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Kerryd

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Posts posted by Kerryd

  1. For "non-food" items, it's best to use Amazon. Especially now that they will estimate the Duties and charge you for them at the time of purchase.

    I've never had a problem with an Amazon package being delivered (via Amazon) and never been told I had to pay more than their estimate.

    In fact, I've often received (small) refunds when it turns out the Duties were less than their estimation.

    I stopped ordering from eBay and a couple other places because everything they ship seems to go by FedEx or UPS.

    I've had similar issues in the past with DHL shipments and UPS shipments. They all say the same thing - send us your passport and we'll clear the shipment for you in 2-3 days.
    But they won't explain how they can clear the shipment without me - if I send them my passport - but can't do it with signed photocopies.

    And then tell me I can go to a Customs office and "register" and send them a scan of the little paper card and that's good enough.

    I shipped some personal belongs home from Afghanistan when our contract ended. The company was paying for shipping so I decided to use that rather than carry a couple heavy suitcases through a couple airports.

    1 large and 1 small box. Small box arrived no problem.
    3 days later DHL tells me the big box is stuck in Customs and I have to send my passport and pay 22,000 baht to clear it.

    I had a friend drive me to Suvarnabhumi and went to the DHL "Customs Office". I argued that the box was just old clothes, bed linens, some books, work boots, coffee cups and so on. Basically the contents of my room on the camp that I didn't want to throw away.

    After a lengthy one-sided conversation, a clerk told me I could use a "private" broker to help me for just 17,000 baht.

    So I did that. Went to 3 different offices with different forms (and 100 baht notes) to get stamped and then to the DHL storage place inside the Free Trade Zone where they told me I had to get the other box because the shipment said "2" boxes ! The box they'd already delivered to Pattaya and I had unpacked days earlier !!

    The ****ers wanted me to go back, repack the box with the stuff that had been in it, bring it to the Free Zone and somehow get it inside - so we could then go to a Customs agent to verify that yes, I had two boxes.

    The DHL manager (British guy) came along and after a brief chat admitted they'd screwed up by delivering the first box before the 2nd had cleared Customs.

    They then took a shipping envelope, stuffed some bubble wrap inside, wrote on a label and stuck that on the envelope and Bingo  ! I had my "second" package.

    Went to Customs, a clerk came out, lifted the lid of the big box, looked at my declaration, initialed and stamped the form and that was it.

    The ACTUAL Customs duties and taxes came out to about 1,100 baht !!!
    DHL was going to charge me 22,000 baht !!!

     

  2. Said it (on here) many times.
    NEVER have ANYTHING sent by DHL, FedEx or UPS.

    They ALL use their own "in-house" Customs Brokers to speed up the process and they ALL automatically charge you the maximum they can so that it will clear Customs faster.

    I did a post about this a few weeks ago. I ordered  some Hot Sauce from Amazon. Normally I'd order just 3 small bottles and it's never been a problem except that I have to use a Mail Forwarder to receive the package and then courier it to me because hot sauce is considered a "food item" and Amazon won't (normally) ship "food items" outside the country (various issues with foreign Food and Drug Agencies).

    This time though I decided to order 6 bottles, expecting they'd last me a year and save me money on multiple orders. 

    However, I was forced to use FedEx because the weight apparently was too much for the "cheaper" courier the Forwarder normally used.

    FedEx held onto my parcel for 4 days before telling me - on a Friday afternoon - that I needed to get a Customs Registration number or send my passport to Bangkok with one of their drivers (yeah right) or come to Bangkok myself to clear the package.

    Monday was a holiday so I went to the local Customs office (in Laem Chabang) early Tuesday morning. Got my little paper "registration" card (no charge) and sent the info to FedEx before noon.

    They waited until Wednesday afternoon to respond and tell me - get this - that I had to pay them an additional 1,428 baht to "amend" my name on the shipping waybill because the Customs Registration card had my full name and the shipping label only had my first and last name !!!!

    No ****ing lie ! I have the invoice in front of me right now.

    They also charged me 200 baht for "Customs Charge/Overtime", 400 baht "Clearance Fee", 150 baht Storage Charge and a 200 baht Duty Handling Fee.

    2,378 baht just for that. 
    746 baht for the actual Duties and Taxes (and 52.50 VAT charged on that).

    3,176.50 baht total Duties, taxes, fees and surcharges.

    Value of my shipment - total ?

    3,800 baht (plus shipping).
     

    • Thanks 1
  3. Funny.
    Yesterday it was "200,000" condos.

    Today it's 1.3 MILLION !

    Yesterday:

    Quote

    Deputy Prime Minister and Finance minister Pichai Chunhavajira confirms the government is moving forward with a project to allow foreigners to lease condominiums for 99 years, aiming to stimulate the real estate sector, which has over 200,000 unsold units.


    Today:

    Quote

    real estate businesses struggling to sell a backlog of approximately 1.3 million unsold condominium units


    Do they get their numbers from the same place TAT gets their tourism numbers ? (Which is probably the same place that supplies everyone with their "lucky" lottery numbers.)

