Travis F.
Not to be trusted...
They promised a one day turn around and it took a week. When we inquired about the delay no one returned calls or answered emails... I could have done it myself much quicker... Stay clear... ------------ I wrote the above passage and then the company finally contacted me to inquire about my post, so here is a longer explanation detailing why, based on my experience, I believe this company is not to be trusted: I needed a passport for my daughter within 4 days for a trip. I contacted APVI and requested 2 day service (that would give us an extra day of padding). That was monday and the flight was friday evening. On tuesday morning Fedex failed to deliver my materials on time to APVI, so I talked to them on Tuesday and we agreed to upgrade the service to one-day in order to get it back on time. They suggested this and said it was possible. On Thursday, we called and called and no one answered or returned our phone calls. There was no info when I logged on to the APVI site using the credentials they provided. We called using a different phone and they picked up immediately (because of this, we felt they were screening calls). They said the government were behind and that the passport would be available the following day. They said that on the day we called they got all the passports from the previous day so it seemed reasonable to believe ours would be ready the next day, which was the day of our flight. It would be tight, but possible. On friday, it was the same problem, no one answering, no information on the website. They told us to call after 5 because they get the passports from the government between 3-5 each day. Because we didn't hear, we were forced to change all our flights, costing us more than $500. When we did get through to APVI (again, using a skype call) they said the passport wasn't finished and said it might not be done the following monday either. We changed the flight to tuesday. Luckily the passport was finished monday and we flew on tuesday. Afterwards, because I felt APVI did not provide the service they advertised or "guaranteed" so I requested a refund. I called several times and no one picked up. When I got through to someone, she said that they had no record of my order number (8531). She said some one would call back. No one did. I called back a half dozen times, and was told the same thing, that someone would call me back, no one did. I wrote 4 messages via the online portal that they supplied and again no response.... In short, I wouldn't trust APVI. We called the passport agency and could have gotten the passport in the same time APVI ultimately processed our passport... My feeling is that APVI promises a lot, cashes your check and then delivers with the same speed that you could simply do yourself by visiting the passport agency.... It was our fault for trusting their website and their representatives on the phone.... ----------------------------------- July 17 Update- I wanted to respond to APVI below. I did get a check in the mail but it was certainly NOT a full refund as they indicated here. GIven my past experience with this company I'm not surprised that they would say one thing in this public forum and do something different. The "refund" was $50. I also wanted to share a conversation I had with a rep from from APVI. He promised me a full refund if -- and only if -- I deleted my post completely. I can't help but wonder if that is why there are very few negative reviews here... I nearly opted to take that option because I need the money. It felt however like I was being bought off, so I refused. He also said that the delay was because of a computer error at the state department that it had never been this bad in his 15 year experience. I have a no reason to doubt that, but just wish someone would have told that to me before instead of ensuring me that passport would be done the following day. ----------------------------- Aug 24, 2015 update I received a full refund and therefore updated my rating from 1 star to 2.