should i complain?

[Guest stephb]

Hi all,

I wrote this message yesterday and the computer lost it- I nearly screamed! Fingers crossed for more luck today...

Apologies for the length of it, Im not very good at short and sweet!

 

I have had some concerns about my migration agency (1st Contact) for much of the time I've been working with them, but never been quite sure if I'm being oversensitive! So here are my issues, would really be helpful to hear what people think.

 

* when i first made contact with the agency (early summer 06) i was advised that it would be worth me waiting til october to apply, as this would mean i met the '3 out of the past 4 years' specification, and would not then need to apply for state sponsorship. However when it got near October it turned out I still did not meet that requirement because of a 14 month gap in my employment whilst travelling. I didn't complain because I felt I also could have picked up on this, but it dented my confidence in them, I had assumed I could rely on them to pick up on stuff like this!

 

* in autumn last year I emailed my agent to ask if it was worth me getting my medicals and police checks done before getting allocated my case officer, so that they'd be ready once requested. I was told no, which I reluctantly assumed must have some logic to it. My case officer was allocated in November and I applied for these things. However my police check only arrived earlier this month, so is the last thing to be submitted. Other people I have seen on a similar timescale to me have been granted already, and I can't help but think I might have my visa had got the checks done earlier.

 

* in general i have felt something of a lack of faith in my agent, partly from these experiences and also just from small things. then around the time my case officer was assigned, i got an email from a different worker in the agency to say i should from then on communicate with her with regards my visa, rather than my previous agent. No explanation, which just reinforced that maybe the last one was no good!

 

I rang the agency early this week to ask if my police check had reached them (I had put a note with it asking for confirmation of this). My original agent answered the phone (so hasnt been sacked, as I had wondered!), and said my more recent worker was off sick. But she said she'd seen a police check on the other workers desk. It had been opened, but noone had contacted me, and had I not rung Ive no idea if they would have called me, or even posted it on for me!

 

So Im fed up with them, I have lost a lot of faith in them, and the service theyre offering. I feel like I could be booking flights now potentially, if I'd had different advice. But another reason I'd been hesitant to complain is I don't have evidence of the things that happened, annoyingly I deleted the emails, and some of it was phone conversations.

 

Anyway, rant over, sorry! Look forward to your thoughts

 

Thanks,

Steph

[Guest Libby1971]

Hi

 

In your situation I would document things as best as you can bearing in mind the evidence has been deleted. But from now on, document things really closely.

 

If you are unhappy, I would do a couple of things. First find the contract detailing what services they are meant to be providing. Photocopy it and highlight all the sections of this where they are not meeting what they specified.

 

Next, phone the manager and speak to him/ her. Don't be put off and leave a message with anyone else. Tell them and ask them how this can be moved forwards to everyone's pleasure. Presumably, there is a deadline with the police checks to get there, how nice of them to make sure the deadline was met by leaving it on someone's desk!

 

I would ask the manager to take responsibility from that point onwards as your faith in the other employees is somewhat lacking.

 

I think you're right to be unhappy, I would be.

 

Libby

[Guest Russfamily]

some times its better to do it your self, we did and saved a load of cash at the same time

[Guest graandjac]

:arghh:The fack that about 80% of visa applications that fail are people going alone, i think that beating your self up over using an agent wont do any good, but it looks like your visa is on its way so job done , but just to clear your mind it would be good to let them know your feelings in as strong a way as you feel right, so yes i think you have every right to let them know. No one said that getting a visa was easy, good luck Cheers Graham;)

[Guest lynne]

The fack that about 80% of visa applications that fail are people going alone. Where does this figure come from?

 

Lynne

[Guest soggy]

The fack that about 80% of visa applications that fail are people going alone. Where does this figure come from?

 

Lynne

 

Agents ?

 

Simon

[cormcvcr]

Hi Steph,

 

don't fret too much, if you see by my timelines below, we too are waiting.......I had a problem the other day, in which I felt others were getting their visas and we weren't (and this isn't taking away the respect I have for others on here!)

 

But, on further investigation we found out that our timelines were applicable to the type of visa which we had applied for.

 

With our agent and I don't know if this is similar circumstances with all migration agents, but we started off within the consultation stage (migration consultants team), then the hand over stage within the admin team, moved to the skills assessment stage within the skills team, the application stage wtihin the visa team and finally govenment processing stage within the lodgement team.

 

All areas have a different person you deal with, so any queries you go to the person within the relevant stage you are at.

 

I was panicked the other day and thought our visa was so far away, but in reality it will happen it will just take a bit longer because of the type of visa we are on and because of the changes that occurred, (obviously they seem quicker now, hence the reason for the changes).

 

Hope this eases your mind a bit, as it has ours.

[Guest lynne]

Agents would give a bias opinion because they want the business. 80% I am going to ask my case officer about this.

 

Agents offer a very good service for people who are not organised at filling in the forms, clarify documents etc. However, they are not going to be more successful in obtaining the visa. The applicate is going to pass or fail.

 

Medicals seem to be the clarifing factor. I have known people who may have problems with medicals and yet the agents could not give accurate information.

 

This is because each visa is assessed on the documents sent especialy if there are medical difficulties. So its a case of sending in accurate information on diagnosis, disability, cost issues etc.

 

If there is a problem with the visa being processed than the officer will contact the applicant or the agent to request the missing information.

[Guest graandjac]

Agents ?

 

Simon

Iam sure your right Simon, when we spoke to our agents we were asked could we provide this....this...and this information, our reply was yes, and based on the that they said we can get you a visa, but only if we could provide everything they asked for. So if that is the case the majority of applications using agents should pass...? . Dont take this as a dig at the guys going solo:p Going to get the right facts now , my mission for the weekend. Cheers Graham

[Guest soggy]

As someone who has gone solo on the visa applicatiion from TRA to finish, I can fully understand the attraction of agents! if my wife was not behind me cracking the whip I would still be waiting now for a visa, and haveing somone to answer your questions instead of looking everything up on the web, somtimes spending hours on what turns out to be somthing simple would take away quite a bit of pressure and stress.

 

Now I have my visa im glad I did it myself, at times i was not sure it was the right move. £1500+ will buy many bottles of red stress relief in Aus though.:daydreaming:

 

Simon:D

[Guest Martin and Val]

Hi,

We are sorry to say that we don't fully understand this, we are also with first contact and can do nothing but praise them! They have done the job we asked them to do right from the start and we certainly couldn't of done it without them.

As Soggy has said, you can do it alone but honestly we wouldn't have had the time or patience to sort all the paper work out.

I know we don't have the Visa in our hands but I really cant complain at the service we have received.

Good luck, it will happen.

Martin and Val

[Guest stephb]

thanks folks! i think some of my annoyance is just impatience misinterpreted- im so keen just to get things moving now! but reading your posts has reminded me of one thing- in the long run this is all just a blip, and will be very quickly forgotten about once i get my hands on that visa!!

thank you all for your messages, feeling a bit more back in perspective now. and just been looking at the weather in adelaide- 28o tomorrow- yeeehaaa!