essexman

Well. I'm glad I posted now. Not everybody is a long-term member. Thanks for your valuable input.

I don't recall mentioning registration. I went to several shops and 56.900 was the cheapest I could get the vehicle locally. Now, I'm sure some clever clogs will tell me where I went wrong or I should have done so and so. However, I'm happy, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. I couldn't be arsed to scour the country to save a few baht. I posted this thread because I wanted to share the difference between the Honda website list price and the actual price you have to pay.

Back to my original post. I bought a Honda Click 125 at a motorbike/scooter shop called Mityon in Pattaya for 56,900. The 5000 baht extra to the list price I was told was to cover delivery, number plates and pre-delivery checks. Apparently, Honda is fazing out the Click 125i and the 150. As to my wording of the original post, does it matter if I call it motorbike or scooter? 99.9% of you knew what I was going on about. I just wanted to share my experience of buying a new motorbike/scooter. At the end of the day, it's an open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars and two wheels. As this thread has gone a bit wayward I feel it wouldn't be amiss to advertise my new book that was released last week. "Pattaya Calling," is a humourous look at one man's trip to Pattaya. Available on Amazon.

My dear old Yamaha Fino is on its last legs. Fourteen years old and god knows what mileage, (my Speedo packed up six years ago.) So I've been browsing the internet the past few weeks and checking out the new bikes. I've decided to get a Honda Click 125. On the Honda website, it's advertised at 51,900 baht. So, today I was surprised to find out that the three Honday motorbike dealerships in Pattaya start their prices at 57 plus.

I claimed my state pension just over two years ago. I must be one of the lucky ones because it went easy. I've lived in Thailand for nearly 14 years now. Near to the time of claiming I rang this number 0099441912187777. As long as you have the answer to the questions they will ask you it should be able to complete things with one phone call. If you don't have the correct answers, then you will have to fill out the form and as you mentioned, it can take months. You can find the application form online and that should tell you what questions they will ask you. Employment details, addresses, marital status, that sort of thing.

I don't mind filling out the life certificate, what I do mind is the eighteen weeks it too to arrive from the UK.

Far be it for me to differ, but I also have my company pension paid directly to my Thai bank accountant and have done so for the past 14 years. Now, my company pension is paid on the 1st of each month. Now if the 1st falls on a Thursday or Friday I won't receive the payment until the Monday or Tuesday. They take 3 working days to get the money to my bank account. Then of course you have all the holiday days here in Thailand that will delay the payment, sometimes I don't get the payment until the 6th or 7th of the month. Then of course, as Citibank make the payments, I have to check the USA holidays because that will delay things as well. So the odd time there isn't a holiday in Thailand, the UK or America my pension arrives on time.

Okay All done and dusted. Took the form to my local clinic in Jomtien, Dr Chanya and she charged me 300 baht to sign and stamp the form. From there I went to the Post Office and sent the form using the registered mail option. 250 baht. So total cost 550 baht. Took photos of the completed from and Post office receipt just in case.

Thanks for your reply. However this is the postal address and not the email address I asked for.

Not sure what you mean? Day 4? I only found out about the Life Certificate on Tuesday. My plan this morning (Thursday) is to take the form to a clinic that was recommended (Dr Chanya) and hopefully get it signed and witnessed their. Then I'll take it to the post office and send it registered post. Hopefully that will be job done, I will of course write a post on how much this has all cost for future reference. I intend to photograph the signed form, and receipts from the clinic and post office in case the form goes missing on route. If someone would be kind enough to post the correct email address for the W&P that we would use if living in Thailand that would be appreciated. What I will add is like a few others, I too only found out about this life certificate when my pension wasn't paid into my Thai bank account. I was made aware of this after phoning the W&P in the UK. I was told my pension would now be paid as i had contacted them. Of course, as it takes 9 working days for the payment to arrive, I won't be getting this months pension until close to the end of the month.

Yes I would appreciate that too.

I will try there tomorrow. Lawyer quoted me 1.500 baht.

Thanks for the answers, I will get it witnessed by my local lawyer. I was told that it can be witnessed at the immigration office. On a side note, can I ask the safest way to send the form back to the UK? I've heard registered post is very expensive, so I may go the EMS route.

Once you start claiming your UK state pension it's a form they send out that you have to fill in and send it back to the UK. It's to prove you are still alive. What I'm seeing is no one is sure if they will get the form or not.

Am I right in thinking you just show the witness your passport. You don't have to send a copy of the passport with the life certificate?

I'm sure this is on the forum somewhere, but I can't find it. Would someone be kind enough to guide me through the Life Certificate form which arrived today. A couple of things I'm not sure about. Proof of identity. Do I copy my passport on a separate sheet of paper and get the witness to sign that? Or do they just sign the declaration. I live in Jomtien, any pointers to who i can get to sign and stamp the form? Any help will be appreciated.

That's it. Well done. Like you I found the whole process a pain. Going to immigration for 2 x proof of address, 2 x medical certificate. Now this online test that has to be printed out, then half a day at the centre. Luckily it only has to be done every five years.

I had a pass certificate that I saved on a memory stick and took to a print shop.

Agree. Used them for the past 6 years. Cheaper than Rooja and simple to do online.

Things must have changed then. I renewed my passport which had six months left via Trendy house in Bangkok four years ago. The new passport arrived with ten years and six months to expiry date, no loss of time?

I went to Samed in February. I would say that near enough all the hotels/resorts are close to the beaches. We stayed in a hotel called Avata, right opposite the beach, however you need to be fit as there is a hill to negotiate. The island is small and really dependent on good weather as there is not much to see apart from the beaches.

I started getting my state pension August 20021. i have it paid into a Thailand bank account. I never received my first payment when it was due. Turned out to be an error their end. It was then that I was informed that my state pension actually comes from America? All UK pensions are handled by Citi Bank. So because of this it now takes 9 working days from the initial payment to get my pension into my bank account. It goes from the USA to the UK to Thailand. So i have to watch out for bank holidays in 3 countries to see if the payment will be delayed.

Well, I'm in the same position as the original poster. I was 66 mid July. I had to ring the DWP to inform them of a change of address last week, the 29th of July. While I was on the phone I thought I would enquire regarding my first pension payment. I was told the first payment had been paid the day before (28th) and it was a payment of two weeks pension. Then four weeks later I would start to get my full pension paid exactly every four weeks. However regarding my first payment I was informed that all pension payments come from America? It is paid by Citibank and would reach my UK bank after five working days. Now i knew this because I have a friend who is two days older than me and sure enough his first payment went in to his bank five working days after it was due. Now, like the original post my payment will come directly into my Thai bank account. Because of this, you have to add a further four working days, so nine working days in total. So, Almer, if your pension was due on the 4th of August it's highley unlikely you will get your first pension payment until the 17th of August. After that you should get it every four weeks. It does sound ridiculous that in 2021 it takes nearly two weeks to get your pension payment. Of course that's not taking into account the many bank holiday days they have in Thailand that will add extra days to the nine.

I registered yesterday with the expatvac, recieved an email that took me to the registration process. This included two photos of my passport, date of birth and address. Once submitted I received another email stating I was now regstered and to check my emails frequently. Regarding the original post? I can't see how you could look up everybody who's registered. If you can, well I'm not going to worry about it. I haven't given any bank details and to be honest, the way things are going here, the vaccine is far more important to me than any negative reports surrounding the roll out.

Can reccomened anything by this guy: https://www.amazon.com/Trevor-Whitehead/e/B01N5NNZ3E