(no subject)

I am having passport issues.

I sent in my passport to get my name changed at the end of July, as flights are booked under my new name. The day after, I got a letter informing me I needed to send in a duplicate picture and my old passport. Odd, as I had sent in both by recorded delivery. Puzzled, I phoned the helpline on the Saturday. "Ah," said the man on the end of the phone. "It seems to say on the system that they've turned up, I think. No one is in the office, so I'll send an e-mail and they'll phone you back."

Discovered the day afterwards that I needed my passport number tobook an Interrail pass, the only bit of the honeymoon yet to be booked. "ARGH," I cried.

The next day was a Monday. No one phoned me. On the Tuesday, I phoned on my lunch break and they promised that someone would phone me back about speeding up my application and about if the application was even still happening. No one was picking up at the Liverpool office, so the helpline sent them a message for me to be called in 48 hours.

You can guess what didn't happen.

I phoned the helpline AGAIN today, and insisted on an appointment for the premium service which is horribly expensive. This is my fault for not sending my passport off earlier. I get this. I have an appointment made, but here's where it gets complicated.

The people on the helpline don't know how to withdraw the earlier application. They don't know the timeframe. They couldn't get me an appointment earlier than 5.30pm on Friday 24th August, which basically means that I won't be able to go to Collectormania. They don't know the costs. The Liverpool office, meanwhile, fails to pick up the phone. The helpline people (who, by the way, are maybe the nicest people to ever work in a call centre) suggest that I phone every day because my normal application might just sneak through in time.

Oh, god.

I have lots of time to get this sorted. (Last physically possible date to get Interrail pass is 28th August.) Also, I'm working the 8-4 shifts next week, so I am going to take myself down to the passport office if they haven't phoned me by Monday afternoon. I don't want a new passport there and then - if it has to be 24th August, it has to be 24th August. But I need answers on how it works, and if they're not going to phone me back (and seriously, this is beyond a joke now because I still don't actually have it confirmed that they haven't lost my old passport) then I'm going to have to go to them.

Bah.

(And yes, this is all my own fault. I know this. It sort of makes it worse.)

(no subject)

I am having passport issues.

I sent in my passport to get my name changed at the end of July, as flights are booked under my new name. The day after, I got a letter informing me I needed to send in a duplicate picture and my old passport. Odd, as I had sent in both by recorded delivery. Puzzled, I phoned the helpline on the Saturday. "Ah," said the man on the end of the phone. "It seems to say on the system that they've turned up, I think. No one is in the office, so I'll send an e-mail and they'll phone you back."

Discovered the day afterwards that I needed my passport number tobook an Interrail pass, the only bit of the honeymoon yet to be booked. "ARGH," I cried.

The next day was a Monday. No one phoned me. On the Tuesday, I phoned on my lunch break and they promised that someone would phone me back about speeding up my application and about if the application was even still happening. No one was picking up at the Liverpool office, so the helpline sent them a message for me to be called in 48 hours.

You can guess what didn't happen.

I phoned the helpline AGAIN today, and insisted on an appointment for the premium service which is horribly expensive. This is my fault for not sending my passport off earlier. I get this. I have an appointment made, but here's where it gets complicated.

The people on the helpline don't know how to withdraw the earlier application. They don't know the timeframe. They couldn't get me an appointment earlier than 5.30pm on Friday 24th August, which basically means that I won't be able to go to Collectormania. They don't know the costs. The Liverpool office, meanwhile, fails to pick up the phone. The helpline people (who, by the way, are maybe the nicest people to ever work in a call centre) suggest that I phone every day because my normal application might just sneak through in time.

Oh, god.

I have lots of time to get this sorted. (Last physically possible date to get Interrail pass is 28th August.) Also, I'm working the 8-4 shifts next week, so I am going to take myself down to the passport office if they haven't phoned me by Monday afternoon. I don't want a new passport there and then - if it has to be 24th August, it has to be 24th August. But I need answers on how it works, and if they're not going to phone me back (and seriously, this is beyond a joke now because I still don't actually have it confirmed that they haven't lost my old passport) then I'm going to have to go to them.

Bah.

(And yes, this is all my own fault. I know this. It sort of makes it worse.)