KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 So the saga continues. We started our visa with ASA consultants who liquidated last year and had Australia Visa Solutions take over our case. Due to poor conduct and misinformation, slow turn around times etc we asked to take over our application and they claimed they did not have our Skill Select log in details from the previous RMA who set up our EOI. We are now ready to lodge our main visa application online and have no way that we can see to do so as we don't have a user name or password, only our EOI number. They have not helped try to assist us with getting these details, told us they can no longer help as we wish to do it ourselves and have deleted our online account. I am speechless at their unprofessional attitude. I am however not surprised as this is just one of many problems we had with them including losing over 2000AUD when the previous company was liquidated.( we are attempting to follow up on that) I have spoken with MARA today who were helpful and have offered to assist us in reclaiming our file and hopefully helping specifically to get our log in details. I have drafted a letter to them we will send today via their online form. Are there any other poor souls out there who have used them who may be able to assist us with figuring out our log in details or how exactly we could get them? I found a technical support page for migration agents on the immigration website which we have contacted but it is just an automatic reply so far. Crossing my fingers we can quickly resolve this somehow so we can lodge asap. Annoyed at their conduct. They now don't answer the phone or if they do someone picks up then hangs up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 So have you received an invitation to apply? If so does that not include any information on username? The only other thing I can suggest is to lodge a fresh EOI, any reason you cannot do this? I don't say that lightly by the way, but from a very pragmatic point of view. I have been recommending against ASA for nearly five years since I started my own migration journey with them, knew they were wrong 'uns from way back then. I sacked them as agents after skills assessment and I did write off GBP1,000 in the process but rather than spend my energy on that, I took control and focused on the application, had the visa 7 months later (which was the going rime frame back then). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie129 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Feel sorry for you. We used them too when they were ASA and they had JUST lodged our application when they went into "liquidation." Unaware at the time of what had happened I tried to ring then but their phone was dead. Got suspicious and a quick Google check and found out they had gone into liquidation. I was lucky to find my agents mobile number and rang him. He confirmed what had happened but promised he would still be looking after my case until a decision was made on my application. I requested my log in details which he gave me straight away as I wanted proof that it had been lodged. I then changed my online password and sacked them. Best thing I ever did... Think I may be able to help you with your password. Who was your agent? Just so you know. It's the same staff working there as when it was ASA... And they still operate from the same address.... Terrible company, full of lies and deceit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie129 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Maybe the username for accessing skillselect is your EOI number? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 Thank you for the replies and I'm sorry to hear you both got caught up with them too. We decided to stay with them until this stage as our EOI had been lodged. Then State Sponsorship. I realise they are mainly the same group of people working there. The tone of their communications and not replying to our urgent comms in a timely manner or answering the phone is just unprofessional. I hope MARA can assist so no one else has to go through this pain. Stevie129 I think it may be you that replied to a previous thread I wrote on another migration board. I will try the EOI number. The technical IT support team have sent us 2 emails first clarifying the problem then the second said they are working on it. We tried my partner's name as the user name and did forgot password. The system said it recognised the user name and pinged an email to the email address given which obviously isn't any of ours as we never received anything. Australia Visa Solutions told us they lodged our State Sponsorship online but at now claiming they did it with hard copies of paperwork. We have thankfully had the foresight to copy and paste into word comms between us and them as all this has disappeared now they have deleted our client ID. Thanks for your help again. I'm hoping someone sensible in Australia IT support can sort this out. Our letter from NSW said details of the next steps would be in our invitation letter which I believe is in Skillselect when you log in. No username etc is in the email from them I assume for security reasons. Rupert we have also lost over £1000 to them as we paid upfront for our DIAC fees. I have details of the liquidator from searches online if you want me to pass them to you. I doubt we'll ever see that money again although all migration agents are obligated to have indemnity insurance. Shocking behaviour! I am tempted to take a trip to Perth to retrieve our file in person. We are only 5 hours away in KL. We also requested them to handover all our documentation within 7 days as stipulated in the MARA code of conduct but again Lee gave no commitment about that in her reply. I can take the hit on the loss of money but I won't allow this to stall our application further. We have already lost so many months and years in fact due to ASA and AVS handling of our case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 Sorry for the long reply. Stevie our agent was Exxxxxxx S and he was the one who did the