I availed myself of the services of a company called Canadian…

Does the caseworker work for Canadian Pardon Services and are you saying they have all the documentation that you need and have had the documentation since January but have held on to it rather than sending it in?

What exactly does the caseworker say?

Of course you could have done the application yourself but you paid them to do it for you and now she is telling you that you could have done it yourself.

The first thing to do is demand to speak to a supervisor. Go as high up in this organization as you can.

You should tell them about pay for expedited service. You should tell them that the RCMP has guaranteed that they fingerprints have been there since January. You should tell them that she explained that she has been sick! You should tell them that she told you that you can apply for the pardon on your own!

Then tell them you want them to process this now or give you your money back.

The next step would be to get a lawyer to send them a letter with the same information in it.

You can sue them. You signed that you will not sue but they've breached the contract and cannot seek to hold you to a contract that they've breached on their own. They have completely failed to live up to their end of the deal.

You can also complain to the Better Business Bureau and can call your Consumer Protection Branch of the your provincial government and see if they can help.

I am sorry this happened to you.

Good luck.