Sorry it’s a long one but we’ve had terrible service.
Applied for change of name to add 2 middle names to my husband’s name.
Sent correct documents in: Deed Poll certificate and Driving licence.
Application submitted 13 January
Documents sent on 13 Jan and received on 14 Jan (Royal Mail tracking)
Passport office acknowledged documents received 21 January
Email sent to me 27/1 and 28/1 to say ‘send us your documents’ when I already sent them.
Numerous calls and complaints made to passport office. Passport was stuck not progressing in the system for 2 weeks because a processor thought we had not sent the correct documents when we had. They sent the ‘send us your dcouments’ emails without any explanation why.
Application moved to urgent system on the 5th Feb
Application updated to processing on 9th Feb.
Still waiting (12 Feb) and we fly in 9 days on the 21st February!
Passport office assures me it will be fine, I will ring again tomorrow for an update as I only have until Monday to change my flights for free.
I daren’t buy LFT tests, book museums, car parking etc yet.
My advice is don’t be afraid to call them and don’t take no for an answer if you think they are wrong. I was fobbed off for 2 weeks when it was a processor at fault. Ask to be put through to the progress team although one day I was waiting on hold for 2 hours before they answered. Some customer service people are better than others and more willing to help than others.