Sydney Passport Office

My passport went «missing» whilst I was in the USA. It was found by the last airline I travelled with in the USA exactly one year later and handed to the Australian Passports office in Washington, D.C.
A month ago, I asked the Sydney Passport office to return my passport to me and despite them saying they would, nothing happened.
I came to the office today to enquire as to the whereabouts of my passport and it was shown to me and I was told that it was damaged and that I would have to pay for a new one. It was no more damaged than when I last saw it and I was able to travel on it with no difficulty.
An employee at the office inspected the passport and said that she would get it assessed and see if I could be issued with a replacement for the remainder of the expiry time and at no charge.
I would have rated the office five stars for the helpfulness of this one employee. I probably would have rated the office two or three stars for them not advising me that my «damaged» passport was back in Australia and awaiting collection. On balance, four stars seems fair.

I thought I’d help out a couple of people that need to pick up their passports after going through so much to get all those fiddly passport application forms perfect (I went through about five myself). If you’re in no rush to get your passport (at least two — four weeks from the time you launch your application), then you’ll need to pick it up from this place. It isn’t hard to find — it’s on Lee street near Central station. Don’t forget to bring some ID! Take any train to central and choose the eastern George street/​Railway Square exit and go through the long tunnel. On your exit, head left past the German bakery and up the stairs.
The building at the end of the footpath is the one you want, with the big 26 on the top. Head up on to level 7, wait in queue (if there is any), flash some ID, and off you go. Easy!