Tips and tricks for dealing with VFS

[Donald_Trump]

Hello applicants. Its been just over a month since VFS got contract to process passport, OCI, renunciation applications. And from all the posts here, it is very clear that VFS lacks any management and processing skills needed for this. Nor does it have proper customer service or proper online system with clear cut instructions.

We are already seeing the following pains and complaints by applicants
1. Online system is buggy and doesn't process applications well
2. Lack of clear instructions and steps
3. VFS sends passports and documents to wrong addresses
4. Customer service is non-existant or is very bad. On top of that, they charge $2.48 per minute to speak with their customer service who have no idea of what's going on.

As VFS holds the monopoly and we have no option but to go through them and they are not accountable and responsible at all, we as the people can and have to put some pressure in the following ways,

Some tips and tricks that applicants can use
1. Complain to your jurisdiction's Consulate officials (You can find their emails on the respective sites). I have done this personally when CKGS was there and Consulate officials used to respond and take actions. So I know it works.
2. Try to send complaints using physical mail to the Consulate if you have time.
3. If VFS folks are charging money for bad customer service, go ahead and dispute the charge with your credit card company saying the service was not provided. I don't think VFS will have the manpower to deal with dispute enquiries from the credit card banks and your dispute will win if VFS doesn't respond in the given time. (I think, its 45 days time). And you will be able to get refund of your hard earned money.

All others can offer more suggestions/tips and tricks in the comments.

[Donald_Trump]

eigen_vector Please see my comment above.

[eigen_vector]

Donald_Trump : Agree, with your comment about reaching out to consulate. As soon as I get my OCI card, I plan to write to the consulate as well as ministry of foreign affairs explaining to them the problems as well as urging them to intervene. I am hoping some of us can collect signatures and send out a joint letter to make our voices heard. If you are interested, respond and may be we can coordinate offline.

[Donald_Trump]

Infiniti222 is another soul having hard time with VFS. Please go through this thread.

[sjasthi]

eigen_vector I am trying to apply for "OCI Renewal" (as we got new passport) through VFS.

The instructions, checklists, directions on the web site are conflicting and are contradictory.
A simple act of getting OCI renewed is becoming a nightmare experience.

Customer service through phone calls is at its worst.

I am happy to join the initiative in reporting VFS to the consulates and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[amartya00]

I am facing an issue where VFS sent me a confirmation email after I made the payments. In that they sent a PDF which was supposed to contain the links to checklists, etc. But none of the links are clickable. They are normal text with blue coloring and underline.

Has anyone faced this issue before? VFS did not respond to any form of contacts. Frankly the only way to get them to say anything is via tweets and that too they have a standard reply: "Please DM us".

[Donald_Trump]

amartya00 VFS has been a nightmare for many applicants. It's challenging to navigate the online system, instructions and complete application. Even the checklis they had sent me in the email confirmation was the wrong one. So I had to do my own search directly(which was a little difficult as VFS site is not too user friendly) and got the checklists from the VFS site.

You can search for the checklist directly on VFS site.

Look here (Under "Documents Required") for reunciation - https://www.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/...n-citizenship/
For OCI - (Select appropriate category to get the required doucments page) - https://services.vfsglobal.com/one-p.../oci-services/

[amartya00]

Donald_Trump Thank you for the information! Frankly I have got more information from this thread than the entire VFS website + their twitter account + customer service put together.

[dksethi]

Can I withdraw my application within 24 hours and get a refund from VFS?

[kiranboda]

dksethi Did you submit your application via FedEX? If it is still in your possession, just submit a refund request form with VFS. Heads-up that it will take several attempts to ask them repeatedly to get paid back.

[emmausa]

Because VFS holds a monopoly, people feel forced and not free, in addition, they do not bear any responsibility to the people.

[Liberty48]

If anyone is writing to the consulate, please ask them to give the contract to more than one provider. Competition helps to provide better service.

[Donald_Trump]

Because VFS holds a monopoly, people feel forced and not free, in addition, they do not bear any responsibility to the people.

Actually before VFS, there was a different vendor named "CKGS or Cox & Kings" who were doing a slightly better job. However, their founder ran into some legal troubles with some scam in India so may be that prompted the government to switch vendors.

I have now done several applications (Renunciation, OCIs, Indian passports) through VFS and didn't face any issue and everything was processed in a timely manner. You just need to follow their instructions to the word and not miss anything. The only challenge is if they can improve their website and system, that would be helpful. It's an Indian company that hires low paid workers so service is not optimal.