Terrible communication and terrible service

Terrible experience. I handed in my passport to get my Dutch VISA and was told it would take 15 calendar days. Now, 15 calendar days later I urgently need my passport for travel (not to the Netherlands, to another country which I do not need a VISA for). I have been trying to get my passport back (or to find out where it is or to ask if there is any process in place for me to get it back). Email communication is entirely unhelpful, they keep repeating that my passport has been submitted to the embassy on 26 August and do not answer any of the other questions. When I try to call the embassy they refuse to help me and say that I have to communicate with VHS. Whenever I try to call VHS, they have the worst possible call center where you have to wait for ALL of the options to be read out before you can select one, thereby wasting all your airtime and making the whole calling process much longer. When I eventually have managed to get through to a person (3 times) I hear them pick up and them am immediately hung up on.