FredLee

When I go to Amazon and do a search on laptops the whole first page has various makes and models that ship to Thailand. I didn't check any further and did not check the keyboard layout. Perhaps if you are doing the search from the US it doesn't show it also ships to Thailand. There will be a message "This item ships to Thailand" underneath the item.

Just bought a wheelchair yesterday, not an electric but I saw a couple of them. Don't know if they were portable or not. The shop name is Pharma Choice. It is located on 3029 between 1001 and 118. I come from the north on 1001 and turn left onto 3029 at Laum Chok. It is located on the left just a little ways down the highway. It has parking in the front, so you don't have to park on the side of the road. 

22 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

I got my letters last year and this year while waited at a Bangkok Bank branch that is several hundred kilometers from the branch where my account was opened.

Were you getting the standard bank letter or a statement?

Last year the Bangkok Bank branch that held my account was in Bangkok. The local branch here in Chiang Mai had to send a request to Bangkok Bank main office to get a statement, which took 5 business days. After the statement arrived the local branch here did the letter. I have since moved my account to the Chiang Mai branch, so this year my local branch was able to do the statement and the letter while I waited. Sorry for the confusion.

My experience at Bangkok Bank. Last year I used a different branch than where my account was held. It took five days. This year I went to the branch where my account is held and it took only 20 minutes.

Don't know what price range you are looking for. I stayed 5 days at the end of August at the Shangri-la Chiang Mai. I booked a premier room. When I got to the hotel they offered me an upgrade to the next size room at half price. The room was an executive suite (86 sq mtr / 944 sq ft). They also had free breakfast and 20% discount on all meals except for room service. 

I don't know if it works both ways, but NFCU uses Wells Fargo as the "primary correspondent bank" when doing an international transfer to Bangkok Bank. 

Ok, went to BBK at MeeChok this morning. As I started to explain what I wanted, she interrupted me to ask "Is this for Immigration?" When I said yes, and I was using the monthly deposit she knew exactly what I needed. She updated my bank book, then provided a letter certifying that the account was in my name only and showing the current balance. She also provided another letter showing each of the monthly deposit dates and amounts from August 14 last year to August 13 this year, listed in two columns with the total amount of all the deposits listed at the bottom of the second column. She put a check mark in the block at the top of the letter certifying that these deposits were foreign transfers. Only took about 35 minutes, but I have an account at this branch and it was Saturday morning with me being the first customer. Hope this is what immigration wants, I suppose I will find out Monday.

Thanks to all for the helpful information. I appreciate it. 

I have seen various reports on what letters or documentation of income are required by Chiang Mai immigration. I am hoping someone with recent experience can help me out. I am using the monthly deposit from the US. What I have seen so far on TV is that I need a certificate of account ownership, and a bank letter showing 13 months of international transfers. I use Bangkok bank branch at Mee Chok plaza. I called them because last year they new exactly what I needed, but this time sounded they sounded unsure, and said it would take two weeks to get the 12 month deposit letter. I appreciate any information provided. Thanks.

I am a bit confused on the bank letters. I do the monthly deposit method, and last year I only recall having to provide the bank letter showing the monthly deposits and also a copy of my bank book. Do I also have to provide a bank letter stating the account is in my name only? 

My wife finally got credited for the 5,000 baht she never received from the atm on 25 March. She went to the branch again yesterday to find out what the problem was. The staff there called someone they said was from their main bank, and my wife spoke to the gentleman on the phone for around 15 minutes. The gist of the conversation was that he said all accounts that had problems had been credited within 24 hours. She told them that that was a mistake, since she had not received her money, so he needed to check again. This was about 10 am, and her bank account was credited at 5:11 pm. In the meantime she had withdrawn most of her money from her BBK account and deposited in her Thaiphanit account.

20 hours ago, Pib said:

I think the Bkk Bk problem with ATMs, mbanking which started occurring early 25 March were resolved late 25 March/Wed.  I know my Bkk Bk mbanking started working again a few minutes at 3pm on 25 March. And for those folks who withdrew money from an ATM on the 25th but the ATM didn't spit out any money but still debiting their bank acct probably got they accts credited the following day/26 Mar/Thursday.   Seems to have got quiet since the 25/26th in terms of complaints.

 

Also, where some folks mentioned big queues outside Govt Savings Bank and KrungThai Bank on 25 March that was because that was the first day the govt started accepting applications for Bt5,000 assistance funds for certain unemployed Thais.  No problems with money; just people applying for the govt money at these govt banks.

 

Also, although not affecting the bank systems, but bogging down the internet was on the 25th is when the PEA and MEA electric authorities started offering refunds for electricity acct deposits....I was one of the people (along with millions of others) bogging down the Thai internet...I did get lucky in making a connection to MEA....was approved for a Bt4,000 refund.

 

The 25th was just a bad day...super busy day for some banks.

