Visa Express misinforms, demands money upfront and refuses refunds without providing service Houston Texas

Visa Express is a passport expediting agency. If you need a passport fast, it might make sense to go through them, but be careful!

Their instructions state that showing proof of departure (plane ticket or itinerary) to the government Acceptance Agent is optional. It is not!

I did not yet buy my plane ticket in hopes of getting a last minute deal, but I knew I needed to get going on getting a passport, and felt more secure in knowing that a Visa Express agent would be hand delivering the form and payment to one of the only 13 sites in the country, ensuring that my application didn't get lost in government red tape.

Well, their instructions dictated that I complete their order form online (which requires up-front, non-refundable payment of $70) to bring with me to my local government passport facility. When I got there, three agents informed me that Visa Express had misinformed me - that they could not release the documents to me for such hand delivery by the expediting agency without seeing an itinerary. My choices were to go buy plane tickets and come back with an itinerary, or to not use the expediting agency, despite the fact that I had already paid them.

So I spent another $60 for the government's expediting service (which they say will only take 2 weeks, but I'll believe it when I see it), and am out my non-refundable $70 to Visa Express, despite the fact that they are doing nothing for me whatsoever!

Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
U.S.A.