I managed to get in touch with birmingham embassy and they have said they are not doing by datal order,only as they come in , it might be the agent that are doing this,mine is nearly 6 week at your travel,and i am not happy we need our passports for other things,i will give it this week then i am down to agent to have it out.

we do seem to have a few members in the same position as sleeps was. I hope you get it sorted.

Still no Visa after sending them via the Authorised TA on the 20th Oct - we travel in 7 days and am now seriously worried. Some people may say that it is our own fault but I would have thought that allowing 6 weeks would be ample time.

If anything I would say stay away from Your Travel Shop in Bolton as they dont seem to really care and even the small thing of phoning us to reassure us is beyond them and we get a different story each time we phone them for any news.

Fiona - You mention another HT members problems? (Sleeps??) - Is this on this topic and if so, any idea of page number so I can view and empathise wth him/her????

have a look at Sleeps story here.
If you are near enough to the TA I would pay a visit.

Thanks for link Fiona (I think, - although it did have a happy ending!!) - I am absolutely devastated about the whole thing - we actually convinced good friends of ours (also travelling on the same holiday) to do the same and go through the TA and they are in the same position. In this day and age where competition is rife in this sector, I find it incredulous that we can be treated so shabbily - I like to trust people and take people at their word and when they say it will be here last Monday etc I like to think I can believe what I am being told - Naive? Maybe.

Are there any scenarios where people have NOT received their Visa's that you know of and what was the alternatives - I feel at this stage I may need to have a contingencey plan!

I think more than we know are in similar situations. Why not use sleeps thread on the Complaints forum to ask for advice? In the meantime- are you able to visit the shop?

Me and 3 others are travelling on 20th Dec and have also used Travel Shop in Bolton after seeing some reccomendations some time ago on here. As some of us needed our passports early November we were only able to take our forms etc into to them on 12/11. I had previously had conversations with them and they said it would be no problem to ge them back before we travel. When I arrvied on 12/11 with all the forms they were very vague about the turnaround time and advised that London had recently built up a backlog and were only letting them take 50 a week instead of every couple of days. Since I have read Sleeps story on here and other comments, I have been emailing the travel shop for an update. They have only responded once and advised that they are currently being processed and we will have them back in time.
I am quite worried and really dont want it to get too near our departure date before we know.
Does anyone know if I can contact HCI direct in London to find out where they are upto?
or has anyone got any other tips on how we can guarentee we get them back in plenty of time?
I actually live in Bolton so if I have not heard anything in another week or so I am planning on calling in the shop every few days!

Hope everyone else currently waiting for theres and travelling before us gets theirs back soon.

This is a TA recommended by the Birmingham Embassy for visa services. You would think they would do their best to get them their visas Why recommend them and then not allow them to do their job?

visa_cgibir@fsmail.net
All those having problems with Yourtravelshop or indeed any on the list recommended by Birmingham here should email the above and detail your problems. Also make sure you add what has been said to you about the way the embassy is dealing with the visas. I have in the past emailed and given them links here to look at. However, I think in this case, the more emails that are received the better.

edit
the link does not work but click on visas to the left and its there on the first page.

Has anyone used India Visa Office Grays End

http://www.indiavisaheadoffice.co.uk/

My friends travel in 3 weeks and are getting anxious.

We went to Bhatra Welfare Trust in Leicester today.
They have a quota they can process, 25 every other day. Ours are booked in for 12th December and they then take 10 days.
This is even after Bhatra put all the details onto a flashcard using software provided by Indian Embassy. All they have to do is print the visas, stamp them & stick them into the passport.
We are thinking of going back in June / July and will have to do the same again then.

Sounds like it's best to post direct now rather than use an agent, seems to be me that the people who have done this have had their visas turned around much quicker.

Collected my visas from your travel today,i would like to put peoples mind at rest,the way they do the visas is very organised,every passport has a yourtravel sticker on them so embassy knows where they come from,i could not beleave how many passports there was there.and they came back today,i think they are starting to get on top of it know,the problem was they got to popular,this does not help those who are traveling in the next few weeks,it will be a worrying time till you get them,i am sure every one will get them.

Used India visa office, they are very good, they will have back to you in
five to six working days. Phone them up and speak to them.