EOI. Hxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx took over but he has since left them due to disagreements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie129 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 You are right, it is shocking behaviour! I have heard of several going to their office and demanding their file back, and getting it. Glad you know the username, you're half way there. For the password this might be worth a go. My password was the first 3 letters of my surname in capitals , immediately followed by the first 2 letters of my first name in lower caps. Then full stop followed by 123 For instance Joe Blogs would be BLOjo.123 Awful that you, Rupert and many others I'm sure have lost a lot of money. We were lucky in that aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie129 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Sorry for the long reply. Stevie our agent was Exxxxxxx Sxxxxx and he was the one who did the EOI. Hxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx took over but he has since left them due to disagreements. I had both of them agents too. Exxxxxxx did my skills assessment but when he lost his Mara registration Hxxxxxxx took over my case so definitely worth trying that password combination in my post above! Fingers crossed you get it resolved!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Have you lodged the form that advises of change of agent? If you did this it should change the email address on file to your own, then you could try "forgot password" again and then maybe you would get the details sent to you. Look at form 956 on http://www.immi.gov.au. My experience with ASA was over five years ago, I wrote off the money in my head a long time ago. I do think you should look to start again with a new EOI if you don't get anywhere soon. You might waste even more time on this otherwise. Do you have your skills assessment or do ASA have that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 I had both of them agents too. Exxxxxxx did my skills assessment but when he lost his Mara registration Hxxxxxxx took over my case so definitely worth trying that password combination in my post above! Fingers crossed you get it resolved!! Thanks so much for trying to help. Unfortunately that combination doesn't work :-( We'll have to see what we can do via technical support as I don't think we'll get anywhere with Lee (aka Shirley). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 Thanks Rupert for the suggestion to use a Form 956. I hadn't thought of that. However, the idea of starting a new EOI makes me want to cry in all honesty. We have an EOI, we have State Sponsorhip, we have been invited to apply - we just can't log on! This is so frustrating. Oh and the plot thickens. As of this evening we have our client page reinstated but the communication history before today has disappeared. Really appreciate the moral support and suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Thanks Rupert for the suggestion to use a Form 956. I hadn't thought of that. However, the idea of starting a new EOI makes me want to cry in all honesty. We have an EOI, we have State Sponsorhip, we have been invited to apply - we just can't log on! This is so frustrating. Oh and the plot thickens. As of this evening we have our client page reinstated but the communication history before today has disappeared. Really appreciate the moral support and suggestions. OK try the form, fingers crossed. But then you do need to be practical and try to take the emotion out of it. You have to acknowledge what you can control and what you cannot control and then put your mental energy into the things you can control, not the things you can't. Maybe you cannot control the behaviour of this company, you can't control whether they cooperate with you or not. What you can control is what you can do and unfortunately that does include starting again. You could spend months chasing after ASA, easy to get another invite in that time.. Have you got your skills assessment? You didn't answer that question yet, reason I am asking is that ASA refused to give me mine but of course you are going to need this if you do start again with an EOI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 Yes we have our Skills Assessment. Not the original document unfortunately. That is one of the main points we asked for from them and MARA said they could assist with retrieving. We have the uploaded report from our Client Page in PDF. What at makes you think we should start EOI again? I don't see why we would need to start again and given our circumstances currently that simply isn't an option. That would mean starting again, waiting another 6-7 months to get to the point we are at now and paying for fees again for State Sponsorship which seems ludicrous given that this is simply a log in problem. I've checked the forms and it is the 956A which allows you to withdraw an authorised recipient just for anyone else in a similar position. We have some time still to lodge our application, so I am hoping something positive comes about from our reaching out to several parties to help us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Yes we have our Skills Assessment. Not the original document unfortunately. That is one of the main points we asked for from them and MARA said they could assist with retrieving. We have the uploaded report from our Client Page in PDF. What at makes you think we should start EOI again? I don't see why we would need to start again and given our circumstances currently that simply isn't an option. That would mean starting again, waiting another 6-7 months to get to the point we are at now and paying for fees again for State Sponsorship which seems ludicrous given that this is simply a log in problem. I've checked the forms and it is the 956A which allows you to withdraw an authorised recipient just for anyone else in a similar position. We have some time still to lodge our application, so I am hoping something positive comes about from our reaching out to several parties to help us. Ok great that