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Passport renewal Nightmare with BLS
This Review is for Passport Renewal Service not Visa (which may be even worse !!!)
The overall experience with BLS International was horrifying, to say in the least.
We send the papers on March 23 and for nearly 4 weeks after that we had absolutely no communications or any way to get an update from BLS. All attempts to call them were met with the standards recorded message. We had to reach out to the consulate to get help, and they did help !! After that BLS started responding to us.
The missing documents were infact never listed on their site as required, so there was no way we would have included them in the package (on going to their office later, I saw a bulletin board, where they have added these documents in handwriting to the list of required documents)
When we send the documents by UPS, they were returned to us. UPS stated that delivery was refused at BLS !! So in the end, we ended up going in person to Washington DC to submit the documents. We called and got the address for delivery only to find that they gave us the wrong address !!! (this is the height of incompetency). After repeated calls, while walking around trying to find them in Washington, someone in the office guessed that they were on 800 K ST NW instead of NE - I could not believe that they would not know even the address of their own office.
On reaching the office, someone there actually had the gall to ask if we had an appointment !!! and the office was empty with no customers.
This by far has been the worst experience I have had. I have in the past renewed passports for myself, my wife and my other daughter - but the provider was different.
I was extremely happy to read that the consulate has reworked their visa processing services - I cannot imagine non Indian nationals having to go through this kind of experience to get a visa to go to India and the kind of impression that it would leave them with about our country.
I am hoping that the consulate will further revoke their passport processing and renewal services and give it to some other supplier who will certainly do a better job. I would have loved to send this note to the management at BLS but I do not have their mail address
If anyone has to use BLS for passport renewal - Please go in person to submit documents and wait there to have them reviewed. If you send them by mail, you will not be able to contact them or get any updates on the status till it is done !!
The overall experience with BLS International was horrifying, to say in the least.
We send the papers on March 23 and for nearly 4 weeks after that we had absolutely no communications or any way to get an update from BLS. All attempts to call them were met with the standards recorded message. We had to reach out to the consulate to get help, and they did help !! After that BLS started responding to us.
The missing documents were infact never listed on their site as required, so there was no way we would have included them in the package (on going to their office later, I saw a bulletin board, where they have added these documents in handwriting to the list of required documents)
When we send the documents by UPS, they were returned to us. UPS stated that delivery was refused at BLS !! So in the end, we ended up going in person to Washington DC to submit the documents. We called and got the address for delivery only to find that they gave us the wrong address !!! (this is the height of incompetency). After repeated calls, while walking around trying to find them in Washington, someone in the office guessed that they were on 800 K ST NW instead of NE - I could not believe that they would not know even the address of their own office.
On reaching the office, someone there actually had the gall to ask if we had an appointment !!! and the office was empty with no customers.
This by far has been the worst experience I have had. I have in the past renewed passports for myself, my wife and my other daughter - but the provider was different.
I was extremely happy to read that the consulate has reworked their visa processing services - I cannot imagine non Indian nationals having to go through this kind of experience to get a visa to go to India and the kind of impression that it would leave them with about our country.
I am hoping that the consulate will further revoke their passport processing and renewal services and give it to some other supplier who will certainly do a better job. I would have loved to send this note to the management at BLS but I do not have their mail address
If anyone has to use BLS for passport renewal - Please go in person to submit documents and wait there to have them reviewed. If you send them by mail, you will not be able to contact them or get any updates on the status till it is done !!
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