Sophia D.
Misleading site — hidden fees and no verification checks of existing ESTA status
I applied for an ESTA through this website, which is deliberately presented like an official government portal. I was unknowingly charged £102.47, an amount that was never transparently disclosed during the application or payment process; it only became clear afterwards via my bank charge, and even the confirmation email failed to mention the fee. The official US Gov ESTA costs only £17. The website made no attempt to verify whether I already held a valid ESTA — even though the official U.S. portal allows anyone to check instantly with passport details and date of birth. My ESTA was valid until April 2026. A genuine support service, especially one advertising “U.S. visa experts” and charging over six times the official fee, would have flagged this before taking payment. Instead, I was billed more than £100 for a duplicate application I did not need. I have contacted the company to request a full refund under the policy stated on their website. Given the lack of transparency and the failure to prevent duplicate applications through basic verification, I consider this a misleading service and expect a prompt resolution.
Response from U.S. Immigration SupportSep 10, 2025
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re genuinely sorry to hear about your experience and understand how frustrating this situation must have been for you. We’d like to clarify that we are a private travel assistance company that helps travelers complete and submit their ESTA applications. We are not affiliated with any government agency, and we make this clear through disclaimers on our homepage and throughout the application process. In addition, our service fee is disclosed at several points, including the payment page, so that users can make informed decisions before completing their application. We also outline this information in our terms and conditions, which are available prior to submission. Please note that we only charge customers whose applications have been approved, and we honor our refund policy in accordance with the terms published on our website. At this time, we have been unable to locate your application in our system based on the information provided. To assist you further, we kindly encourage you to contact our customer support team with your order number and the email address used during the application. Our team is available 24/7 and is fully committed to providing support every step of the way. We sincerely appreciate you bringing this to our attention and are committed to providing clear, responsive, and professional service. We hope to resolve this promptly for you and wish you all the best in your travels.