules x

 

[2Tiggies]

I also signed for mine at 16.

Very strange that yours went through the mail. I can't remember if there was a specific selection and fee for registered post, but ours were both delivered by courier the door and they were done at different times.

I have to say, for all the complaining that you hear from time to time, I don't think many countries can boast passport renewal within less than a week.

 

[starrysky]

I had to renew mine and I also did the check and send service (not 100% sure if it made the difference) but it arrived back in just over a week.

The docs i had to send off plus my old passport arrived and i thought it would be a week or more but that night my new passport was hand delivered that same night.

Someone suggested that due to the economy the passport office was not as busy as say a year or more ago because less people are going abroad.

 

[2Tiggies]

Someone suggested that due to the economy the passport office was not as busy as say a year or more ago because less people are going abroad.

That makes sense. Still, I got ours at speed when the economy was booming so I still want to give them some credit.

 

[Dimplenose]

Wow, and I thought I was doing well last year when they took a fortnight.

I used check and send once but they failed to notice that I'd missed out an entire section of the form for my daughter so I was contacted by passport office to sort things out.

I complained and got a refund of the check and send fee along with a rather curt "We're not experts, you know!" So if they are not experts what am I paying for?

The next time one of the family needed a new passport I didn't bother with check and send but then got stung for over £4 of postage to send it registered delivery.

 

[starrysky]

I used check and send once but they failed to notice that I'd missed out an entire section of the form for my daughter so I was contacted by passport office to sort things out.

I complained and got a refund of the check and send fee along with a rather curt "We're not experts, you know!" So if they are not experts what am I paying for?

Exactly and the charge is high enough for the passport let alone the extra check and send fee. You would expect them to be experts and even then they still have an idoits gudie to how to check the form!! still at least you got your money back for it.

I was more worried about getting the photo the wrong size and thankfully the nice post office lady had a gauge to measure it but i still had to cut it myself. Thought before that it was part of the check and send for them to cut the photo for you but i got that wrong.

 

[starrysky]

That makes sense. Still, I got ours at speed when the economy was booming so I still want to give them some credit.

And they are blaming that on all the holiday companies going bust as well. Still us Disney nuts always find a way of getting our fix.