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Kerryd

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Posts posted by Kerryd

  1. 2 minutes ago, chalawaan said:

    It's always been this way, you just hear about all the horror in the world everyday now because internets.

    When I first came to LoS all Thai news was in Thai. But the front pages were in colour by then, and every day there were corpses galore as the leader story. 

    If anything, they've cleaned that up somewhat, the gory photos anyway.

     

    Yeah, they used to show corpses splattered on the road or hanging from trees, but blurred out boobs and cigarettes.

    And it was common to publish the facepage of a foreigner's passport as well as their full address (and I mean full address). Used to laugh when someone from a "M.uslim" country would get into a drunken altercation with some ladyboys (or get roofied and robbed by the same) and they'd publish his full name, nationality, country as well as his passport face page.

    • Like 2
  2. I've ordered a number of things from Ali over the years. Some things arrive quickly and hassle free. Other things never show up.

    Note with Ali. When you place an order, the "vendor" is supposed to process the order within a certain time limit so they almost immediately tag the order as "Packed" or even "Shipped" when they haven't actually done anything at all.
    What this does is maintain their "order response" level and keeps you from cancelling the order, The system thinks the order is on it's way to you.

    But on Ali, that means they have something like 3 MONTHS to actually get the item to you (after it's been tagged as shipped).

    And you can't raise a dispute until AFTER the 3 months have passed !

    For example, on 17 January I ordered a set of replacement tent poles.
    According to Ali:
    Expected delivery date:  Jan 20, 2022 - Jan 24, 2022

    When you check the order details:
    Awaiting delivery

    If you do not receive the order within 26 days , you can open a dispute.


    So I have to wait until mid-April and if they haven't arrived by then, I can go through the dispute process. (Note that the tracking number they assigned to the order "can't be found". That's because all they did was reserve a number, but haven't actually registered it in the couriers tracking system.)

    Beware though.
    I had another set of poles on order and after a month they were still listed as "shipped" even though they hadn't left the factory yet. (I was watching the "tracking number" and it hadn't moved. Sometimes they'll tag a package as being "sent to sorting center" or something and then "returned from sorting center", meanwhile, on the tracking website of the actual courier, it shows that the tracking number has only "been assigned" (or reserved) but isn't actually active in the system, which would trigger timing flags to prompt the courier to move the item.)

    I sent a simple message to the vendor asking them the status of the order.
    They responded by telling me the order had been shipped and the delay was caused by Customs (in Thailand) and then accusing me of doing "exceptional harm" to their business by opening a dispute.
    I responded (harshly) that I had not opened a dispute, I had asked them (not Ali) a simple question and there was no way that would have done "exceptional harm" to their business in less than 9 hours as no one but them knew I'd even sent the message.

    They responded the next day to inform me that they had checked the warehouse and didn't have stock of the item and asked me to cancel the order.
    (After telling me the day before that they'd shipped it and it was held up in Customs which I knew was a lie.)

    I tried to cancel the order. Many times. I used Ali's "chat" (repeatedly). Linked the order. Linked the message from the vendor. Never heard anything back.

    Couple weeks later I noticed that the refund hadn't been processed. Went to Ali only to find they'd marked the order as "delivered" and because it was past the 15 day limit, I couldn't open a dispute !!! :mad:

    It's not always like that though.

    At the same time I ordered the (2nd) set of poles, I also ordered a tent. After 6 weeks of nothing happening, suddenly it started to move and it arrived 2 weeks later. Maybe the poles (I no longer need) will eventually show up as well.

    Lazada is much better if you can find the item you are looking for.

    Note that many vendors on Lazada have zero stock of the items they list in their store. You order from them, they order from Ali (normally) and have them ship it to you. However, a "Lazada vendor" seems to get a higher priority on orders on Ali than "Joe Blow from Isaan" does.

