Getting a visa - using online services?

[gear02]

I need to get a Chinese visa and I have to go down to the Visa office in the chinese Embassy downtown. This will probably require me taking a day off, something I really can't afford.

I've found a bunch of online places that will do it for you. For an extra fee, you mail them your documents and they'll get the visa for you (since you can get an agent to do it for you).

Here's some examples:

http://www.passportvisaexpress.com/
http://www.capitolvisa.com/
http://www.traveldocs.com/

Has anyone used these services and if so, which one do you suggest? Are these reliable? They look a bit sketchy to me, but I really don't want to take 2 days off (one to drop off, another to pick up).

EDIT: Travelocity and expedia even directly link to two websites:
http://www.travisas.com/travelocity/
http://www.expressvisa.com/cf-dbm/pa...?partner=EXP00

I guess they can't be all that bad...

[mwatson]

I have used www.travisa.com (notice the lack of the s on the link you had). I have gotten my visa to Russia there twice and have had no problems. They have online tracking of your order and different levels of server (you pay more for the faster turnaround). A friend has been organizing missions trips for years (10-20 people) and uses them all of the time.