A Tale of Two Passports ...

[Lady Chew]

Thought I would share our recent experience ...

 

Mr Chew & I both needed to renew our passports before our cruise in August.

 

Downloaded the forms from State Dept, got new pictures, wrote the checks ... packaged everything up and mailed. Two separate envelopes, using the Post office Priority Mail service, so we could have the tracking. This was March 17.

 

Went out of town for a while.

 

Got back around April 1, went on State Dept site to check progress. Uh-oh! Mr Chew's passport showed it was "in progress." Mine was not registered anywhere in their system. So we went back and used the Post Office online tracking service. It showed that my package left our local post office and arrived at the regional PO on March 17. After that ... nothing. Mr Chew's had been delivered to the Passport Office on March 19.

 

We are seriously irritated ... so my passport is out there somewhere, with a check, with my SSN & other personal info ... grrrrr .... Where the heck is my passport?

 

So we tried to contact the PO using the email & phone number listed on their website. Threading through that was just awful (much worse than any cruise line website, for those of us who sometimes complain about them) but we finally got a message sent, and we waded through the phone service as well, took about 15 minutes to be able to leave a message, all without speaking to an actual human. Both ways said they would get back to us within 2 to 3 business days. Well, okay, that will probably be after the weekend, and we are out of town again for the Easter weekend.

 

In the meantime, Mr Chew checked our bank account, and saw that both of our checks had been cashed by the State Dept on the same date, March 19, so obviously they had received both mailings. But ... my passport application was still not registered anywhere.

 

We decide to give it another week, because things are still within the general time frame given for processing on their website. We are not happy, but we are willing to give them a little more time before we get nasty.

 

So, we get back this past Monday. Check the Passport site ... no change, Mr Chew's "in progress," mine still not registered.

 

Yesterday morning, we checked the sites again. No change in status. We are getting seriously ticked off, and decide that it is time call the Passport Office. Make sure we have all the info we need when we finally, hopefully, get a Human Being on the phone at the Passport Office.

 

One thing & another, we have errands, we get busy, and we don't get on the phone right away. Pick up the mail last thing before getting home, and there is my new passport. All shiny & perfect ... new photo, new number ... with the extra pages, just what we ordered.

 

So, what are the odds that both the Post Office & State Dept would mess up the tracking on my passport?

 

Never heard back from the Post Office, by email or phone, although I did receive an email survey about their handling of my problem. Tracking system still shows that my envelope never left our regional post office, by the way. Passport status never showed up on State Dept site.

 

Oh, and Mr Chew's passport ... still "in progress" ...

Edited April 10, 2015 by Lady Chew

[cb at sea]

Ah, our government is so very efficient, isn't it?

[whogo]

With published processing times of 4-6 weeks I would not have checked on the passports until May.

[cruznjan]

Did you send them copies of your cancelled checks?

[wwcruisers]

Re: the post office part of this. If you have a good local Postmaster, sometimes they can help you. A few years ago, I hit a dead-end, trying to track a letter that I had sent "Certified Mail with Return Receipt". When I didn't get the return receipt, and could not contact the party I had sent the letter to, I went to my local P.O. The lady who was Postmaster there located the PO where my letter had been sent. After a couple of phone calls, she was able to confirm that the letter had been delivered -- but, whatever happened to the return receipt, we never found out. :confused:

 

Glad that everything eventually worked out, and you got your passport, OP!

[Capt_BJ]

You can also request e-mail update to be sent automatically .... I found the e-mail status to be accurate

 

on line status told me I was in-processing for weeks after I'd rec'd an e-mail that said "in the mail" and I'd subsequently rec'd the passport . . .

 

but I think State has to at least ack' receipt b4 you can sign up for the e-mail notices.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Capt_BJ

[Lady Chew]

We just thought it was a pretty amazing coincidence that both government agencies lost track of my envelope ...

 

We were getting ready to phone the Passport Info Office, we had our copies of paperwork and checks ready, when Mr Chew went out to the mailbox ...

 

I almost wish we hadn't checked for six weeks, then we wouldn't have known there was a problem! Of course, we still haven't received Mr Chew's passport!

[rkacruiser]

I mailed my application for a new passport on March 17th also and received the new document today, April 10th.

 

I have found that using the tracking device online for the USPS Priority Mail does not work well. Calling the number printed on one's receipt, it supplies the information desired.

[Lady Chew]

We use the Post Office tracking services a lot and have never had a problem until this time. Everything has always been delivered as promised, and it's always been interesting to see the path the letter or package takes.

 

But this time ... trying to go through the process of reporting a non-delivered envelope ... it was impossible. But I hope this was a one-time event!

 

It still bugs me that the Passport Office didn't track my passport ... but, oh well, it doesn't matter now ... I've got my passport!

[sparks1093]

Wow. Hopefully Mr. Chew's passport will show up soon. We applied for the first time a few months ago and had our passports 9 days after we applied. Of course there is a passport issuing office 18 miles from here and that is where they were processed. I did have to send DW's passport back to get the middle name corrected but that didn't take too long to get back, either. Just like anything else with the government I guess, it's hit or miss.

[rvsullivan]

Wow. Hopefully Mr. Chew's passport will show up soon. We applied for the first time a few months ago and had our passports 9 days after we applied. Of course there is a passport issuing office 18 miles from here and that is where they were processed. I did have to send DW's passport back to get the middle name corrected but that didn't take too long to get back, either. Just like anything else with the government I guess, it's hit or miss.

 

Wait!! You have a passport issuing office within 18 miles of Enosburg Falls? Which one is that. I thought the nearest was Boston?

[sparks1093]

Wait!! You have a passport issuing office within 18 miles of Enosburg Falls? Which one is that. I thought the nearest was Boston?

 

They put one in St Albans a couple of years ago. Not sure exactly how busy they are but that was the return address on the envelope that we received our passports in.

[Lady Chew]

I just checked the envelope my new passport came in, and the return address is Portsmouth NH ... We sent the applications to Philadelphia ...

 

And still no passport for Mr Chew ...