Has anyone had a difficult time booking your interviews?

[roxytrask 0]

I have had the hardest time getting the people at the Canadian consulate to take my money for the interview, and I was wondering if I am the only one as it is very isolating. We received word that we could book our interview on May 4th, we waited until the 28th for Interviews to open up and at that point attempted to pay VIA Interac. It would not take the payment despite saying that they accept it, and we called the contact number to talk to someone to see if it went through before trying again; they said it did not and to try another form of payment. We tried with our Credit card and the same thing happened. This time when we called they said we have to submit an emailed request for information, and it would take 3-4 business days to get back to us. It took them 10 business days. Now, before anyone says anything; they aren't issues with our cards as we use them every day, and there is money put towards both and we have no issues with any other transactions. 

 

They got back to us on the 13th of June, in the emails we had sent prior we had given our information and said if the payments had not went through, to authorize it with our details. They responded with a very short response saying

"Dear Applicant,

It appears the payment did not go through as we have no record of a completed payment in our system using the information provided for that credit card.

Thank you,

The Contact Desk Support Team"

 

Fastforward to June 29th, when I decide to go directly through Scotiabank, who handles all of their cash payment transactions. I do this because I feel I have no other option and I didn't want to be trapped in a situation of waiting again, as I had already missed all of Julys interview dates. The sheet with the account information, PIN, and whatever they ask for was handed to the people at Scotiabank, they gave me a receipt, and I went on with my weekend. On the sheet it says it can take 2 business days to go through, and as it was both Canada Day and July 4th, I waited until today, July 6th, one week after going through the certified institution to contact them again. I have received no word of confirmation, the money is not in my hands anymore as I went through the bank they deal with, and the man on the phone said to send in another email request. 

 

I am at a loss right now and feel very isolated, I went from believing I would be with my partner in July, to settling that I will see him again in September, to no longer feeling like anything will ever happen as as soon as they get back to me, payments are once again closed for the month until the next set opens. It has already been a week since August dates have opened up which means those are likely long gone, and it is just a very lonely situation. 

 

Has anyone had luck talking to superiors through the phone to get stuff sorted out? Im at a loss. 

[sumbunny 566]

1 minute ago, roxytrask said:

I have had the hardest time getting the people at the Canadian consulate to take my money for the interview, and I was wondering if I am the only one as it is very isolating. We received word that we could book our interview on May 4th, we waited until the 28th for Interviews to open up and at that point attempted to pay VIA Interac. It would not take the payment despite saying that they accept it, and we called the contact number to talk to someone to see if it went through before trying again; they said it did not and to try another form of payment. We tried with our Credit card and the same thing happened. This time when we called they said we have to submit an emailed request for information, and it would take 3-4 business days to get back to us. It took them 10 business days. Now, before anyone says anything; they aren't issues with our cards as we use them every day, and there is money put towards both and we have no issues with any other transactions. 

 

They got back to us on the 13th of June, in the emails we had sent prior we had given our information and said if the payments had not went through, to authorize it with our details. They responded with a very short response saying

"Dear Applicant,

It appears the payment did not go through as we have no record of a completed payment in our system using the information provided for that credit card.

Thank you,

The Contact Desk Support Team"

 

Fastforward to June 29th, when I decide to go directly through Scotiabank, who handles all of their cash payment transactions. I do this because I feel I have no other option and I didn't want to be trapped in a situation of waiting again, as I had already missed all of Julys interview dates. The sheet with the account information, PIN, and whatever they ask for was handed to the people at Scotiabank, they gave me a receipt, and I went on with my weekend. On the sheet it says it can take 2 business days to go through, and as it was both Canada Day and July 4th, I waited until today, July 6th, one week after going through the certified institution to contact them again. I have received no word of confirmation, the money is not in my hands anymore as I went through the bank they deal with, and the man on the phone said to send in another email request. 

 

I am at a loss right now and feel very isolated, I went from believing I would be with my partner in July, to settling that I will see him again in September, to no longer feeling like anything will ever happen as as soon as they get back to me, payments are once again closed for the month until the next set opens. It has already been a week since August dates have opened up which means those are likely long gone, and it is just a very lonely situation. 

 

Has anyone had luck talking to superiors through the phone to get stuff sorted out? Im at a loss. 

