Renewing passports online. WTF???

mickledore

mickledore

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Just trying to renew my passport. Thought I'd do it online. I get half way through the process and I'm told to print out the form and send it in the post.
Is this what our wonderfull Civil Service call online?
Might as well start on the paper forms from scratch.
Note to self...don't criticise the powers that be - they have ways of getting even with you.
 
Post Office check and send is well worth it, £8.50 and that includes postage, got mine back in exactly one week, daughters was the same time too
 
tijuana taxi said:
Post Office check and send is well worth it, £8.50 and that includes postage, got mine back in exactly one week, daughters was the same time too
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What a waste of money.
Fill the forms in online, print out in post and a few days later you passport arrives.

Why on earth would you pay somebody to check if YOUR information is correct?
 
mickledore said:
Just trying to renew my passport. Thought I'd do it online. I get half way through the process and I'm told to print out the form and send it in the post.
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Will that be the bit that requires a physical signature so that they can scan it and add it to the printed passport?

ecoleman said:
Why on earth would you pay somebody to check if YOUR information is correct?
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Your choice, but the check is that you've completed the form correctly. Saves getting it sent back for correction/amendment.
 
Also to make sure the photo is the right proportions,easy to miss something too.
RMSD is over six quid, so another couple is worth it to me to make sure I haven't missed anything
 
mickledore said:
Just trying to renew my passport. Thought I'd do it online. I get half way through the process and I'm told to print out the form and send it in the post.
Is this what our wonderfull Civil Service call online?
Might as well start on the paper forms from scratch.
Note to self...don't criticise the powers that be - they have ways of getting even with you.
Click to expand...

The problem here is that many people write so badly that it can be difficult to read a hand written form, and I think doctors are generally agreed to be the worst. Filling in the form on a computer in nice clear print means it is easy to read when they get it in the post, so there is sense behind it after all!
 
Use a brane and the form is easy to fill in correctly. Clear, detailed instructions on how to do it are on the site. The PO check and send service is no guarantee that the application will be accepted and I have known applications using that service to be rejected. Took less than a week for us to get the new documents back.
 
Think my brane underrstands forms. Trouble is it doesn't understand the Civil Service mentality.
Fill in your application on line, then print and post. Unbelievable. Send a cheque for payment. Now where is my cheque book. All the effort to process cheques when online payment systems are quicker, simpler and cheaper.
If anyone in the Civil Service had a brane they would have worked out a better system than this.

OOPS, sorry. I should have mentioned terrorism. This will prevent it. Of course it will.
 
The application details you fill in online are pre checked which makes it faster once submitted, you need to do some work by hand i.e. yours and your witness's signatures/declarations. I did it this way during the summer and got my new passport back very quickly.
 
mickledore said:
Think my brane underrstands forms. Trouble is it doesn't understand the Civil Service mentality.
Fill in your application on line, then print and post. Unbelievable. Send a cheque for payment. Now where is my cheque book. All the effort to process cheques when online payment systems are quicker, simpler and cheaper.
If anyone in the Civil Service had a brane they would have worked out a better system than this.

OOPS, sorry. I should have mentioned terrorism. This will prevent it. Of course it will.
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I paid for my passports online. Don't even know where my cheque books are.
 
What is a cheque book?
 
Used this to renew my passport earlier this year and given my handwriting is shocking it was a doddle to do it this way I found.
Even though my original pictures were returned due to "shadows" I still got my new passport in under a fortnight.
 
Sorry but I don't see a problem with this system. It is easy enough to do.
 
In the time spent whinging about it here, you could have walked to the passport office to get the b****r done
 
My wife did my renewal last year this way and it was a bit tedious but print out and post SD.

Can't see the issue OP
 
I went to the pasport office once, they confiscated my mars bar on the way in. That just about says it all IMHO.
 
Just done it. Wifey is off to PO right now.
Question..."Can you still be recognised from your photo"
Answer..."Yes"
"Well send us two new photos then"

Petty beaurocracy gone mad.
 
mickledore said:
Petty beaurocracy gone mad.
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If you can still be recognised from your old photograph they can match the new ones against the old one, if not then you'll need to go through the process of verifying the new photographs are indeed you (it changed a couple of years ago).

Sometimes raising a thread to try and make someone else look stupid can backfire spectacularly. This is one of these threads, time to stop digging or get a longer ladder :LOL:
 
If you read that bit of the instructions properly you'll see that they mean have you changed a LOT in the past 10 years (some people may have undergone significant facial surgery or similar and be totally different after 10 years). You need to send new photos because otherwise they'll be trying to compare you to a 19 1/2 year old photo in 9 1/2 years!
 
Glad you agree that the whole process is a stupid waste of time brought about by a petty minded Civil Service who can do what they want when they want and are answerable to no one.
 
ChasG said:
What is a cheque book?
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I found one of these things at the back of my cupboard the other day. Trying to figure out what it was I looked at the little stubs, last date it was used, was many years ago :rolleyes:
 
Paid a cheque in the bank on Monday, settled my C C with one last week, also use the paying in slips too.

None of this new fangled online banking for me thanks very much
 
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tijuana taxi said:
Paid a cheque in the bank on Monday, settled my C C with one last week, also use the paying in slips too.

None of this new fangled online banking for me thanks very much
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I use a debit card to pay off a credit card, sound silly but it is so quick and simple :)
 
tijuana taxi said:
Also to make sure the photo is the right proportions,easy to miss something too.
RMSD is over six quid, so another couple is worth it to me to make sure I haven't missed anything
Click to expand...

Have to dis-agree about check and send, when I used it they said my photo would be rejected as didn't conform to their checker, I explained I used a machine specifically for passport photo's. After agreeing to disagree, I told them to forget the check and send. Posted it off myself and about a week later received my passport with no issues.

Saved myself a few quid by not using the service and having to get photo's taken again.
 
mickledore said:
Glad you agree that the whole process is a stupid waste of time brought about by a petty minded Civil Service who can do what they want when they want and are answerable to no one.
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I think there is general agreement that petty mindedness is present, but I suspect there is disagreement about exactly where.
 
mickledore said:
Just trying to renew my passport. Thought I'd do it online. I get half way through the process and I'm told to print out the form and send it in the post.
Click to expand...
mickledore said:
Send a cheque for payment.
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I'm afraid I really don't understand your problem. I'm trying, but failing. Here's what I see at the top of the online application page, https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

13655-1446622658-5f41796c2a4e0107e50cf23dee492ce5.jpg


How hard is that to understand?
 
What is a passport? not needed when travelling by artic trailer.:coat:
 
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