Thai bank: customer is wrong, go to another bank

[johnnyk]

Some of it is down to training. Junior teller Somchai got his job through daddy's crony but during training no one ever told him he was doing it wrong or had no effin clue about anything except texting nonsense for fear he would run to daddy and get someone fired. And there is absolutely no way Somchai is going to admit mai luu, much easier to get rid of the pesky falang with a mai dai.

[Pleng]

I have opened a couple of accounts at Bangkok Bank without having to show a visa. If you dont like the way a bank is treating you, just try another.

Agree...or even try a different branch of the same bank. They all interpret the rules differently

Or even a different person in the same bank...

[richard]

BK bank near MV also has a prowling bank manager who always greets you with a smile and is very willing to help you out with any inquiries. If in trouble with a minion escalate it

[barrys]

I have used Krung Si or Ayudhya Bank (the yellow one) for the 13 years I've lived here and, more particularly, the Hua Hin branch for the last 10 years.
The customer service there is excellent and the level of English of (some) of the staff there has improved hugely over the years.
So far, there has never been a problem that they could not solve.
I even got a Visa credit card from them recently, which I had previously been led to believe was more or less impossible for a foreigner.

[buksida]

I would take it higher. Stick their bloody face in it.

Took your advice, spoke to someone higher and they've now said that I can open another account using only my two names.

[petercr]

We bank with SCB in Market Village and had an unusual experience issues with their take on what is correct procedure. When my wife wanted to use her married surname on our joint account we were told that we would both need to attend the bank with passports & ID cards.........Ok so far

After much form filling and copies of our ID we were asked to sign the document copies...........

PROBLEM: "Both your signatures are not the same as those on record when you opened your account". In my case I showed my passport, UK driving licence and EU ID card.....all with slight differences in the signature.......and stated, clearly I am who I claim to to be and have banked here for 5 years

SOLUTION: Here is the documentation & signatures from your orriginal account application, "please copy"

[hhfarang]

Cheques? Do people still use these?

That's what I was thinking (except I was thinking "checks" ). I haven't written nor received a paper check in probably 15 years.

[malcolminthemiddle]

Some of it is down to training.

In my experience with SCB the payee name on any inward deposit must match exactly the name of the receiving bank account if depositing the funds in the wrong account is to be prevented. In the past I have had funds returned because they didn't.

Maybe the cashier was just following their training?

[buksida]

No, this is a new system they've just implemented. The cheque has been paid in without problems every month for the past five years, only when the bank changed their system did problems arise.

[Spitfire]

It'll be some pencil-pushing desk-jockey dweeb trying to justify their job with the 'new and improved' approach, fixing it till it's broken....same with so much else here.

It's like in Tesco or the local mall......some farcical manager thinks "Let's move everything around so as to confuse our customers so they will have to search and see more products to find the ones they always buy normally and we can't have them knowing where to find them and walking past all the garbage we want to trick you into buying".....twats....people that decide stuff like this should be put on a special distant island for the annoying and foolish.

Pettiness knows no bounds in corporate Asia.....scary place really......

[Takiap]

Fortunately, I gave up trying to understand Thailand and Thai mentality years ago. Prior to that I spent most days tearing my hair out. Now when they insist something is green when in fact it's blue, I just agree.


Warning: Eat rice with caution!

[Pleng]

It's not like banks in England are much better, to be honest!

[Scotian2012]

Banks implemented auto cheque clearing system, but unfortunately due to Thai Law, they must still retain the physical cheque in case of dispute, so its possible the K-Bank had the issue after rolling out their new auto-system.

Its a hard thing to grasp, but foreign accounts are really not a priority for Thai Banks as the deposits are relatively small-scale, and indeed are a bit of a overhead with new regulatory/tax requirements.

[Bristolian]

Its a hard thing to grasp, but foreign accounts are really not a priority for Thai Banks as the deposits are relatively small-scale, and indeed are a bit of a overhead with new regulatory/tax requirements.

I agree that in relative terms the foreign accounts of individuals are not a priority but then, neither are the accounts of the majority of Thai banking customers.

However don't underestimate the holdings of foreign nationals either working or retired. Retirees are required to hold 800,000 baht individually or 400,000 baht if married to a Thai. Working foreigners ( difficult to get figures unless someone knows where to look) are a much larger number and most will have in banks far in excess of the above figures. The Japanese alone claim more than 35,000 nationals working in Thailand and I have seen estimates of 200-300,000 inclusive of those of us from the west. Add to this the transaction fees from foreigners buying property, those buying into a businesses or receive monthly incomes from overseas, and this is not small money for the banks. For those foreign nationals working here, they can and do reduce substantially their annual tax bill by opening Long Term Funds from the banks which adds even more.

Not a priority I agree but big money none the less.

[caller]

Its a hard thing to grasp, but foreign accounts are really not a priority for Thai Banks as the deposits are relatively small-scale, and indeed are a bit of a overhead with new regulatory/tax requirements.

Out of interest, once opened, are farang accounts treated any differently to a Thai nationals account?

What are the new tax regulations?

(I'm on my 2nd Kasikorn account, never been to LOS with more than an exemption or a tourist visa, so far)