Is our application lost?

[sunny007007]

Consulate reply

I heard back.

Funny thing is - the Consulate Minister emailed the CEO of BLS and the BLS Atlanta location manager who I had and have been emailing for the past 2 months but no meaningful response.

Needless to say, after the email from the Consulate Minister, BLS is paying only lip service by acknowledging the email and did nothing else.

I finally gave up and will be re-applying for our US passport and OCI again in the next few weeks/months.

BTW, you can contact BLS staff on LinkedIn - they have profiles there and obviously they don't care.

Thanks for the reply. How long it took them to reply. I have not heard them back for 12days. Did they refund your full money. Including shipping cost ? Please reply that would be a great help. Also which email you sent ur complain to ? Thanks. Sunny

[mausumi]

BLS taking the money.

Thanks for the reply. How long it took them to reply. I have not heard them back for 12days. Did they refund your full money. Including shipping cost ? Please reply that would be a great help. Also which email you sent ur complain to ? Thanks. Sunny

Did this issue ever resolve.
Why are we letting these kind of activities go on.

[sunny007007]

Not resolved for me so far.

Did this issue ever resolve.
Why are we letting these kind of activities go on.

We should do something together because BLS wont entertain individual's request, so far its only lying i guess

[mrangar]

I submitted by OCI apps through BLS, but then got transitioned over to CKGS. The good news is the Consulate processed my applications and contacted me directly to send them a prepaid envelope and I got it back with the OCI processed correctly.

Now my question : I paid BLS $30 ($15 x 2 applications) for return postage for 2 passports/OCI cards. I paid for that with a credit card.

Should I contact BLS to refund that since they never had to mail anything back to me? Or should I just dispute the charge through my Credit Card company?

Or maybe I should just let it go - Looks like they ripped off some of you for far more than $30!

[tampaite]

Thanks for the reply. How long it took them to reply. I have not heard them back for 12days. Did they refund your full money. Including shipping cost ? Please reply that would be a great help. Also which email you sent ur complain to ? Thanks. Sunny

No refund of any sorts.

- - - Updated - - -

I submitted by OCI apps through BLS, but then got transitioned over to CKGS. The good news is the Consulate processed my applications and contacted me directly to send them a prepaid envelope and I got it back with the OCI processed correctly.

Now my question : I paid BLS $30 ($15 x 2 applications) for return postage for 2 passports/OCI cards. I paid for that with a credit card.

Should I contact BLS to refund that since they never had to mail anything back to me? Or should I just dispute the charge through my Credit Card company?

Or maybe I should just let it go - Looks like they ripped off some of you for far more than $30!

Did the consulate call you or email you?

[mrangar]

No refund of any sorts.

- - - Updated - - -



Did the consulate call you or email you?

They emailed me.

[radzms]

Email from BLS

I had contacted the indian embassy via email with the PIO information and money lost information, the next day I was very surprised when I received a reply from the COO of BLS saying that they were asked to return all the application to people if the application was not processed by 21st. and asked me to send an email to BLS for refund money. I submitted the details and received a email saying they will cotnact me in two days . Its been 10 days no replies or no one has contacted me yet. Yes I agree looks like individual emails do not work and we need a group email. Any ideas on how we should proceed from here to get attention.

[sunny007007]

Reply from BLS

I had contacted the indian embassy via email with the PIO information and money lost information, the next day I was very surprised when I received a reply from the COO of BLS saying that they were asked to return all the application to people if the application was not processed by 21st. and asked me to send an email to BLS for refund money. I submitted the details and received a email saying they will cotnact me in two days . Its been 10 days no replies or no one has contacted me yet. Yes I agree looks like individual emails do not work and we need a group email. Any ideas on how we should proceed from here to get attention.

I got a reply from BLS customer service saying : Please fill this refund form and we will get back to you, I filled the form and sent to them, never heard back from them since.
Indian consulate dint contact me either.

I have no idea who to contact and what to do ?

Can we email to Zee TV or AajTAk or any other indian media to make it a issue ?

[Vishnu1]

This is very depressing. It has been more than three weeks since I sent details to BLS about my refund. I have sent many requests for updates even to their CEO Steven Schwimmer but so far no response and no refund. Even the Indian Embassy is not responding to emails. Seems like the Indian embassy is in together with BLS to loot us!

In any civil country such a transition would have been painless and such incompetency would be unacceptable.

