Passport problems: Mass. woman shares warning after passport delays nearly derail trip

When it came time for Janice Brathwaite’s grandson to cross the stage at the University of Kentucky, the proud Salem grandmother eagerly booked a ticket from Boston to Lexington.

“I made a promise to my grandson,” Brathwaite told Boston 25 News. “If he graduated, I would be there.”

Brathwaite didn’t yet have her Real ID, now needed to board domestic flights, but she had her passport. Or so she thought.

“I looked at it and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s expired’,” Brathwaite explained.

With less than three weeks to her trip, the standard 4-6 weeks it takes to renew a passport wasn’t going to work for Brathwaite, so she went online and began researching her options.

Brathwaite found a site called passportsandvisas.com, which claims it can renew your passport in 4 days for $499. Determined to keep her promise to her grandson, she took the chance.

Weeks later, Brathwaite regrets the decision.

“I’m pretty good at doing my due diligence when it comes to things like this,” Brathwaite said. “But this was a case where, you know, panic took over.”

Days of waiting turned into weeks. Eventually, Brathwaite says her calls to the company started going directly to voicemail.

Boston 25 News reached out to passportsandvisas.com by phone and by email. Our first call was quickly answered by a woman who said our questions could only be answered if submitted by email.

Boston 25 News sent an email and followed up two more times in writing over the following week. Although the website claims most emails receive a response within one hour, nobody returned our request for information.

“Providing your social security number, your date of birth, and all your personal information leaves you vulnerable to potential identity theft,” warns Paula Fleming of Boston’s Better Business Bureau. “It’s important you know who you’re providing information to.”

Fleming says third-party passport renewal sites are, at best, a middleman. They charge customers to collect information and apply for passports and visas through the State Department, which customers can do for themselves. Fleming says it’s unlikely any third-party site can get you a passport faster than doing it yourself through the State Department.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Boston 25 News the only site Americans should use to renew or apply for a passport is mytravel.state.gov.

Brathwaite is not the only person in Massachusetts to use a third-party passport renewal site and not get the service they paid for. Better Business Bureau records show a person in Northbridge recently lost $600 to a similar site. The delay cost the person an additional $3,500 because they needed to cancel their vacation.

Another person in Plymouth wrote to the BBB to complain about yet another site.

“This service leads customers to believe that they are applying for a passport directly when, in fact, they have no affiliation with the US Government,” the Plymouth complaint reads.

“Other people have gone through this and it just makes me angry,” Brathwaite told Boston 25 News.

Brathwaite’s renewed passport eventually arrived, but it was too late for her trip. She received a notice it was delivered to her mailbox as she was standing in line at Logan Airport, three weeks after she applied for a four-day rush, and after she’d already paid $380 to delay her flight by a day in hopes the passport would arrive in time.

Fortunately, TSA let her through with her standard Massachusetts driver’s license. She made it to Kentucky just in time to see her grandson graduate.

“I was really very lucky,” Brathwaite says.

But she wants the added cost to expedite her passport back. Brathwaite says she’s had no luck getting a refund from the site, so she’s disputing the payment with her credit card company.

The State Department website states that passports are routinely processed within six weeks of application. For a fee, you can expedite your application and receive a passport in around three weeks, though mailing times may vary.

Suppose you are less than 14 days from an international trip or have an emergency that requires international travel, such as a loved one with a life-threatening illness. In that case, you can apply for a passport in person at the Boston Passport Agency.

Appointments are required.

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