Passport Number Taken For Bringing Toooo Many Ciggies Into The Country

[rosiew]

Im devastated.
I went online to renew my passport, i filled out all the relevant details and paid £69.50. I then received my completed applicationn form which i attatched 2 pictures and signed the form. Saturday morning i received a letter from HM Passport Office to say that they could not process this until i send them £72.50, i emailed them straight away and i got an email last night to say that the payment which i made was for the checking of the passport and i need to send a further payment of the £72.50, iv asked them for a telephone number that i can contact them but not heard anything since. Iv just telephoned Hm Passport Office and they say that it must have been an unofficial site and they cannot do anything about it. To get my passport renewed it will have cost me £142.00!!!!!
I googled "passport renewal" and thought i was on the correct site. Iv done nothing but cry since. How can this be

[rosiew]

WHAT THE HECK IS THE TITLE OF THIS POST. The heading which i wrote was Passport Renewal, i dont know where that heading has come from.

[naomi24]

It's come from here:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question929575.html

[ummmm]

I nearly fell for this with the DVLA when trying to renew my driving license.

Just before I submitted my card details I spotted, in small print, that it wasn't an official site. It looked exactly the same as the DVLA's...

Make sure the site you use has '.gov'

[EDDIE51]

There are loads of these sites and they always come up before real one.
It is a scam but once you have given them your card details it is too late.

[humbersloop]

rosie, the Inland Revenue and Companies House have been scammed recently too.

Sadly it sounds like you might have lost your money with this one. If you need to start again, the Post Office Check and Send service is very quick and secure

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/passport-check-send

[RATTER15]

Interesting Naomi!

So rosiew, are you suggesting that someone on Answerbank has changed your heading to the question.

Never known that to happen before!

[humbersloop]

Ratter, my browser "remembers" the titles of previous questions I've posted and offers them as a drop down in the post your question box, which may be what happened here

[RATTER15]

humbersloop, really? mine doesn't do that!

[ummmm]

Mine does that.

[humbersloop]

yes ratter ,with words repeated at the start of a question - so as I sadly too frequently look for help with "Guardian xxxx" in crosswords, it always humiliates me by offering the last couple I've asked there. As the op started both posts with //passport// I guess that's what's happened

[rosiew]

No RATTER im not suggesting that at all. Im upset enough without you starting. That post was made in 2010. I meant that i did not know how that title heading had been mixed up with the title of my new post which was Passport Renewal.
Thank you humbersloop for explaining that

[RATTER15]

rosiew, I'm sorry, I wasn't having a go, I was genuinely enquiring if that is what you thought.

I apologise :-(

[rosiew]

Thanks for that Ratter xx

[EdmundD]

I went to renew my EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) recently and went on line to do it. I noticed quite a few sites that would renew it for a fee. However, the NHS, bless 'em, do it for free and it turned up within a few days.

[Graham-W]

Just Googled "Passport Renewal" and the first three links are to Companies who will charge you for doing it, in addition to the charge made by the Passport Office. You have got to be so careful and use only the .gov.uk site.
https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport

[rosiew]

I wont do that again. I hope i have more sense in 10 years time or the law does something about these companies before my passport runs out again. Thanks to all that replied and RATTER, sorry for that.

[boxtops]

Sorry to hear you've lost out, rosie - a lesson for all of us to make sure we're using the official Gov site if we do anything like this on-line.

I've never come across that header thing, ever.....

[hc4361]

When I google 'Passport Renewal' the first 8 results are for the official Go.UK sites.
I can only assume that is because I use Adblock Plus and the adverts at the top are blocked.

[Postdog]

The sad part here is I got upset I wasn't reading a post about a passport number being taken....

[sherrardk]

There's also an EHIC site that tries to charge you.