Menu
Login
I'm unsure how I ended up on this site, as I specifically went to the travel.gov site to renew my passport and *thought* I went through the steps to renew online, so I was incredibly confused when, after providing my credit card info and filling out the application, it was not allowing me to submit the form and instead wanted me to print and mail it in. Instead of submitting the form, I just closed it and sent an email through travel.gov to inquire why they wanted me to print the form when I was attempting to renew online and I got an automated email back from travel.gov with FAQ, etc. Again, if I am also emailing travel.gov, I am operating 100% under the assumption I am on still on their site where I started. I went back in again later to try again. This time, I had no issues with the process and my card was charged the $130 I expected. Now we move on to 12/31/22, when I notice a 2nd passport charge hit my card for $90. I'm confused because I haven't expedited anything, nor added anything additional to expect to be charged more than the $130. I called the travel dept and they couldn't figure out what it was and asked me to follow up in a few days, which I did. As I was on the phone with this gentleman, he also has no idea what the charge could be for, so I'm looking at the charge while on the call with him and compare the charges and notice that the $90 charge has a different company listed and, when I click on the charge, it gives me a FL address and a phone number and it says the charge is for USPassport Online, so I thank him and tell him I'm going to call this number directly. When I called, I got an automated message that their representatives are busy, and it directs me to their site to ask a question. I go there and it is not a familiar site whatsoever and I don't feel I've ever been on that site to this day. I've even tried googling that specific company after the fact to see if they come up right away for passport renewal and they don't, so my only thought is that they have something imbedded in travel.gov to reroute people to their site. Anyway, for reps that are too busy to answer the phone, my question was answered within literal minutes. They kept stating that I have to contact the gov for questions regarding my passport charges as they are not associated with them in any way, although I am repeatedly telling this person that, yes, the gov charged me for a passport, but I'm not disputing their charge. I'm disputing the charge that says USPassport Online specifically and has their number attached. After several exchanges, they tell me that I used their site as a service to review my passport application for errors to ensure it would be accepted by the government. What?! How is some random site going to verify that my personal data is accurate? There is no other *trick* to these forms; they are very straightforward and ONLY ask questions that the applicant would have the answers to. So, after he's stating I agreed to this by using their site and entering my card info, I push further. I want confirmation that I agreed to anything and I want proof that they provided me some sort of service. He sends me a snip of my signature with nothing attached and then separately, a copy of the application I completed before just deleting and never doing anything with it. I press him again and point out that most sites will have you sign an application stating everything is true to the best of your knowledge, so I want something that shows the terms that I allegedly agreed to that has my signature on it. All he can prove is that I thought I was providing the gov with this application and my card info (which, by the way, I am STILL incredibly concerned that this company has ALL of my personal data including SSN, DOB, address, etc and can pull it up at any time in spite of the fact I never saved nor submitted it). I also ask for a breakdown of what services are provided for $90 because I haven't received anything - no confirmation that they received my application (because I did not submit it), let alone a "review" of that application either confirming it was good or that corrections were necessary. At that time, they said they would cancel the order and refund my money, but wanted to point out the invaluable service they provide to the elderly and those confused by government forms (how is providing your own personal information confusing in any way?). They also stated that they answer calls free of charge, yet the government answered twice and they routed me to email. I told him to refund my card and also pointed out that since they have my DOB, they can see I'm not elderly and I have no issues with gov forms. They never responded or returned my money and I've filed a dispute and will provide their email as proof that they promised a refund if I have to. Stay away from this company. They are a scam and will keep your data. Also, after digging around on their site after the fact, I found all the below terms and conditions and disclaimers. They are incredibly disturbing and claim their site is "use at your own risk". They also state that they make no guarantees on anything and don't even claim their site is for a specific purpose. Total SCAM! I will also be notifying travel.gov to scour their site to make sure no links are hidden in there because I never went to any site other than travel.gov, yet somehow ended up here and they have my data now saved on a "use at your own risk" site, so I'm pretty sure anyone can now get it.
