BLS InternationalReviews of blsspainvisa.com

There should have been 0 star available for this review as I do not have the generosity left to give these aggressive predatory organisation and their impolite rude employees any sort of recommendation, let alone a star. I have just returned from the BLS service centre at 14 Fulwood Place, London. I was applying for a tourist visa for Spain and my appointment at the BLS centre was at 13.15 on 30 May 2019. The first thing you need to do is to collect the waiting token from the reception. So I went to the reception to get the token. The receptionist asked me to show the application form and checklist document. Upon showing him these documents, he said I have used the old application form. Now, the application form was downloaded just a few days ago following the given link from this website which I believe an official website -(https:// www. schengenvisainfo .com/spain-visa/) and believe it or not when I have downloaded the form few minutes ago just to check, it is still providing the same form that the BLS receptionist said invalid and expired! So who is doing the trick here - official Schengen website misleading people with old expired documentation or is it an excuse for BLS to trap people at the centre telling lies? He asked me to pay £2 for their updated and valid application form and made the impression that I should not have used official Schengen website's application form! Can you believe this nonsense! He did not provide me any receipt for this transaction. Now I had to fill out this form by hand writing and it was unbelievable that they did not have a spare pen to lend me for few minutes to complete the form. Any decent organisation with a bit of respect for their customers would at least think that some people might need pen at their centre occasionally and it would not do any harm keeping few spare pens for the customers, unless it is your intention to make profit by putting the customers in helpless situation and make the most out of it. Imagine the hassle of filling out this form in such a short space of time but BLS employees do not give a toss about this. While I was filling out the form I could overheard the conversation between the agent and customer at booth 2 and it was unbelievable to hear all the wrong information the agent was giving to the customers in a very rude and impolite manner. In every other minute the agent would scare the customer saying his application would not be successful for this and that reasons and would insist to come back again with fresh application, when my understanding is that this is the decision the embassy people should take, not them. My appointment was at 1.15 pm but I was called at 2.15 pm. I was interviewed by a girl who seemed to be trained to look grumpy and unapproachable. She started going through all the documents and started finding issues and kept telling me my application would be marked as incomplete because of this and that which I could not agree. For example, she was asking me for May bank statement which I did not receive yet because I was applying on the month of May, and she said without providing May bank statement my application would be marked as incomplete. She was not happy that I did provide last 6 months bank statements except for the month May. Then she started complaining about my photo as why the background in the photo does not look white. With the very similar back ground I applied for so many different official things, for example, UK residency permit, and they were never any issue with that. However, the agent wanted me to use their photo service that costs £9. Again, I was put in a situation where I did not have any option but use their facilities paying higher price. Then came the insurance policy issue, in her statement the insurance policy that I have bought is not valid because the company is Germany based! Now, I was using the insurance company that the Schengen official website (https :// www.schengenvisainfo. com/ schengen-visa-insurance/) themselves recommended to use.This is what you will find in their website saying "We recommend MAWISTA Visum by ALLIANZ WorldWide – It is very cheap and it is accepted by European Embassies. You, also can cancel it for free of charge, subject to presentation of proof that a visa has been refused!" Again - who is right here? The Schengen website or the BLS agent? Or is it just a blaming game and a way to rip off customers? They have AXA insurance booth next to the reception and I have had a suspicion that BLS wants the customers to buy AXA insurance, perhaps there are some internal commission arrangement agreed between them. I can carry on saying my whole nightmare time over there but I think I have mentioned enough to give you hints of my experience there. I have been to BLS few times and I have a firm belief now that this whole application form being checked by subcontractor like BLS is just a money making deal and the embassies and the BLS must have some sort internal agreement with some of these dodgy practises. You follow everything mentioned in the official Schengen website in preparing for your application form when trying to visit another European country and as soon you enter BLS centre it seems everything you have done is incorrect. It is difficult to apprehend an organisation like BLS can operate in the UK with this sort of manner and the European countries are actually using their service.

My issue is that I was forced to use their courier to post my passport back to me. On all my previous visits to the actualb Spanish Embassy I was told to bring along a RoyalMail Special Delivery Pre-Paid envelope, so this time I did the same. When I gave it to the lady she said they can't take it as they have to use their own courier. She even said 'If she takes it from me someone would need to go to the postoffice'. As I had no choice I had to pay about £14 for their courier. The passport arrived a few days later and to my SHOCK it was delivered by RoyalMail and not their own private courier company. When I checked the actual price of delivery with the PostOffice they said £2.03. BLS are thieves and rogues. I find it unacceptable that they are the only people we can get this serve through. My next step is to report them to WatchDog and any other Trading Standards companies I can fined. I am extremely disappointed the Spanish Government uses this type of company. Other than that the lady's were helpfully and I got my visa promptly. Its a pity my experience had to be spoiled by BLS been a GREEDY MONEY MAKER

The Spanish government needs to change this company

If I could leave 0 stars, I would. Like the other reviews, premium appointments costing £60 extra were available after 1 week but no standard appointments for 3 weeks. I reluctantly booked the premium service which has nothing premium about it. When my husband arrived at the centre, the agent did not even look at the application from nor ask which visa category he was applying for and assumed he was a tourist application. She then told him he wasn’t able to apply without 6 months bank statements and a letter from his employer. Once she finally listened that he was an EU spouse and not a bog standard non-eu visitor (even though it was in front of her on the application form), he was fed a lot of lies about flight bookings being ‘compulsory’ and she was unwilling to submit the visa request without confirmed travel plans. She also came up with some rubbish about needing proof of residing together via a council tax bill. When I told her my rights as an EU citizen to have my spouse travel with me using only passport and marriage certificate, she back tracked and said she will submit it with the documents provided but made him sign a declaration that he doesn’t have all the required documents. She was also extremely rude, unpleasant and difficult when simply trying to come to a solution. I will in future spend my holidays and money elsewhere to avoid such a shambles that is BLS Spain visa centre. It’s a shame because last year when he visited the centre, he had a very positive experience. Clearly the past year has seen a decline in training and service.

It is difficult to put into words just how appalling this company is. You spend hours waiting, only to be told that ALL your documents need to be in Spanish and notarised. Nowhere on their site does it state this requirement. My advice to anybody travelling to Spain is simply this: rather spend your money in a different country, avoid this place like the plague.

they charge more than mentioned on the website. It is written that the cost of per document for the attestation is Rs.90 and for apostile is rs.50...they charged me rs. 300 for the apostile....i did my attestation by myself by directly going to the concerned department. The chandigarh department is horrendous. That MAMTA is a disaster.

I went to the Edinburgh office, the service I received was horrendous and the worst I have ever experienced. Both ladies were not polite and very rude. I was told I could not wait in the building as I tried to reschedule my appointment time and had to wait in the rain. Also they should have a direct call line that allows applicants to contact you in the morning in case of issues with trying to get to the centre. Didn’t receive any benefits attached to paying for the premium service and do believe their staff should show more compassion and empathy when dealing with people.

Quite bad to be honest. We telephoned to make an appointment. No appointments available unless we paid for the premium service. yawn. Paid it, they told us to go to Manchester. Upon arrival (2 days off work, train up, hotel booked etc) we were told we should have gone to London. Luckily we had an email from them telling us to go to Manchester. After much stress and arguing they told us they'd submit the application from Manchester. When we got back home they messaged us to say application was invalid and we needed to go to London. Finally got the visa, but these people have no idea of the stress they cause.