Calling Their Bluff

Lately countries have started requiring eVisas even for countries that used to allow visa free travel. It’s very annoying. A month ago I signed up for an eVisa to get into Canada. Someone sent me the link, and after doing it I realised I didn’t use the official Canadian government website.. Instead I used signed up with evisatravel.org, they seem to sit in front of the real eVisa application process and forward the application to the Canadian government.

They charged me $79 USD while the Canadian government charges $7 CAD ($5 USD).

I should have known something was up, becuase after paying the application fee, they emailed me asking me to send them a photo of my passport. I was thinking “Why didn’t they just let me upload it as part of the application process”. I suspect it has something to do with Google Ad policies.

I sent them my passport, then they sent me a certificate saying I was eligible to enter Canada.

There’s a few things offputting about this certificate.

1. The Canadian flag image is a bit blurry.
2. The border doesn’t look good.
3. Canada is capitalised in www.Canada.travel
4. It’s kind of weird that an immigration agency is suggesting thing to see and do.
5. “See you in Canada !” has a space before the exclamation mark.

I did think to myself “What an ugly certificate, but I guess government agencies are like that”.

Refunding

A few days later my girlfriend told me the link she gave me wasn’t the right website, and she suggested I sign up on the official site. I did some googling and found the official Canadian government website. Ah okay, yes this looks a lot more professional. So I filled in the official form which was a lot easier to fill in and also a lot cheaper.

Then I thought “I’ll chargeback that $79 USD payment, because fuck thsoe guys and their scammy website”. So I processed the chargeback. Pretty soon after that I got this email.

When I got the email I thought “Oh it’s pretty cool these guys have a process for reversing chargebacks”. I also run a business that charges credit cards online, but I don’t do anything to recover credit card charge backs. It made me think “Maybe I should try to do more to reverse the chargebacks”.

When I read this line “Please note that initiating a chargeback after service completion may result in your name being placed on the government blacklist, which could negatively impact any future visa applications.”

I thought “There’s no way this scummy company has any influence with the Canadian department of immigration”. So I ignored thier email. A few weeks later in flew into Toronto from Hong Kong and had no problems with immigration.