[Vishnu1]

1. Radzms , BLS NY office , PIO - $200
2. priyaseeksoci, BLS NY office. OCI - $107.70 + plus shipping + time and last but not least mental agony..........
3. Hemavathy, BLS NY office, PIO for minor - $192.70 + shipping
4. indi, BLS NY office, OCI for family - $1130.80 + shipping
5. Craig, BLS NY office. OCI - $282.70 + shipping
6. RAKK, BLS NY Office, Family OCI & Renunciation - $1207.50 + Shipping
7. Karthik, BLS NY office, PIO for minor - $192.70 + shipping
8. Jai, BLS NY office, PIO for minor - $192.70 + shipping
9. tampaite, BLS Atlanta office, OCI for minor and US Passport - $337.50
10. Rama, BLS NY Office, New OCIs for 2 kids, 2 passport renunciations
11. Mathew Mammen , PIO endorsement, $27.70
12. lightson, BLS NY office. OCI - $282.70 + shipping
13. raky801 - They never acknowledged renunciation app so stole my 35$. 3 OCIs in process so let us see.
14 Sunny007007. BLS NY office. oci- $282.70 + renunciation $172.70 + shipping
16 Vishnu BLS NY office. OCI + Renunciation $462.40 + shipping
17 Kash BLS NY office. OCI Reissue - $32.70 + shipping

[LostMoney]

Add me to the growing list

Hello everyone,

Add me to the list of people who lost money.
Renunciation and OCI for Adult, and OCI for minor $615 Atlanta Consulate

I emailed the BLS financial service and the consular services today. Let's see what they say when they get back. I had mailed all my documents over to Cox and Kings and now the rep called me today and told me to pay up before she can process my application!!! Who's to say even they won't close down and take our money??

[Vishnu1]

1. Radzms , BLS NY office , PIO - $200
2. priyaseeksoci, BLS NY office. OCI - $107.70 + plus shipping + time and last but not least mental agony..........
3. Hemavathy, BLS NY office, PIO for minor - $192.70 + shipping
4. indi, BLS NY office, OCI for family - $1130.80 + shipping
5. Craig, BLS NY office. OCI - $282.70 + shipping
6. RAKK, BLS NY Office, Family OCI & Renunciation - $1207.50 + Shipping
7. Karthik, BLS NY office, PIO for minor - $192.70 + shipping
8. Jai, BLS NY office, PIO for minor - $192.70 + shipping
9. tampaite, BLS Atlanta office, OCI for minor and US Passport - $337.50
10. Rama, BLS NY Office, New OCIs for 2 kids, 2 passport renunciations
11. Mathew Mammen , PIO endorsement, $27.70
12. lightson, BLS NY office. OCI - $282.70 + shipping
13. raky801 - They never acknowledged renunciation app so stole my 35$. 3 OCIs in process so let us see.
14 Sunny007007. BLS NY office. oci- $282.70 + renunciation $172.70 + shipping
16 Vishnu - BLS NY office. OCI + Renunciation $462.40 + shipping
17 Kash - BLS NY office. OCI Reissue - $32.70 + shipping
18 LostMoney - BLS Atlanta. Renunciation and OCI for Adult, and OCI for minor $615

[Vishnu1]

I think everyone who is in this situation should file a complaint with the NY Attorney General's office. I will file a complaint tomorrow if I do not receive any response.

We should also contact NY Times ([email protected]) and other local media. Tweet @narendramodi @pmoIndia @SushmaSwaraj @MEAIndia and let them know how BLS and the Indian consulates are looting us. That should wake them up.

[sunny007007]

I would suggest file complain to BBB NY

I think everyone who is in this situation should file a complaint with the NY Attorney General's office. I will file a complaint tomorrow if I do not receive any response.

We should also contact NY Times ([email protected]) and other local media. Tweet @narendramodi @pmoIndia @SushmaSwaraj @MEAIndia and let them know how BLS and the Indian consulates are looting us. That should wake them up.

This might help us, though I did complain to BBB but have not heard back yet.
Also In my city CLEVELAND, OHIO there is a local indian newspaper, I am trying to find their contacts, they can also raise our voice ( I HOPE ).
Like wise its possible if we can find indian community newspaper or magazine in newyork or newjersey or cities where we have Indian consulate and make them aware of these incidents.

[Vishnu1]

I have an Update

I had sent an email to Consul Dhirendra Singh at the New York Consulate ([email protected]). He forwarded my message to Steven Schwimmer the CEO of BLS cc me and asked him to respond. Here is the response which I got:

Steven,

Would you please respond to this mail? This is one of the several mails which this Consulate is getting flooded with.
All saying the same thing viz. "only promises but no refund despite several weeks processing by BLS".

Dhirendra.