In order to avoid paying the new fees effective from 18Mar16, I sent my naturalization application via a same-day delivery courier (not royal mail unfortunately, just a small courier company). It was delivered and signed for at the Liverpool office on the 17th of March. 2 weeks later, i got an acknowledgement letter and I now have 2 issues:
1. ) the acknowledgement letter list of the documents sent is not correct.
2. ) i was told i needed to pay a balance, based on the new fee schedule, which became effective from the 18th March, rather than the old fees, which i believe i should pay, since i submitted on the 17th March
I called the HO line and was told to write a letter on the 2 issues, appending the delivery note. I sent a letter addressing these 2 issues, and got an email from the HO:
1.) my letter detailing the document list discrepancies was ignored! no mention of it in the email response
2. ) on the fees, i still got a an email saying the HO only looks at the delivery date, not the date of postage - it seems the person did not bother to read my letter or the delivery note, since it's clear the application was delivered on the 17th!
I've now been given a few days to pay the balance, which I think is unfair. I responded to the email restating the facts, but I've not gotten any response after 3 days, and only have 2 days before the payment deadline.
what else can i do? HO contact line says to email complaints@homoeffice.gsi.gov.uk. has this worked for anybody? do they respond to complaints sent to this address? are there any implications of 'complaining'? i don't want my application to be kept on a shelf somewhere...
