Someone has to pay for the trip to the "Oscars"!

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Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand

I posted the same message as above on the Looney Planot Thorntree. It's been taken down. Garbage site, garbage guidebooks.

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TBS.com

FWIW I use (and recommend) VISALINK - Russia - tourist, business visa support and invitations. ... annually for 15 years now.

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We had a similar problem with Real Russia, they incorrectly issued us 3 LOI for Russia and when we applied separately (because we are irish they wouldnt do the applications for us) we were told that the LOI was incorrect - We paid for a service that was not done correctly and it cost us a Russian visa, couldn't use a Mongolian visa and missed a flight home...

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The Nomadic 90s

May not be a good idea to use a company where the terms state "We do not accept any responsibility for any consequences of any errors made by us when processing your visa or visa support documents."
i.e. No matter how we screw up, it ain't our problem.

So I'm not the only one. Over on a different website where I posted the same story, a few people pontificated forth how wonderful RR are. Clearly not always.

Please be aware of their arrogant, incompetent underbelly.

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TBS.com

So you had a problem with them the year before and then chanced them again?

Caveat emptor, you numpty.

Suggest Colebatch's recc for your next trip.

It won't come as a complete surprise that I won't use RR again. Following the 2012 Mongolia visa situation l shouldn't have given them the benefit of the doubt that it was a one off. They did give me a refund on that occasion.

Post 46 in the ride report link below gives a description. RR didn't spot that the visa was unsigned.

RR have in my experience developed a proven track record.

I won't need Walter's agency any time soon as trips in the near future will be to other parts of the world where, coincidentally, visas aren't required.

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TBS.com

Walter, thanks for the link.
Do they help for the Stans republic LOIs as well by any chance?
I am just in the prelim stage for a trip across central Asia next spring/summer....

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

I dont think so Maria ... bear in mind you only need the LOIs for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan last time I checked. The other 3 former soviet stans were LOI free.

Generally accepted wisdom is that StanTours is the default LOI issuer of choice for the Stans (and Azerbaijan) on the HUBB.

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Just for the record, Real Russia just did a great job for me and my wife (March 2014)
They got us all the visa we need and it was a great service. They advised on the Mongolia visa ans suggested that we get ours in Moscow, they sent the forms and did not charge anything (for the Mongolia bit)
Excellent service,

I've used them three times now and they have not caused me any concerns doing exactly what they said when they said they would.

I think there may have been a good basis for them 'taking a hit' for the sake of keeping a customer happy but that's a business view and probably one that will cost them in the long run.

From an administrative point of view they have seemingly followed their prescribed procedures and whether a visa is issued at all or on time is not their concern, having a background in Financial Services administration I'm aware that this mindset is not uncommon in the UK either, its effective and efficient 99% of the time and great administrators don't always make great customer service representatives! you just have to hope someone gives a hoot to clean up around the edges.

As I like to keep the lies I needed to tell to get an MEBV consistent for fear of discrepancy resulting in a 'Nyet' It's useful to me to use the same service provider as they keep the previous applications on file and when I asked were happy to complete the form using those details and just ask for clarification on any odd points, in fact they bent over backwards to get hold of me with regards to a couple of errors I had made and rewrote the form because I had forgotten some small changes like the fact I had moved effectively doing the admin twice, I also kept a single point of contact throughout and she was very polite, efficient, took ownership of my needs and explained things clearly to me.

I only add that because I think whilst the way a company presents itself when dealing with stuff outside of the day to day is important that goes for positives as well as negatives