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Weird occurrence at third-party visa agency in HK

 
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wawaguagua



Joined: 10 Feb 2013
Posts: 190
Location: China

PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:30 pm    Post subject: Weird occurrence at third-party visa agency in HK Reply with quote

I decided to go for an agent to do my Z visa in HK. I went with one recommended by a fellow teacher. This particular agency has a long history and has a good reputation from what I can pull up on the internet, including this site. The consensus seems to be that they're expensive but they get the job done.

Anyway, I sent a message to the agent the next day at 4 PM when the visa decision was expected. She told me that the visa has been processed, with a big stipulation. It was initially rejected and the agency had to "convince" (whatever that means) the powers that be to change their decision. As a result, they expected me to add an additional $1000 HKD to the already steep charge.

I went directly to the office with a million questions. They wouldn't tell me how they convinced the office and claimed it was corruption. I questioned why whatever they did needed another 1000 HKD. I pointed out that the agreement I signed said nothing about further costs. I argued that whatever they did must surely be covered by the already steep service charge. I added that as visa agents, their job is to try their best to get me a visa if I pay them money. I paid, they got it, end of story.

She went to the backroom to discuss the situation, and then returned to ask me for whatever money I had on hand. I told her I'm not giving her anything more. She asked how I'll get my passport back. I suggested I could bring a police officer so she could explain what's going on to him. Things escalated to me calling her a liar and expressing my shock that such a scam could still happen in a developed, civilized region like Hong Kong

Finally, she relented and gave me the passport and my receipt at no extra cost.

This didn't sit well with me as I can't imagine a rejection could be changed to approval by "convincing." Maybe I'm wrong, but it set.off a red flag. It's scary because this is a very well-known and popular agency

What do you think?
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jimpellow



Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Posts: 913

PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I suppose it is very possible that the agency was bought by another party. As the Mainland Chinese are overrunning Hong Kong and fond of buying established businesses to facilitate hoodwinking the unsuspecting, I would think one knows who that guilty party was.
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nimadecaomei



Joined: 22 Sep 2016
Posts: 605

PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jimpellow wrote:
I suppose it is very possible that the agency was bought by another party. As the Mainland Chinese are overrunning Hong Kong and fond of buying established businesses to facilitate hoodwinking the unsuspecting, I would think one knows who that guilty party was.


Mainland Chinese, must be the answer. HK has always been a pristine place of ethics and morals, until it was handed back by the East India Trading company.
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wawaguagua



Joined: 10 Feb 2013
Posts: 190
Location: China

PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 3:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Instead if arguing which culture is the most ethical, can we please try to assess what happened? We can all agree that they were definitely trying to pull a fast one, right? There's no way that whatever happened actually required the added expense, yes? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

If such a well-known and seemingly reliable agency can resort to scamming to make money (when they already make a lot of money by virtue of having a good reputation and thus many clients), that's a bit scary. Seeing as they require payment upfront and almost 40% of what I paid was nonrefundable in case of rejection, and seeing as visa rejection is all word-of-mouth, what's stopping them from going further with their scamming - Collecting your money, sitting on it, doing nothing, and then just telling you it was rejected in order to keep your paid service fees? If this was actually a trick, it sets a very bad precedent.
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thechangling



Joined: 11 Apr 2013
Posts: 276

PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you name them?
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teenoso



Joined: 18 Sep 2013
Posts: 365
Location: south china

PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yes , an odd turn of events , especially as the attempted 'surcharge' wasn't explained to you properly.
I suspect either a straight scam or more likely an error by them in submitting the application at the visa application centre , for which they had to pay extra to correct (maybe they missed the 2 day processing deadline , or something).

HK is definitely not , and never has been, a paragon of legality and civility - think of the triads , who surely had and have a working relationship with the police;
back in the 80s, it was pirated electronics and other fake goods visitors were warned about , now it's illegal substances near the Chungking Mansions.
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wawaguagua



Joined: 10 Feb 2013
Posts: 190
Location: China

PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

teenoso wrote:
or more likely an error by them in submitting the application at the visa application centre , for which they had to pay extra to correct (maybe they missed the 2 day processing deadline , or something).


That's an interesting possibility. It seems a very culturally "Chinese" way of thinking for a business to pass of the costs of your own error to the consumer and expect them to pay for your mistakes. Western businesses would look at the bigger picture and think providing good service means a good reputation, and thus a large and loyal customer base, so they'd eat the cost of the error in exchange for more and larger returns in the long term. The Chinese way of thinking seems to focus on penny-pinching, with the perspective that any immediate net loss is unacceptable.

Anyway, I hesitate to name the business in question until I get enough opinions that what happened was, in fact, an attempted scam and not just a misunderstanding.

The agent's story was that my "humanitarian visa" I was last using to reside in China was issued from a different city and province from my last residence permit (it was issued from the city of the school that issued my new work permit, where I was planning on moving). As for how "convincing" the office to overlook this circumstance would require 1000 extra HKD, I don't know. I find to believe the powers responsible to issue visas in HK would be so transparently susceptible to bribery (which, from what I understood, is what the visa agent was attempting to suggest) in the Xi era (not that corruption doesn't exist, just that it wouldn't be so painfully obvious).

If it was a failure meet the service deadline, that's a slightly different story - Still abysmal service to lie and expect the consumer to front the bill, though.
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