Spanish Consulate

This place is a joke. Very unorganised. The person at the door is not even Spanish, don't even speak Spanish. It's a major hassle to do everything. Their website in outdated and very difficult to navegante. You can't even do your passport online. Staff are so dry and bitter.

This is my experience with the consulate:

I tried calling the consulate to ask for advice but they never picked up the phone. After a long research, I found out how to book an appointment for passport renewal. It turned out you need to visit the website only the 1st and 15th of each month, male sure you do it quick as I tried the 1st September and couldn’t book an appt, instead I had to wait until the 15th.
Once the appt was booked, the service was good, the lady was very useful and informative about the process. The problem was I thought they could send it home once the passport but she mentioned I should have bought a pre-paid envelop and form to do this, for this reason.
The lady gave me a code to access an online service that tells me when the Passport is ready to be collected. Due to not have the prepaid form, I had to drive an hour from Watford to the consulate to pick up the passport and then 1h and 10mins back. They literally took 1 minute to hand my passport and it took me a whole 2.5hours altogether driving and parking…
PLEASE!!! Make sure you find the pre-paid form and envelop to avoid wasting your time.

I think the consulate should have those forms and we would pay there. This would sort out issues with people and they can even get more money.

I hope this helps someone!

Two guys on the doorstep turning people away- we can't help you,we haven't got no-one to help you,the hiding from frustrated visitors.web site is failing -i can't renew my passport fo three months!!!where should I go ? I've got mum 87 I need to see her! Close consulate down because is supposed to provide help own citizens -not arrogance and neglectence!

Pleasantly surprised. My Spanish is unfortunately very basic despite my efforts to learn, certainly not able to understand or have conversations to the level I feared would be expected of me. I was anxious about going to my appointment based on last experience and shouldn’t have been. Everyone I encountered spoke to me in English when I looked confused. Everyone was so lovely, from the security guard on the door, to the guardia at security, the particularly wonderful lady at the passport counter and the cashier.

Processes involved in everything I’ve dealt with re consulate regarding prep ahead of actually attending an appointment has been lengthy and at times I thought this can’t be right, hard not to get frustrated. But it is what it is and I feel for the staff who I are on the other side of it.

Those I dealt with via email were speedy in their responses and helpful.

I wasn’t left waiting on the street, I was in, dealt with and out far quicker than I expected and it was organised.

Genuinely a pleasant experience.

They struggle a lot with customer service. They're severely understaffed and don't provide any customer care. It's very hard to get in contact with them, they are not reachable over the phone and won't reply to emails if they think your question can be answered with the information provided online. Even if you get a reply, it'll be one line only. It's a shame that such an important organisation providing such a crucial service has such poor customer care.

My partner has had no luck getting his passport, it’s been an on going issue for over a year now for him to get any kind of support from this place. We are still waiting and have sent all the right information to be juggled around. We’ve been to multiple appointments and just been sent off with a tiny piece of paper and every time we’ve followed the steps it’s gotten him nowhere just to be told the same thing. You’d think with all the new technology we have that something can be done quicker and that he can be found on the system.
Very let down…..

Very unhelpful and rude staff, could not care less about the customer and seemed inconvenienced if you ask them for help. This consulate should be shut down and a new one opened in a more accessible building and with completely new staff and management who are commited and dedicated to their job, customer focus, and enjoy helping and interacting with the public. In over 30 years in the UK I can not recall a single good experience in this consulate either face to face, over the phone, via letter or email. I rather pay for a flight to Spain to sort out my affairs than visit this consulate. I can not understand why nothing is done about it despite the terrible reviews and appalling service provided.

Every time I need to do something related with the Consulate in London I start to feel such a pain everywhere and that feeling of crying...
First of all, the service is the wrost I ever had, and I had been in other Consulates from other countries and I can say that they need to improve the service badly. The website is horrible, it doesn't work half of the times. It takes more than 3 months to get a new passport, that is incredible and then they do not even send it to you once is done, you have to go back again to pick it up. There is not clear information in the web site about anything, is not accesible and difficult to navigate though, so half of the times you can not find what you are looking for. It gives me anxiety just thinking about it.Then, the help phone line never works, so don't even bother to call. What a shame!
Of course, you ended going there, as is the only option they give you, it doesn't matter if you live 300 km away and you have to ask a day off from work for it. Finally you are there and surprise! You have to wait in the street! It doesn't matter what the weather is like, or if you have any disability , just be ready to wait for hours. When you go inside, obviously you are not the nicest person that you could be, as you had to deal with all this s**t for days. Also,please...do not complain if I look a bit nervous and irritable considering the nightmare I had to go through just to get here and renew your passport or whatever you need from them.