www.esta.ie - Stupid mistake - concern re data

greensheep777

They also now have a banner at the top of their website

"Disclaimer: This website provides information about the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, and is a private website not affiliated with the U.S. government. Outgoing links on this website goes to a third-party website that offers assistance in submitting ESTA applications. The service is provided by a private company, which charges a fee of US$ 73,00 in addition to the U.S. government fee of US$ 14,00. The total service fee for their service is US$ 87,00. If you do not wish to use a private company, you may submit your ESTA application directly at the official U.S. government website."

I mean they're literally now pointing out that they are a private company and charge their own fee on top of the US Government fee. If people still claim it's a scam then they need their eyes checked.

L1011

Said statement is rather new.

lynzvong

I've just been done as well, so annoyed at myself but heres what I found in a bid to get a refund:

Refund Policy
1) Your right to withdraw

You can request a refund if you do not find either our product or the service we provide to be satisfactory. Under the terms of our refund policy, you are able to withdraw from your contract whenever you want. In order to exercise this right, you must email our customer service team at billing@ immigrationfirst.org, formally informing us in writing that you have the intention of withdrawing from the contract.

2) The result of withdrawal

Should you choose to withdraw from this contract, you will be reimbursed for all payments made. Your payments will be reimbursed using the same mode of payment by which you first made a payment.

All transactions are conducted in United States dollars. Your refund will be issued in US dollars and posted within two working days of your written request for withdrawal from your contract. Once you have received the payment, your bank or credit card company may convert it to your local currency. You will receive the same USD $ amount as charged in return.

If your payment was done via credit card, we will issue your refund to the same credit card used in the initial transaction. No refunds can be made by money order, cheque or cash. There is no charge to request a cancellation request.

3) Withdrawal information

When sending your written request for withdrawal from the contract by email to billing@ immigrationfirst.org, you must include the following details:

The reason you are requesting the refund
Your order number (contained in the email message you received confirming your order)
The last four digits of the credit or debit card you used to pay for your order
Your name, as it originally appeared in the billing information provided

4) Addendum

We are a private company, and have no affiliation or connection with any government. If your electronic travel authorisation (E-Visa) is declined when we apply for it on your behalf, we are liable for the financial responsibility. Exclusive and final discretion to grant or refuse admission to your country of destination lies with the customs officer at your port of entry.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding our Refund Policy, please email us at: billing@ immigrationfirst.org


The 3rd point is most important, tells you what info to send and to what email address.
Ive just sent them an email and waiting to hear back.

Hope this is helpful to anyone else who unfortunately ends up here!

AmberGold

Due to my haste I booked using this site and was charged €140 for two ESTA applications, after beating myself up I mailed them within 30 mins of the application as outlined above seeking a refund.

Received a mail less than 8 hours after confirming a refund. I can't help thinking they know themselves they are operating on the margins and don't need any formal complaints to the US Gov or EU.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

coylemj

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

+1 Let's do the math....

100 people use the same site as AmberGold (two posts above) and are charged €70 a pop. Gross revenue is €7,000.

$14 (the charge on the official ESTA website) equates to €11.30 today so the cost of the 100 ESTAs is €1,130 thereby yielding a profit of €5,870.

For every complaint and refund, they lose the ESTA fee of €11.30 so divide 5,870 by 11.30 and you get 83.86 which means that as long as less than 83% of their 'customers' lodge a complaint, they are in profit. My guess is that the number is way less than that, probably about 10%, if even that.

If you're not concerned about data privacy or identity theft, it's actually a good way to get a free ESTA!

WildCardDoW

For every complaint and refund, they lose the ESTA fee of €11.30 so divide 5,870 by 11.30 and you get 83.86

My view is they delay submitting their applications until they are mostly certain people won't ask for the refund.

Masterkey01

Just made this mistake, Realised immediately after making payment as i knew the cost was to much, Emailed them and they refunded money back straight away, Crises diverted.

Rubberlegs

I was caught out too a few days ago, it was approved and had €77 charged to my account, am raging. I was doing it in a hurry and I had no idea as to what the price should have been. I am going to email and request a refund, will say I mistakenly applied for the wrong travel authorisation. Fingers crossed!

Rubberlegs

^^^
Within a couple of hours I was issued a full refund to show back on my bank account statement in 5-6 business days. Delighted, and won't make that mistake again!

coylemj

Rubberlegs wrote: »

^^^
Within a couple of hours I was issued a full refund to show back on my bank account statement in 5-6 business days. Delighted, and won't make that mistake again!

Why not? They can't revoke the ESTA if it was granted and since they have your passport data anyway, why not use them again in two years time, then complain and get a full refund?

Rubberlegs

coylemj wrote: »

Why not? They can't revoke the ESTA if it was granted and since they have your passport data anyway, why not use them again in two years time, then complain and get a full refund?

Pardon my ignorance, but do you mean that the ESTA still stands? I assumed by getting the refund the whole thing was cancelled?

coylemj

Rubberlegs wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance, but do you mean that the ESTA still stands? I assumed by getting the refund the whole thing was cancelled?

The only way to cancel an ESTA is for someone with the same passport number to reapply and that is typically done because they made a mistake on the original application.

An example is if you enter the wrong date of birth or passport number on the ESTA application. This will cause no end of problems if you show up at the airport because the details on the ESTA and your passport will not match. So you just apply for a new ESTA and the earlier ESTA gets cancelled. There won't be any red flags because you applied for two ESTAs in the space of a few days, the earlier ESTA just gets dumped.

Just about the only thing you can change on a current ESTA is the address you propose to stay at on the first night of your next trip to the US. So if you applied for an ESTA via one of those companies, you complained and they gave you a refund, you can effectively check to see if you have a current ESTA by going into the official ESTA website and seeing if you can set a new address. You will quickly find out if you have a current ESTA.

Go to the official website (link below), click on 'check existing application' and when you see a mention of application number, select the link to 'I do not know the application number'....

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

Rubberlegs

Thank you, I will try that

Esse85

AUTHORIZATION APPROVED

Your travel authorization has been approved and you are authorized to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. This does not guarantee admission to the United States; a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at a port of entry will have the final determination.

If necessary, you can update the following information on an approved authorization: address while in the United States and e-mail address. To access your travel authorization, you will be required to provide your application number, Passport number, and birth date. If you need to change any other information on the form, you must apply for a new travel authorization.

PAYMENT RECEIPT
You have successfully submitted payment for the application listed below. A request by the cardholder to the bank or PayPal for a refund of fees will result in an automatic denial of the application. Please print this page for your personal records.

I paid €77 unbeknown at the time, I see from checking myself I've been approved.

I'm now going to ask for a refund.

Am i right in thinking my application cannot be rejected now, despite what the bolded part reads?

amdublin

Edit. Hmmm. Actually I don't know...

coylemj

Esse85 wrote: »

Am i right in thinking my application cannot be rejected now, despite what the bolded part reads?

You can't simply go in and cancel an ESTA, it can only be done indirectly by applying for a new one on the same passport because (e.g.) you specified the wrong date of birth on the original ESTA.

In theory and as a spoiler, the third party company that you used could go back in and apply for a new ESTA (at a cost to them of $14) in order to revoke the ESTA that they organised but all you have to do is nothing for a couple of weeks, then go back in and attempt to enter a new address for your first night on your next trip, that will tell you if the ESTA is still current or not.