you have the skills assessment, don't think you need an original as you just upload anyway. I am just covering options for you, you are saying you cannot lodge the EOI without login, so if you find you just cannot get the login details then it is an option you may need to consider at some stage. I would have thought with skills assessment in hand you could get an invite again in a month or two? As i said though, try form 956 first and see if anything else works, hopefully it will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 Sorry Rupert I have been crafting emails all night so maybe I haven't been clear when I've written in here. We already have lodged a successful EOI and have an EOI number. We are applying for a 190 State Sponsored visa and the State has been in touch via email inviting us to apply for the main visa. Hxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx has been in touch and suggested we get in touch with MARA and NSW and in the meantime we had already contacted the technical IT support team for Skill Select. What a mess this company has caused. I can see so many others have had their visas in limbo because of them too. Thank you again for taking the time to post your replies. I will update this thread in case anyone else is caught out with the same problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Sorry Rupert I have been crafting emails all night so maybe I haven't been clear when I've written in here. We already have lodged a successful EOI and have an EOI number. We are applying for a 190 State Sponsored visa and the State has been in touch via email inviting us to apply for the main visa. Hxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx has been in touch and suggested we get in touch with MARA and NSW and in the meantime we had already contacted the technical IT support team for Skill Select. What a mess this company has caused. I can see so many others have had their visas in limbo because of them too. Thank you again for taking the time to post your replies. I will update this thread in case anyone else is caught out with the same problems. No that was all perfectly clear.. :confused: And I am saying *IF* you are unable to retrieve the login then you might have no option but to start again. I am not saying that I think you should have to, just that it is an option. Sorry it is probably me not being clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 It's ok. I just have a sore head tonight from all of this and lack of sleep thanks to my darling babies! It's just me hoping you had misread it! Thanks again :-) I know you are trying to help and it's always good to get your head around the worse case scenario. We we were wondering what would happen if we tried to start a new ImmiAccount from scratch whether we could somehow input our EOI and it would find our details miraculously. That's a question for the IT support team tomorrow. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm escalating this via email through our local Australian High Commission too. We can't be the only ones unable to access ImmiAccount without a username and password. I see you are based in NSW! I hope all this is worth it in the end! We are so keen to move on from our current location to Aus asap hence my emotional responses. I no longer feel safe living in KL and want out as soon as we can. Worse case we'll go back to Blighty for a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie129 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Sorry Rupert I have been crafting emails all night so maybe I haven't been clear when I've written in here. We already have lodged a successful EOI and have an EOI number. We are applying for a 190 State Sponsored visa and the State has been in touch via email inviting us to apply for the main visa. Hxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx has been in touch and suggested we get in touch with MARA and NSW and in the meantime we had already contacted the technical IT support team for Skill Select. What a mess this company has caused. I can see so many others have had their visas in limbo because of them too. Thank you again for taking the time to post your replies. I will update this thread in case anyone else is caught out with the same problems. Shame the password combo didn't work out. Fingers crossed the IT support will be able to get things sorted for you. We nearly missed the deadline for lodging our visa because Hxxxxxxx was unable to access my skillselect account for over two weeks due to an error at the departments side. Hxxxxxxx got in touch with IT support and they could access my application however the technical glitch prevented him from doing so. Fortunately he managed to lodge my app on the day of the actual deadline, close call! Glad he got in touch with you. Must say I liked him and thought he was a genuine guy, I just know he was under the pump seeing Exxxxxxx left and he was left to pick up the pieces. No wonder he has since left ASA, poor bugger. I think it's about time the MARA regulations are updated to allow for actual migration companies and their potential spin off companies to be struck off the list rather than the individual RMA. Hope the problem is soon sorted. Keep us posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noworriesmate Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Just a reminder that we have a policy on not naming and shaming on the site, I have removed the names of individuals from this thread and would ask that you respect privacy and the potential legal implications for the owners of PIO in your posts. NWM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLexpat Posted May 6, 2014 Author Share Posted May 6, 2014 Apologies I posted on here yesterday in the hope that someone would be able to help us quickly. However I might add that if it wasn't for others posting names on this and other forums I wouldn't have such a clear picture of this company's dealings. I won't do so again though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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