I booked my fiancé's August 1st interview in Montreal on June 29 after waiting for just over a week for appointments to open up on the site. I had no problem paying via credit card and payment went through immediately and allowed us to book an interview date and time right away. We did use my US credit card for payment, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

 

I do know @NikkiMarie had the same trouble you describe, but she said her payment eventually went through on the site about an hour later and she was able to schedule in the July interview dates at the end of May. I'm so sorry you're having trouble and hope you get it sorted out soon!

[roxytrask 0]

2 minutes ago, sumbunny said:

I booked my fiancé's August 1st interview in Montreal on June 29 after waiting for just over a week for appointments to open up on the site. I had no problem paying via credit card and payment went through immediately and allowed us to book an interview date and time right away. We did use my US credit card for payment, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

 

I do know @NikkiMarie had the same trouble you describe, but she said her payment eventually went through on the site about an hour later and she was able to schedule in the July interview dates at the end of May. I'm so sorry you're having trouble and hope you get it sorted out soon!

Thank you for responding! The second time we tried to pay with a US account as we figured they may have had an issue with the first one being Canadian, and the issue still happened. I'm glad you managed to book your interviews! 

[sumbunny 566]

Are you using debit cards linked to bank accounts by chance or actual credit cards? Mine was credit, so I'm wondering if debit is the issue. I have a small business and sometimes debit card purchases don't go through the same way credit cards do. I really hope you can figure this out soon, so you can be with your person!

[roxytrask 0]

Just now, sumbunny said:

Are you using debit cards linked to bank accounts by chance or actual credit cards? Mine was credit, so I'm wondering if debit is the issue. I have a small business and sometimes debit card purchases don't go through the same way credit cards do. I really hope you can figure this out soon, so you can be with your person!

The first attempt was Interact Debit, as usually it acts as a Visa with online transaction.

 

The second attempt was an actual MasterCard US Credit Card. 

 

Third attempt was the cash cash transaction through Scotiabank, where they took my money and sent it off to them. 

[sumbunny 566]

Well, hopefully the cash will reach the embassy in the next few days so that when the next batch of interviews opens you'll be able to book! Definitely keep us posted!

[Ontarkie 14,552]

~~Moved to the Canada Forum, from K1 Progress Reports- As each Country may do things differently when it comes to booking k1 interviews.~~

[NikkiFromCanada 233]

11 hours ago, sumbunny said:

I booked my fiancé's August 1st interview in Montreal on June 29 after waiting for just over a week for appointments to open up on the site. I had no problem paying via credit card and payment went through immediately and allowed us to book an interview date and time right away. We did use my US credit card for payment, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

 

I do know @NikkiMarie had the same trouble you describe, but she said her payment eventually went through on the site about an hour later and she was able to schedule in the July interview dates at the end of May. I'm so sorry you're having trouble and hope you get it sorted out soon!

Yes I had a horrible time making my payment. I even tried my US credit card and that wouldn’t work either. Very bad payment system they have!! It was so frustrating, I was actually in tears. 

[roxytrask 0]

If anyone comes across this issue I just wanted to state my outcome. I put in an investigation through Scotiabank and the same day that happened I received an email stating that payment went through and I could apply for the interview! This was 7 business days after the payment was made. They believe the issue was that Scotiabank forgot to insert one of the 3 given codes on the payment page, so they had no way of identifying me until further information was given.

[sumbunny 566]

4 hours ago, roxytrask said:

If anyone comes across this issue I just wanted to state my outcome. I put in an investigation through Scotiabank and the same day that happened I received an email stating that payment went through and I could apply for the interview! This was 7 business days after the payment was made. They believe the issue was that Scotiabank forgot to insert one of the 3 given codes on the payment page, so they had no way of identifying me until further information was given.

So glad to hear that you were able to get this sorted out. Were you able to book an interview or are you going to have to wait for the next batch to open?

[roxytrask 0]

5 minutes ago, sumbunny said:

So glad to hear that you were able to get this sorted out. Were you able to book an interview or are you going to have to wait for the next batch to open?

 I was able to get an interview for August 22nd! Shocking as I thought the dates were going to be closed but they still had openings all days but the first week of August. 

[sumbunny 566]

That is awesome news!! Congrats <3