allturnleft

Sorry not stictly BA but hopefully the right audience

Got a new UK passport in Jan

E reader has never worked

Now got to apply for a replacement

What a palaver; anyone alse been affected?

Some talk of a faulty batch

BAAZ

Yes, same here. It isn't a faulty chip, it's the new 2016 design. I got mine in November 2016 and have usually been rejected by the e-gates ever since.

The issue is the little greeny browny strip that appears along part of the bottom of the photo page, below the two lines of code ("P<GBRSMITH<<JOHN..." etc). It causes the e-gates to think you haven't put your passport all the way in to the reader.

I've asked many times at passport control and the agents say that we all have to wait for a software upgrade. Oddly it seems to be fine at many (but by no means all) non-UK airports. I sometimes succeed in getting through at Heathrow, though never at Gatwick and never on the Eurostar.

If this is the issue, there's no point in applying for a replacement, as they're still issuing passports with this design.

HIDDY

My new one arrived the other day although I don't expect to find out whether it works at e-gates any time soon.

Does anyone know what will happen after the UK exits the EU? Will existing passports last until their expiry date?

IAN-UK

My chip didn't work. I had a bit of to and fro with the passport office before they finally agreed to to a free express replacement.

allturnleft

Did the new one work?

I think its incredible that the passport office take no responsibility
Their solution to me was for me to pay for the premium-one day service at Victoria and if found faulty they will tefund the Ł116!

From other comments above it sounds that it might not be the chip but the booklet structure

IAN-UK

Mine was a few years back. The initial suggestion was that i'd caused the damage, but if a forensic examination of the passport revealed fault in the chip i'd get my (second) renewal fee returned.

To be fair I only had to take my complaint up a notch to get a new, expressed passport through the Victoria office. And the admission that they'd had a batch of dodgy chips.

Jimmie76

I wasn't sure mine had ever worked but I still had a couple of years to go on it when the USA started the requirement for a biometric passport. I didn't want to chance being rejected by the CBP so thought I would get a new one. I called up and paid for a one day service but once I got there they were telling me that it needed 28 days for investigation. If the chip wasn't found to be faulty I'd be charged. I pointed out that I'd already paid and could I not just get a new one instead? That solved the problem for both them and me as I'd be able to go away the week afterwards and they didn't have to send the old one anywhere.

allturnleft

Its really cheeky that they hold no liabilty for the product ; mine is only 6 months since issue

I got mine replaced yesterday at Victoria
They told me if the passport ended up being faulty they would re-imberse my fee
Its a bit ludicrous they cant test it there and then ar the office

Simon Schus

I requested a replacement once for a fault. I never found out the outcome. I'm not even sure that they looked at it as a fault, and just considered it to be damaged - and made me pay for it (at my own cost and expense for getting to my nearest passport office with an appointment that week = London).

allturnleft

Update

Passport office said they could not find fault and refused to refund

Do I have any consumer rights to say I am not happy with this outcome?

It failed on three occasions where my partners new passport always worked

It never worked for me

IAN-UK

Annoying, isn't it? By "no fault" do they mean it is working fine (and therefore you are an incompetent user ), or it is not working because you damaged it.

If you have the time and the will, I think you should push back on this.

To me it either works or it doesn't. And if it doesn't I'd like to know why.

farci

Raise the question via your MP - they have to reply to him/her

Mizter T

MPs can also refer complaints on to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

IverTheCat

For what it's worth, I have a 2016 design passport (but issued a few months ago) and it works fine at the eGates.

mfkne

If you have (or know someone who does) an Android smart phone that has NFC capabilities you can download one of the many apps that allow you to read the NFC chip from your passport. From what I remember the encryption key is the passport number - if the read is successful you should see your passport photo retrieved and displayed by the phone.