Hi all,
I've been lurking on this forum for a while and have been reading this topic with interest. My wife and I started a Skilled PR application with ASA in september 2010, all was well and was dealt with professionally up until the point we paid our 'professional' fees. After this point their service and professionalism was non existent. We waited months for replies for online comms and were constantly stalled and asked the same questions time and time again, we finally managed to get the necessary info from them and the help we asked for in lodging the skills assessment but by this time it was December 2011. My skills assessment was sent to them, received and signed for in December but we received no notification. We pressed them in January 2012 for the whereabouts and were told that it was never received and to pay re-submit and again pay the TRA fees. During this time I was offered 457 sponsorship through a company in WA so for the next few months was dealing with this. We arrived in Australia in June 2012 and resumed our PR application with ASA. We re-submitted our new TRA application but were told that new requirements wwere now in place and by the time it reached them it was too late to lodge. I queried this and asked as migration agents why didn't they know of these changes and inform me earlier but was told that the changes happen with little notice. I re-re-re submitted and my file was checked by emmanuel online and was given the go ahead to send ASA the application. On arrival at ASA it was supposedly lacking requested information! Everything sent to ASA was as requested and exactly as uploaded and deemed fine. This was November of last year. I asked again why I was being told conflicting stories and then told that actually, all was fine and had been lodged. I was only told this after I pressed them, there was no contact directly to me from ASA informing me of this. I asked why it was suddenly OK to lodge but recieved no reply for over a month, this was in march of this year. I then called them and asked for an update and was told that ASA had sent my skills assessment to the wrong assessing body. By this point I was furious with them and sick of dealing with their incompetence and unprofessionalism. I asked why for 2and a half years I had been apllying to the wrong assessing body and was told that they didn't know my trade (welder 1st class) was to be lodged with vetassess and not TRA. At this point I asked to part ways with them and for a refund due to the stupidity and ridiculousness of their service but was told that there was no way they could do that. They then suggested I repay the vetassess fees and that they would act professionally on my behalf. I was shocked. My wife and I drive to ASA offices in Henley brook and demanded our file back, they obliged and told us to not expect a refund.
I suspect that I am not the only one treated in such a manner, and worryingly they seem to be operating for the moment only for clients yet to pay. I do have a direct contact number for an agent (humberto) there but as expected, he neither answers or is any use.
I suppose the point of all this is to alert any others of ASA's uselessness. Judging by the other posts, I don t think any sane person reading this would pay them 'professional fees' but I can sympathise with anybody who has had the misfortune of dealing with these clowns.
I know I sound bitter, I am, they've taken my money and I've recieved nothing in return. Good riddance and hopefully they don't resurface and sting others with their service in future.
