JUN 11, 25.. PASSPORT RENEWAL ( 1 / 3 )

PASSPORT RENEWAL.. 

This upcoming June the 21st, 2025, my current 10 year Unites States Passport, issued to me in Hong Kong, China, by the U.S. Embassy in Hong Kong, on June the 22nd, 2015 expires. I have held a US Passport since June of 1974.

Will I ever need another Passport? I don’t honestly know.

BUT I would like to at least have the option to once again travel internationally. To travel internationally one must have a Passport from their “home country”.

I began “the renewal process” a day or so ago. I got “online”. There I found many websites to get a Passport renewed. And I thought I had the one, and the only, official US Passport renewal website. I was mistaken. I have no clear idea of how and why I clicked onto the Passport renewal website I clicked onto.

Things “appeared” to be going “fine and dandy”. Little did I know I was dealing with two separate websites. The cost I was quoted was in the vicinity of $279 with another $67 added to it.

Then I was asked, no I was “told”, that I had to send one of the firms a photograph of my current US Passport. That was a tip off to me that something was not quite right. 

So I decided to contact one of the firms by phone to discuss a refund.

3 HOURS and 33 MINUTES ‘On Hold’

Other than the fact that I wanted my money back, I am NOT going to even begin “to go there” in terms of why I “really needed” to contact two firms that, in my prejudiced opinion, had first misled me and then, in the process, mischarged me sixty seven ($67) and two hundred seventy nine ($279) dollars.

Bottom Line: In my life experience, Credit Card Companies earn their 5% commissions from  companies NOT from we their card holders. So when “dispute a charge time arrives” they seem to lean towards the Companies NOT their card holders.

The very first “order of the day” after you call and get past all of the automated instructions to “dispute a charge”, your Credit Card Company representative says: “Sir FIRST contact the company and discuss your dispute with the Company.” Then call us back. Yes, often the Credit Card company representative will give you the proper phone number to use.

Step One. I called the number I was given: “This is a non-working phone number!”

Step Two. A call back to the Credit Card Company who then gave me a correct and “fully functional” phone number.

Step Three. I successfully called the companies who I was “disputing” the charges of with.

I  did not realize it, but The Three hour and 33 minutes on hold wait time was beginning.

After some 20 minutes dealing with all of the automated prompts I was advised: “You need to talk to a customer service representative. We are busy so please wait your turn because you need to discuss your dispute with a person.”

Had I been able to step back in time, I would have checked my smart phones battery status. But I didn’t do so.

30 minutes “into the hold time” Patti and I decided to go to our local library so Patti could get some books.

And? I noticed my smart phone’s battery needed charging because its battery was at 7%!

What to do? Hang up and lose 30 minutes.

“Aha”. Taa Daa.

Get my Power Bank.

Back on February the 21st, 2025, we did a Post on Smart Phone Power Banks.

https://babakaps.net/?p=68175

So I got our Anchorage based Power Bank, plugged it into my smart phone and off Patti and I went to the library, FedEx, and to post some mail and check our Post Office Box.

The Anchorage Power Bank is Silver in color.

And I am proud, and I am happy to say, that our Anchorage Power Bank was 100% fully charged and “raring to go”.

Too long of a story but I was eventually on hold for 3 hours and 33 minutes. With absolutely no contact with the firm.

I finally “had enough” and turned it off because I think the company is on the East Coast and it was beyond their normal working hours.

Our smart phone was 92% charged when we “had enough”.

– – – – – – – –

Another story in the very  “same vein”. This seven (7) day (was it truly a scam?) story began last Wednesday June the 4th and “came to a conclusion yesterday June the 10th.”

The above “disputes” have been because, as I have already said above, I attempted to renew my Passport online. I thought I was doing this, I was getting all of the data prompts answered, and I actually paid $279 and $67 with my credit card for the process that unfortunately did not render me an updated Passport.

I attempted two times to pay the $279 fee with my Discover Credit Card I’ve had since 1988. Two times Discover refused to honor the charge. Hummm! 

American Express honored and paid the fees.

At the end above online Passport Renewal process this past Monday, I was advised: “We need a photo of your old Passport!”

“Oh Oh. This does not seem correct.”

They signed me up for a telephone appointment with Carlos at 10AM yesterday.

– – – – – – – –

At 8AM yesterday, Tuesday, June the 10th, I got online and I actually called and was put in contact with an Official United States Department of State official on the phone!

The State Department representative told me: “Sir. We have absolutely NO record whatsoever of you filing for a Passport Renewal!”

With the State Department employee coaching me, step by step, on Tuesday, June the 10th, I have filed for a renewal of my Passport for $130.. NOT $279 plus $67.

Then at 10AM Carlos called me.

I was calm, I was polite, I was SUPER cool. I told Carlos that the State Department had absolutely NO record whatsoever of my filing for a Passport Renewal! The State Department also told me NOT to send you a photo of my current Passport Carlos.

Carlos said immediately: “Sir. We WILL refund you your filing fees.”

I then called Discover Card and asked why, two times, Discover would NOT accept a charge from the above firm. I was told: “Sir we did not accept a charge because we could not identify who the firm was. 

– – – – – – – –

RHETORIAL QUESTION: I sit here “wondering IF even The Shadow Knows” what on earth is going on here!

I certainly don’t.

Tomorrow back to my disputes.

– – – – – – – –

Cap and Patti

We ARE ready for some FUN!

TONIGHT we can hardly wait!

8:30 PM Eastern Time. On ABC Television! The Oklahoma City Thunder visit the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, in Game 3 of the NBA Championship Finals!

It’s now a Best of 5 Series. 

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• JUN 12, 25.. PASSPORT RENEWAL ( 2 / 3 ).. →