Good news for next time is that the UK will move to a fully digital immigration system by the end of the year, thereby making businesses like TLS redundant. Instead you’ll be able to apply using your smartphone and won’t need to visit an application centre.
I got a Chinese visa recently and the whole process took less than 3 days, standard service for a 2 year multi entry visa. The British government should stop fucking around with trying to deport asylum seekers to Rawanda and just outsource the asylum backlog to the Chinese. Problem solved by the end of the year.
They still need to do screen testing however and like at TLS they have a British official doing interviews. I wish he process could be simpler, but also understand that they also need to keep those with ulterior motives out. Unfortunately the system is a mess right now due to letting everyone in and cannot be fixed until they overhaul the entire system to secure the borders.