Are there any lawyers, notaries or others on here who have experience of dealing with the FCO document legalisation office?
I sent some straightforward documents to them to be legalised for international use. Having followed the on-line application process, got a reference number, and paid the necessary fees for document legalisation and return courier, I mailed the documents to them via Royal Mail Special Delivery; they were signed for at 8.11 am last Thursday 17th May. They quote 48 hours for the legalisation process (or for advising by email of any reason why they can’t do it), but on calling the general enquiry line, they advised that turn around time is currently lagging and documents received on 17th May would be processed on Tuesday 22nd, sent by courier on 23rd and would be received back by me on 24th ie today. Just about within my deadlines so fair enough.
Having not received any emails advising that the documents could not be legalised or a courier tracking reference for delivery today, I again called the general enquiry line today and was told that my application could only be traced if I sent an email request. I did and received an automatic reply which said that I would get a response within three days but if information is urgently required (which it now is), then you may call the enquiry line.
So again, I did. The initial response was of course ‘send an email’…… anyway, after a tirade from me, surprisingly without expletives, the enquiry line rep said that she could find no record of the (signed for) delivery, that my payment had not been actioned (true, it is still a pending transaction on my credit card statement), that there was no trace of the application reference number or any applications from my postcode, and that all documents received on 17th May had been processed and despatched. But of course there is no way that the documents could be lost so I should call back tomorrow if I don’t receive a courier tracking number tonight ….. fat chance!!
Therefore, I will no doubt need to call tomorrow. My question is – how do I get to talk to someone who knows what’s going on and can advise the current status of my document legalisation and when I can expect to get the documents back (if ever)? During today’s call, I asked to speak to a manager without success. It seems that the enquiry line people only have access to a system and are located apart from the people who do the legalisation. Does anyone have any relevant contact names or phone numbers?

Sort of sorted! But thanks for the advice. The MP route did cross my mind but our MP is Nicholas Soames who is not renowned for helping his constituents.

The docs did magically reappear and I got an email from DX courier that they would be delivered on Friday. Then around lunchtime, another message from DX saying that my urgent documents from the FCO wouldn't be delivered that day! Called up DX to be told that the driver couldn't find my address! Funny since I live on a main road and DX have delivered to my address twice previously. I think the driver just fancied a slightly longer long weekend!

Collected the docs from the DX depot on Saturday morning to find that one had been legalised, the other not. Yet the FCO claims that they will contact you by email within their standard turn round time if there is a problem legalising a document, so another week wasted ....

Easier said than done. He has been in situ since 1997 and has a majority of nearly 20,000.