    Tip. If you find something on Ali, copy part of the item description and then search for it on Lazada. Many of the vendors (on Lazada) simply copy/paste the information directly from Ali (pictures and all). 
    (Which is also why you see the exact same listings for an item over and over again, exact in every detail except for the price and name of the "shop" selling the item. I'm certain that a lot of "shops" are set up by one person who lists the same things with slightly different prices so that no matter which one you pick, he makes the sale.)

     

    • Like 2
  3. 14 hours ago, bstafford214 said:

    For people who rely on PayPal to receive payments from overseas, they will no longer be able to do so without a registered business account. 

    Online teachers, freelance workers, digital nomads or even people in Thailand who use PayPal to receive money from friends and family overseas will have to find an alternative.

     

    Here is the real kicker and many people who are trying to run an online shop as their main business are being shut down by this Greedy Thai Government.


    I never panicked when I first heard about the issue because they said it was accounts that only receive money (in Thailand) from sources out of country that would be affected, i.e. "digital nomads" and others working in Thailand while pretending to be tourists.

    It's unlikely that PayPal's reversal had anything at all to do with a few foreigners closing their accounts. Why do the tiny, wee percentage of foreigners in Thailand keep thinking that the world (and Thailand specifically) revolves around them ?

    It is far more likely that it was all the little vendors all over the country (like the ones on Lazada or various "Facebook" shops as well as the restaurants and food vendors that supply all those "Grab" delivery people) who receive a lot of payments through PayPal that complained and caused PayPal to reverse their decision.

    And some people are just ID-10-Ts.
    I had a Thai friend who had his PayPal account frozen. Turns out a guy he knew (American) from a motorcycle gang he wanted to join asked to use his PayPal account (and associated email account) so my friend gave him the log-ins/passwords.

    Turns out the guy was selling stuff from the USA like marijuana seeds and hydroponic supplies and of course, didn't want to use his own PayPal account or email where the transactions could be traced back to him. (Basically, the money was all coming in from the US but withdrawals were being made in Thailand.)

    PayPal flagged the account for suspicious activity and my friend couldn't prove that the transactions were legit because he had no idea what was going on (until I showed him and explained what was happening and why that guy was using my friend's account instead of his own).

    So he screwed himself and his only choice was to basically abandon the account as he couldn't "unfreeze" it. (I have no doubt he probably opened a new account and then gave access to it to that guy again, or someone else.)

    I use PayPal when paying for Lazada and some other transactions. It's better than it used to be. In the early days they were pathetic. I had a credit card with a $12,000 dollar limit but PayPal told me I was restricted to $1,000 (total) - unless I "verified" my identity by giving them my banking details ! They wanted access to my bank account !
    And despite paying off my credit card within days of making a transaction, as soon as I reached the "$1,000 total" PayPal froze the account !

    I sent them a couple emails, no reply. Sent them a nasty one and then closed the account.

    Didn't open a new one until something like 15 years later (while I was overseas) and it's worked fine, without having to give them my banking details.

  4. Yeah that was annoying. I think they were being DDOS'd (Distributed Denial of Service attack) and that kicked in the 2 step verification.

    Took me awhile of trying to get the verification code by SMS or email until I lucked into the "click on <send>" and got the verification code.

    And as Card mentioned, if you use the email method and don't see one from Lazada after clicking on the "send", check your junk/spam folder. Microshi* sees the email as coming from an online retailer and may think it's junk.

    • Like 1
  5. Well, I like to modify my dates so that I only have to go 4 times a year (to do the 90 day reports). (Jomtien Immigration won't synch your 90 Day reports with your Extension renewals.)
    As a result, I end up doing my 2nd and 3rd 90 Day reports 3-4 days later than the date on the Notification.  That way, the 4th report lands on the same day I go to do my next Extension renewal. 

    I'm guessing that's not possible if you use the app ?
     

  6. One of the private hospitals I booked with a couple months ago just sent an message telling my that my "queue" number can make a booking between now and later March.
    I'm just waiting for a friend to book their appointment so we can travel at the same time.

    If successful, then I'll cancel my booking with Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. I don't expect there to be a hassle with the refund.

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