Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi JDean,
It sounds like the same thing happened to us both.
After getting my MP involved my documents were marked as ‘received’ in early January and the process was smooth from then, approval a week later and printing/delivery quickly afterwards.
The real clue came when, 3 full weeks after passport approval, I got an email from Royal Mail advising that my documents were on the way back. The envelope was received by RM in Northern Ireland – so somehow, the documents ended up in HMPO Belfast. I called to query this and was told my application was processed in Liverpool!
So they asked me to send documents to Hemel for an application being processed in Liverpool, and somehow they ended up in Belfast. Who knows how many times they went around that circle and how many additional stops were made…
Things I learned were:
-something in the document receiving/scanning side of things is terribly designed.
-once HMPO get to the business of actually examining your application they are reasonably efficient.
-printing and delivery are very efficient.
-if it’s going wrong, get your MP involved – the call centre’s promises to escalate things and carry out searches are essentially worthless.Best of luck all.
Update – my application was approved one week after ‘documents received’, so I can only assume that they have indeed found them. I wonder how long document return will take now that the application has been approved.
That makes the timeline as follows:
30th November 2022: Royal Mail delivered documents.
6th January 2023: Documents received.
13th January 2023: Approved.I received the usual automated email to say my documents had been received on the 6th. The telephone service can’t see the contents of the documents but have a list of what types of document have been received.
C191919 – my Special Delivery was scanned with times as below. Do any of yours match? You could have ended up in the same mail bag.
Also, the name field reads ‘PASSPORT OFFICE’ and the signature is DWS, diagonal, with the top left curve of the ‘S’ overlapping the ‘W’ slightly. The ‘D’ is closed at the top left but open at the bottom left where the straight line meets the curve.
30th November
0451 Despatched to Home Counties North MC
0706 Delivered and Signed
0710 Arrived at Home Counties North DOIt seems Hemel have now found the envelope, five weeks after it was supposedly delivered.
Whether the blame lies with Royal Mail or HMPO I will never know, but I’m glad the documents haven’t been lost, they would have been a pain to replace.
Best of luck all.
Hi swandive45,
Would you be happy to share some more details from your Special Delivery tracking?
My unacknowledged envelope was scanned as ‘delivered’ just after 0700 with a name of ‘Passport Office’. The signature reads ‘DWS’ i.e. delivered without signature.
A friend’s envelope, which was acknowledged within 2 working days, was scanned around 0945 with a name and proper signature.
The only other thing I can think of is that my envelope contained a lot of supporting documents as it was a non-standard application. Whether a damaged passport enters the same ‘complicated’ queue is not something I know.
Best of luck.
A friend has just renewed their passport via Hemel. Old passport delivered (Special Delivery) on the 29th and receipt acknowledged today 3rd January. That’s only a two working day delay between receipt and acknowledgement.
Interesting JDean, perhaps there is a pile of unopened post somewhere in Hemel. Very concerning if so. You’d think there would just be a queue, first in first out.
Glad some of you are having success, HMPO have still not acknowledged receipt of my documents but Royal Mail say they delivered on 30th Nov. It feels like Royal Mail are lying to me, I don’t think the passport office would sit on it for a month, there isn’t that backlog at the moment.
I’ve posted in the general discussion also, if anyone has had a delay of over two weeks between their documents being delivered to Hemel by Royal Mail (or other courier) and marked as received on online tracking, please post there.
Mine were ‘delivered’ on the 30th Nov, I’m aware of one more case where documents were ‘delivered’ on 28th Nov and neither have been acknowledged/scanned on the system yet.
If I can find any similar cases we stand a greater chance of someone taking the enquiry seriously to find the lost bag of mail…
