VFS Global

I have been awaiting a a visa application reimbursement in South Africa since June 15th its now 11th August and nobody in this organization takes my query seriously. The call centre agents managers in Bruce Lukhele and Mohammed Bapoo go out of there way to stall and prevent the processing of reimbursements.

I was double charged for visa appointments for my wife and myself by Cindy Mouton at the Cape town VFSglobal branch for a Shengen visa to Italy on the 6th June. She admitted her error immediately but said that I needed to request a refund form this i filled out and sent off with the relevant receipts on the 17th June. I have been attempting without success to get my funds returned ever since then.

I requested through the call centre management to speak with the CEO or head of VFS global in South africa but was told that that would be impossible. I find the way in which this company hides behind its call centre completely unacceptable and wish to expose VFS and its staff for their shocking service and complete lack of customer care.

The sooner all embassies, consulates the Department of Home affairs and other organisations making use of VFSGlobal are made aware of the slew of complaints and move away from using this company the better.

All the staff members have very huge work load, Nobody have smiles on their face…. They Just realise you, You are a BEGGER here.

I have not received my passport yet because the delivery address was wrongly written by VFS Kolkata.

Very helpful officer very nice Good behavior and help full italy officer pavithra, Cyril, Farhan all staff are very helpful

This company has a monopoly for processing visa applications on behalf of consulates of several countries and has clearly no interest in providing a service of acceptable standards.
Unfortunately, I had to deal with their London branch for requesting a tourist visa to visit Italy for my partner, a UK-resident Turkish citizen.
It is absolutely a disgrace how they operate, surely the Italian Consulate is equally at fault for contracting them and ignoring the disservice.
VFS Global website is the only available channel to book visa appointments and it is a malfunctioning, obsolete website that, as stated by VFS customer service itself, is not compatible with most recent Mac operating systems/web browsers and will continuously give an error message when attempting to access bookings.
If you manage to bypass this obstacle and log into the system, you will find out that appointment slots are never available anyway and a pop-up window will advise you to try again later...until you have tried too many times and it will give you an error message again or block you.
We have now been trying for 4 weeks every day, several times a day, from 2 different computers, dedicating MANY HOURS to this process because we really need to travel and already have tickets and arrangements in place (as it is required in order to obtain a visa).
Out of 100s attempts, on 3 occasions a slot showed as available...only to disappear by the time we filled in the lengthy form necessary to complete the booking! Can you imagine the stress and disappointment of finding a slot after so many attempts just to realise the website is not holding it for you while you frantically fill in the details (that are not saved in your account in spite of having previously entered them) and you have to start all over again?!
This is beyond ridiculous and infuriating. Our flight is 2 weeks and I've lost hope we will make it.
In fact, the Italian Consulate in London does not have a functioning visa application system which makes it impossible to visit the country for those requiring one. And they couldn't care less.
If you contact the consulate directly about visa issues they will not get back to you and the automatic reply states that if they do not reply the first time it is highly unlikely they will if you email them again and if you insist they will put you in the spam (yes, it is not a joke!)
Ps
VFS Global has a collection of terrible reviews on several platforms and I read of many people describing the exact same problems I'm experiencing.
Surprisingly they have good reviews on Trustpilot and I honestly doubt they are genuine.
Shame on VFS Global and the Italian Consulate in London!

MY BIOMETRICS DID NOT GO THROUGH BECAUSE OF THEM AND I LOST MY POST STUDY WORK RIGHTS. This has costed me my university life.

Very bad service honestly do not for it please they are asking for more money which is not required

VFS Global, a subsidiary of Blackstone, responsible for providing India consular services in the USA, has come under scrutiny for its mandatory imposition of fees, particularly SMS charges, which are optional in nature. This practice, while seemingly harmless, has allegedly generated over half a million dollars in just two months, raising concerns about its ethicality and transparency.

The online portal of VFS Global is accused of manipulating users by discreetly adding SMS fees to their transactions, regardless of whether the service is desired or not. Despite numerous complaints and attempts to address the issue with both VFS and the Embassy of India, no action has been taken to rectify the situation. This failure to address customer concerns suggests a lack of accountability and transparency on the part of both VFS Global and the Indian authorities.

It appears that VFS Global and its affiliated institutions have prioritized financial gains over customer satisfaction and ethical business practices. By imposing mandatory fees and disregarding customer feedback, they have demonstrated a disregard for the rights and interests of the Indian diaspora in the USA.

In conclusion, the mandatory fees imposed by VFS Global for India consular services in the USA, particularly the SMS charges, raise serious ethical concerns. The lack of action by both VFS Global and the Embassy of India to address these concerns reflects poorly on their commitment to customer satisfaction and transparency. It is imperative that steps are taken to rectify this situation and ensure that the rights and interests of the Indian diaspora are safeguarded.