 

My wife has still not had her account credited. When she checked with the bank branch on March 26 they told her it would be corrected by 7:00 pm. It was not, so she called them on March 27 and they told her that there had been another "connection error", and that her account would be corrected by 7:00 pm. That didn't happen, and of course they closed down on 28th. Just checked, and it is still not corrected.

41 minutes ago, Bigz said:

Have they updated your wife's account correctly? I was told the same but still nothing 

Checked just now, and they have not updated it. She did get a telephone number to call if it had not been corrected. Will check again at 0930 when the branch opens, and if not corrected by then will call them.

34 minutes ago, FredLee said:

Same here in Chiang Mai. My wife tried yesterday to withdraw 5,000 baht from a BBK atm using her BBK atm card. She got a similar message and no money. Checked this morning and BBK had charged her for the 5,000 baht. She is waiting now at the bank for them to open. They have taped off all of their atm's at the branch where she is waiting saying they are out of order.

Update: Wife just checked with the staff at BBK branch at MeeChok plaze in Chiang Mai. They had her fill out some form, and said that everyone's account should be updated by 7:00 pm to show the corrected balance. 

Same here in Chiang Mai. My wife tried yesterday to withdraw 5,000 baht from a BBK atm using her BBK atm card. She got a similar message and no money. Checked this morning and BBK had charged her for the 5,000 baht. She is waiting now at the bank for them to open. They have taped off all of their atm's at the branch where she is waiting saying they are out of order.

My wife and I do not use our debit cards from our US credit union very often. Yesterday I tried to withdraw money from BBK and Krungthai atm's and it wasn't accepted. On both atm's it accepted my pin and amount I wanted to withdraw, but then said the transaction could not be completed and to contact my bank. My wife tried hers (different account) with the same results. We were able to successfully use a Siam bank's atm. Both of our debit cards have the chip and magnetic strip but only the 4 digit pin. We also have accounts at BBK and had our BBK debit cards updated to the 6 digit pin when they put out the notice. I don't recall receiving anything from them about their new policy affecting debit cards from a foreign bank. 

I had a similar problem with one site a few days ago. I could not access it on my laptop, phone, or desktop. I tried three different browsers. When I notified their tech assist by email, he answered back that my ip was showing up on a grey list that showed it could not be trusted. He recommended that if I had a dynamic ip then I should shut my router down and unplug it for at least 5 minutes, then reconnect to see if my service provider (3BB) had assigned a new ip. I did as he suggested, checked that my ip and it had indeed changed, and I was able to connect to his site with no problem after that.

Since February 1st I could not access a site that I have been a member of for over a year. It would time out, saying the site could not be reached. I tried Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers with the same results, and I also tried two different devices. I notified their tech support by email, and he asked me for my IP address so he could check it out. The next day he replied and asked me if I had a shared IP address. He said my IP address was on a global greylist, and that sometimes that indicated that someone, perhaps a scammer was sharing my IP address to access sites. He showed a screen capture that showed my IP had attempted to access their site 380 times in a very short time frame. My ISP assigns me a dynamic IP, so I turned off and unplugged my router for about 15 minutes. When I reconnected I had a new IP address and was able to access the website with no problem. I had never heard of something like this, so I thought I would mention it here to see if anyone else has had this problem.

I was trying for the first time yesterday to set mine up. Doesn't look like you can do too much with it in Thailand.   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208083

Also just received mine today. 

Their email address in the Phillippines is [email protected]     Their phone number as of Oct 6, 2019 is +63 2 5301 2000.  I have never been able to get anyone to answer a phone there, and have never received a call back. They always have answered my emails, usually within three or four days. To do a change of address you need to mail them a completed SSA-21 form. 

Even some of the small Tesco stores have them. They are generally on a spin rack with the cheap sunglasses. 

Bluetooth had stopped working about three days ago, after waking from an extended sleep period. This is the same thing that happened after I upgraded to Mojave. Instead of jumping through hoops like I did back then, I just turned it off. Also I was having problems with using Terminal. So, when I saw the latest upgrade show up, I decided to install it. Took about 55 minutes total. Bluetooth and Terminal were still not working properly, so I logged out and back in, and now they both are working. Don't know what other problems this update corrected, but happy for now.

9 hours ago, Shouldhaveknownbetter said:

I appreciate the answers.   Another question: If my MaeJo branch won't issue a letter,  Can I bring my bank book and printout and go to Kad Suan Kaew and get the letter ?

 

 

You should be able to. I had always used my BBK branch in Bangkok for my international transfers. With all the changes I decided to change branches. I didn't close my Bangkok branch, but opened a new account with BBK in Mee Chok plaza in June. They did my letter for me and I used it to get my retirement extension. They told me any Bangkok Bank branch can do the letter, even if it is not your branch. I did have to wait 5 business days for the letter.