Calling all Poms; help required with passport problem.

[Chief Tiff]

I need some help locating a phone number for passport COMPLAINTS (yeah, yeah, I know; whingeing Pom...)

Next year my family and I are doing our 5 yearly visit back to the old dart and we needed to renew our daughter's passport. We did this through Australia Post as directed by the GOV.UK website. Now bearing in mind this is her 2nd renewal (3rd passport) how in the name of all that's holy did the bloody thing come back with her sex as "Male"

Ok, simple thing to fix, give them a ring and find out what bloody hoops I need to jump through now to get ANOTHER one sent out.

Guess what; the UK site people say "Ooh, you have to contact the Australian helpdesk for information. The number's on the website".

Yup; so it is. And it'll only cost me $3.50 per minute (more from a mobile naturally). And how long will I be in a queue; or waiting for the l-o-o-o-o-n-g list of "please press the number '9' to select that specific particular service"? There is also a UK number and a webchat system but they do require you to surrender your credit card details because they charge too, plus it's in sterling so you get an exchange rate wammy on the plastic plus sometimes a fixed fee and interest because some foreign transactions are classed as cash advances....

This is a bloody good way to avoid having any complaints hey? "Why, of course sir you can call us to complain. You whine; we gouge." I fully expect to have to front the postage costs AGAIN to get this sorted but to make me pay just to let them know that they have performed an act of vertical fornication is downright bloody rude

So, my question is has anybody else suffered something similar, anyone know a direct number? Or an E-mail address? Or anything really? I've E-mailed Aus Post for their assistance however at this particular time they are experiencing an unusually high number of requests so it may be some time before I get an answer.

[bsrlee]

Maybe try the UK Ombudsman? Lack of help, cost to you of correcting UK Department's error.

Just the cost to a Department of answering an Ombudsman's complaint in Australia pre-2000 was estimated at $10,000 to the Department, all non-recoverable.

[Chesand]

British High Commission in Canberra should be able to help. Some time ago they were able to renew a UK passport in 24 hours for my father-in-law when it was urgently needed.
(02) 6270-6666

[Chief Tiff]

Thanks so far; I'll give the High Commission a call this arvo.

Apart from anything else I'm on shift at work and won't get to a normal landline until November. Somehow I don't think my employer will be too happy if I start racking up premium rate phone calls!!!

[ToothFairy]

Been away from the forum for a while . . .

I've always renewed my UK passport through the UK High Commission in Canberra; I didn't even know it could be done through Aus Post, though I do my Aus passport that way. Never had a problem with any passport of either country. (Not that it's something I do every week, of course.)

- Michael

[Wongo]

How many passports do you want and what are the names?

PM to follow re my Swiss bank account number

[ian]

two or three are good ...

leave AUS using your Australian one -- enter the old dart using the Pommy one

if its the US you don't have to queue with all the Aliens and the Immigration Officers say "welcome home" as they pass you through


and you can work without needing a visa

[Chesand]

leave AUS using your Australian one -- enter the old dart using the Pommy one

SWMBO has those two and does exactly that. I am allowed to enter with her through the UK channel. Sure as hell beats waiting in the "all others" queue.

[Chief Tiff]

Success!

My dearly beloved (who initially told me about the act of vertical fornication over the phone) for some bizarre reason decided to actually read the slip of paper that can back with the document. In it there was a fairly clear statement giving a contact E-mail address (albeit in NZ) should there be any problem. So after much soul searching and consideration she persuaded herself to give it a go. Then; a few days later she had another go; only this time with the address spelt correctly. Within 24 hrs we get a reply with a very heartfelt apology and the offer of a free courier bag to return the offending item.

So, I have learnt some very valuable lessons here:

1. Arrange all posted items to be delivered when I'm at home and not away on shift at work. This is really important.
2. Remember that girls are generally incapable of logical and coherent thought. Who'd have thought that the passport would have come with some sort of information sheet?
3. The amount of people on this forum who are willing to pitch in with advice and lessons learnt knows no bounds.
4. My daughter can order her own bloody passport next time. By then she'll be 18 anyway.
5. Remember that step 1 is REALLY important.
6. Almost as important as step 2.

Thanks to all who responded, assisted, advised, commiserated and who are now rolling their eyes and wondering why how I forgot to ask her: "wasn't there a letter or some other bit of paper in the envelope that told you who to contact if all wasn't well....."

[Chesand]

All's well that ends well

[jimbur]

Remember item 2 if you get hijacked by some religious misogynists!
I used to laugh at my BIL with his habit of never throwing away packaging from computers etc. He's moving house now and is just putting them in their boxes complete with polystyrene packing. The laugh is on me.

[Chief Tiff]

Remember item 2 if you get hijacked by some religious misogynists!
I used to laugh at my BIL with his habit of never throwing away packaging from computers etc. He's moving house now and is just putting them in their boxes complete with polystyrene packing. The laugh is on me.

Hah! I used to be described as mildly OCD when I'd mention that I kept all the boxes for just about everything we owned all boxed up in the loft; with every big box listing it's contents of smaller boxes. Then they learn that since 2000 I've had 6 house moves; including 3 interstate and 1 international...