Scott’s Visas

I had a very similar experience to another reviewer. Within seconds of my phone call being dealt with I was asked is the sort of thing you think you can afford. I thought I should be asking is this the kind of Russian Visa service you can provide! I was promised a 24 hour visa for myself and my 2 children. I booked planes and trains on the basis of the 99.999% guarantee I was given that a 24hour visa was a certainty!
I duly completed the forms, courier was arranged and my passports and forms were delivered. Suddenly I was told the photos were not good enough, they charge £8 each to print new, one of my invitations was not correct, they charge £50 plus vat to arrange another whilst Russian trains and other companies charge around £12-£15 and the big thing was suddenly i would not be able to have a 24 hour visa because of my children’s surnames!
An experienced ethical company would have been able to ask me at the start of the process were my children’s surnames identical to mine, as if not a photocopy of their father’s passport would be required!
I was promised I would be called by 5 on the day of issue and could pay and arrange courier. My courier charged £26 to drop off and would have charged the same to bring back. I tried to ring and eventually got through, the assistant was sometimes not answering phone so it went to voice mail or taking 2 calls at once!
By the time i managed to hear that my passports were ready they were closing at 6.30 so my only option was their courier at £36.00 plus vat and it may take 2 hours for their courier to get about 6 miles (lots of other drop offs too the courier told me) I was told basically take our courier as we close at 6.30 and that’s that Madam! my courier would have been there by 6.40 but after charging me such huge fees they were not prepared to wait.
I specifically asked for my envelope to be sealed and secure. I was promised it would be.
On arrival 2 hours later it was a cheap white envelope with a weak self adhesive strip, not sealed in any way at all.
Overall the total experience took from Sunday when i agreed to their rated to Wednesday night. I had to change flights, as they clearly did not keep their 24 hour promise which would have been deliver Monday, get back Tuesday and fly on Wednesday. I ended up paying not just extortionate fees but costs for changing flights and a night in a hotel which we could not use due to the promise of 99.999% 24 hour delivery.
There was such a huge change in offer once they had my passports and so many add on charges and reasons why the 99.999% went to impossible.
I do not think with the attitude I experienced and the approach that I would ever even consider this company again. Getting visa’s to China 20 years ago was less stressful!
I have never experienced so much stress and disappointment with any other visa provider and I certainly do not believe I am the 1 in 10,000 that have had the same experience with this company looking at other reviewers!

Utterly shocked and disgusted by this service or rather, lack of. Unless you are a daily mail-​reading married business executive don’t even bother.
Before I even finished explaining my visa requirements I was abruptly asked, What do you do for a living?
I thought I had phoned to ask them questions but it seems it was the other way round, even stranger to be asked a question that has no relevancy in a visa application.
I was then asked, Is the father of your children around?
Quote, unquote.
I began to feel like I was being interviewed for a lone parent benefit application, rather than seeking a professional specialist service.
After explaining my delicate situation that shock horror, there are two fathers involved, one who I have written consent from to travel with our child and the other, a solicitors letter stating that I have full parental responsibility for. I was rudely and incorrectly informed that, A solicitors letter won’t work, you’ll need to go to court. Hang on a second.,
I was then put on hold until I got fed up and hung up.
I cannot believe how insensitively and unprofessionally I was dealt with and still confused about why the first thing I was asked was what I did for a living. I can only deduce that he was trying ascertain whether or not I can afford the service. The second question was obviously to glean information on my marital status but I am rather shocked that a professional service would use the wording, Is the father of your children around?
I wonder when a male calls with an enquiry do they have the same patronising questions barked at them?
Luckily I got through to fast track Indian visa office in London who asked relevant questions and assured they could process my application with a 3 day turn around for £150 per person which I am more than happy to pay. I was prepared to pay this plus the cost of my Thai travel visas to ScottsVisas but I guess I didn’t meet their criteria.

I’m traveling to India. The Indian High Commission doesn’t take visa applications but has basically ousourced the service to Vfsglobal. Vfsglobal has a terrible customer service. You can call their customer service number for 95pence per minute. (You can of cause use the «say no to 0870» website to find their 020 number, so it’s cheaper to call them.) The queuing time is long and your call may still be just dropped after waiting for 30 mins to an hour. If you get through, the people answering don’t know much and can’t help much. Also their answering to emails takes a day or two and the answers are not very helpful.
I first filed an application with Vfs online, but as my situation wasn’t straightforward for the visa, and I couldn’t get much information, it seemed like it could become quite unnerving. I’m a foreigner living in UK and don’t have utility bills from 2 years ago, so I might have had to wait for ten extra days for the appplication to be processed a slower route. So I called Scott’s visas to find out about my options. The guy answering there, Robert, was very helpful and thoroughly knowledgeable about my options and all the details that go in to the application. I was able to transfer my application to them and got my visa without any stress or headache in 4 working days.
Thoroughly recommend them for any visas:-)
Sartoo

I’ve never needed to use a visa company before. I went with Scott’s to obtain mine because onbaining it myself wasn’t going to possible and they didn’t seem too expensive compaired with the ones I had been recommended. I can’t fault the speed of the service, I dropped everything in on Tuesday evening and agreed that the weeks service would be ok. I was surpprised to get a call on Thursday to say that it was ready and I went to pick it up. I’ve only given Scott’s 3 stars as to be honest the customer service I received in the shop was quite poor, both times the guy talking to me seemed to be dealing with several things at once; the first time he started making a phone call while I was still standing there and the second time took a call. I also felt a little uncomfortable leaving the shop witth my passprt as there were quite a few people just hanging around outside. For a quick, cheap service though it was fine.