Originally Posted by
pinniped
I've never used a passport agency for a basic passport renewal, but I find their services pretty valuable on visas. On several of my visa apps, their QA process has informed me of unwritten rules or pitfalls in my documents before submitting to the consulate. Flaws or ambiguities in business introduction letters, incorrectly-formatted foreign addresses, photos that don't meet extremely precise specs, or other little things that the agency knows that particular consulate is known for rejecting visas for. Fixing errors with the agency in 1 day saves potentially weeks in back-and-forth with the consulate. The errors are things I'd never have known about otherwise.
Granted, I think I could get a passport renewal right the first time, and if I lived in a city with a same-day option I'd probably do it that way. But if you have to use an agency, you'll have peace of mind that they'll meet or beat their promised times. It's their entire business model to do so.
I agree totally. I use a visa service agency for visas where the application must be delivered to the consulate in person or where I'm concerned about the rules, but I refuse to pay lots of additional money for passport renewal.
I also double check visa rules myself as I've found that some visa service agencies (and airlines like DL with website links to such) tend to advise everyone to get a visa in advance even when it isn't required.
Furthermore, I suspect that some of these visa services are fly by night operations, so everyone should be sure to use one through an employer or otherwise check them out before sending them anything.