    • Agree 1
    • Haha 1
  4. 7 hours ago, stoner said:

    walking st

    soi bukhaow

    soi diana 

    soi paradise

    soi chaiyaphum

    lk metro


    Yet somehow Soi 6 doesn't make the list. Or Beach road !

    Hmmmmm - seems strange. Almost as strange as not having "Boyztown" (sois 13/3 - 13/4) on the list.

    Sheesh, basically from Soi 1 in North Pattaya to Bali Hai and from the Beach to 2nd Road (in most places).

    And we won't mention the area in behind the Esso Station on Sukhumvit in North Pattaya.

    But as we know - the police have conducted many inspections of the area and no women (or boyz apparently) approached them and offered to have sex with them for money so that means there is no Prostitution in Pattaya !

  5. The "beer cans in the back" might be the clue. One would hope they do a blood test on each driver to see which was the drunkest at the time.

    I had an accident a couple years ago when a truck ran a stop sign at an intersection in a rural area of Rayong. I was taken to the local hospital and told they'd be testing my blood for alcohol.
    The pick-up driver never even went. Seems he dropped his g/f off at the hospital and left.

    I suspect as the accident was just after 1pm on a Saturday afternoon that he may have been coming from a "5 beer lunch" which is why he didn't stick around.
    (I hadn't drank at all. I'd had a coffee that morning and a coke at lunch. I was quite upset that they were testing my blood and not his.)

    Despite the fact that his own dash-cam footage showed him blowing throw a stop sign (that even had a red blinky light above it) - it seems no one bothered to check what he'd been doing before the accident. 
    (It ended up with him paying for the repairs to the rear quarter-panel of his truck and that's it. I had to pay all my medical bills and repair costs. It seems the police decided that because "I hit him" that made it my fault ! But - because he ran the stop sign and caused the accident - he had to pay for his own repairs !)

    Which is why you should always make sure you have insurance when driving/riding here. Lots of insurance. And then more insurance on top of that.
    As you are likely going to end up paying for everything no matter what happened.

    • Agree 1
  6. Works both ways.
    I went "home" (to Canada) one summer a couple years (5+ it seems) ago. Was planning on spending a weekend at my "old" place clearing it out and boxing stuff to go into storage.
    I needed supplies for 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 2 dinners (just for me). Didn't but anything fancy. Pack of hotdogs, hamburger, buns, cheese, butter, bacon, eggs, loaf of bread, small ketchup/mustard and so on.

    $300 Cdn ! Literally one bag of groceries. 
    At the time it was close to 9,000 baht equivalent ! For 3 days worth of food.

    I average about 10,000 - per month - in Thailand on groceries and I don't skimp. 

    About 8 years ago a friend in Canada commented that she'd just paid $8 (Cdn) for a single "head" of cauliflower. 215 baht roughly.

    I went to the local "market" up the street. Bought some onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and red chilies. (Photo below)
    Cost 180 baht. ($6.70 Cdn equivalent.)

    So yeah, if you're "just here on a getaway" (yeah right) and buying groceries (uh huh) and sticking with the "imported" brands of "foreign" foods, it can be fairly expensive.

    But if you are "living" here and doing your "normal" grocery shopping and buying "local" foods, it can be (is) a lot cheaper than "back home". 

    89534767_10157898716564220_8674500805841125376_n.thumb.jpg.1194bbb508d0646b019c3ea47ec9aa6a.jpg

  7. 4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

    Not to be confused with Richard Barrow.

    I write this because when I read the headline, I made that mistake.


    Same here ! I had to do some googling when I first saw the story to make sure it wasn't the same person. You can bet a lot of people never bothered to check though.

    And yeah, it's common for criminals to suddenly "long for home" when they become ill and have a choice of ending up in a Thai prison (and "gov't healthcare") or a nice air-conditioned facility with a much higher quality of medical care.

    Like the former "godfather of Chon Buri" who did a runner after being released from prison on bail (where he'd been sent after being found guilty of arranging the murder of a political rival). He was charged in a land fraud case so that let him apply for bail (Thai law) to fight the charges and - of course - immediately disappeared and didn't reappear until many years later - when he was very sick and needed to go to a (good) hospital.

    And the wannabe terrorist Joshua Boyle from Canada. Stages his own kidnapping so he can join the terrorists his former wife had praised so highly. Spent 5 years trying to convince everyone he was being held in Afghanistan when he was actually in a Haqqani safe house in Pakistan.

    But when one of the daughters he had while a "captive" got sick - he couldn't take her to a Pakistani hospital so they arranged to be "spotted" by American drones. He needed people to believe he was still a captive so he  wouldn't be arrested and thrown in prison when he returned to Canada. (Not that terrorist-loving Trudeau would have ever considered that of course.) So his terrorist buddies drove him to a drop off point where they had tearful farewells and then he was "rescued" by the Pakistani Army who were sitting there waiting.

    And supposedly it's why a certain former PM criminal on the run suddenly decided to return "home". Having "his people" running the gov't certainly made it easier. (Thought you have to wonder because it's not like he couldn't have afforded the best medical care available in the UAE which is probably top notch based on all the "money" in that place. I doubt you'll find too many "doctor's degrees from a back alley medical schools in Delhi" working in Dubai hospitals.)

    He sure did make a miraculous recovery once he got home though ! 

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