Comments on: Beware of ESTA Service Companies

By: Mexperience

Mexperience — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:31:24 +0000

In reply to Tommy. Tommy: You’ll need to contact the company you paid and ask if they will offer a refund.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 23:29:01 +0000

In reply to Mexperience. Is there any way to get $50 back?

By: Mexperience

Mexperience — Tue, 28 May 2013 09:36:31 +0000

In reply to Philippa.

Hi Philippa, sorry to hear of your experience. You might be able to demand a refund from the company you used – you should contact them to ask. There is no “reporting” mechanism in place as the service companies are not acting illegally because they are offering an “intermediary” service between travelers and the US government. A good way to avoid being caught-out is not to search for ESTA using a search engine, but rather go direct to the ESTA web site.

By: Philippa

Philippa — Sun, 26 May 2013 22:04:48 +0000

Hi,
I think has happened to me as a friend and I have both done our ESTAs for an upcoming vacation and she was charged $14 and I was charged over $50. The home page of both websites looked the same but after that they looked different.

Is there a way I can get my money back that you know of (for example by reporting the site that I used to the real ESTA website)?

Thanks

By: Mexperience

Mexperience — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:26:10 +0000

In reply to John Catling.

Hi John,
Be careful, some service company sites LOOK like the official government site but they are not.

The fee remains $14 per person. If you paid $64, you did not use the official government site – the official ESTA application site address is shown in the article above.

By: John Catling

John Catling — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:07:54 +0000

Very useful article but I thought you should know that I just renewed our ESTAs with the official .gov site and we were charged $64 US!! That’s a heck of a hike from the earlier $14