sandyf

Not much different to the pantomine taking place in the US, with a lot less global significance. When it comes to jokes, Ukraine has done quite well from putting a comedian in charge. Remember how the forum ridiculed that at the time with their "know it all" attitude.

I only quoted the thread as confirmation that it had it had stopped, if the thread mentioned 385 it must have been sometime later, I certainly never paid that. I pay 299 at Holiday Inn, more than happy with what I get. What are you finding so difficult with that?

As far as i am aware there has never been any such option. When contacting out was an ongoing arrangement, i believe that those that had contracted out on a personal basis could wind up their personal pension and contract in again, those on a company pension scheme didn't have that option. The terms "contracting out" and "contracting in" referred to the governments Earnings Related State Pension which came to an end with the 2016 pension reforms. It became the New State Pension as opposed to the previous 2 tier arrangement of Basic State Pension plus Earnings Related Pension.

The last entry on my Casa Pascal card is 28th Oct 2022 and I was 650 baht for 2 people. If I remember right it stopped the buffet brunch shortly after the Christmas, confirmation came in the thread I referred to. I don't live in Pattaya so not familiar with day to day changes. I haven't claimed anything, I said i started going to the Holiday Inn as it was only 299 for breakfast, and you are free to sit outside if you want, often take the last coffee out. If you prefer Casa Pascal up to you, having been many times I obviously thought it was good, but not for me at 385. Yes, you need to get a card to get the discount at Holiday Inn and you can only use the Executive Tower, my preference anyway. You pay 500 baht and you get a voucher for the 500 baht which can be used for purchases in the hotel, no real cost involved making the breakfast 299. You also get a discount with the card at any of the hotel restaurant facilities.

And you are proud of that? No different to paying people to vote. I let my wife make her own decisions, it is called respect. Some nations think they have a god given right to tell others how to run their country.

Some will vote, unlike Rishi Sunak, appointed by default. It is the way of the world in so called democratic governments.

Would only be your business if you had any say in the matter.

Indeed. I see many whinging about a reduced state pension due to contracting out without any acknowledgement they are receiving their Additional State Pension as part of an occupational pension. One of the main problems was a lack of clarity from the government. In recent years they have introduced COPE but I doubt many have paid attention. https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/blog/retirement/cope-and-the-state-pension

It did stop, unfortunately before I had redeemed my card. Think it was 330 at that time, if restarted at 385 I will give it a miss. Have started going to the Holiday Inn, 299 there, a bit more extensive with fantastic view.

I don't go very often these day so you may well be right. The point in question is NI and I seem to remember It was some time after April before the NI history was updated.

I live in Chonburi but used to use the Lek regularly, normally bought a book to get the cheaper price. Fortunately book had just finished and hadn't got another before the covid came along.

Obviously you believe that Bodgit & Scarper don't operate in any other country. Bit strange that some countries even run a TV series on them.

Casa Pascal, think they stopped that as well now.

They stopped the buffet breakfast during covid and haven't heard of it starting up again. The breakfast at LK Empress just down the road is ok.

What you haven't indicated is your summary from the government gateway which would indicate your overall position. With the age now 66 there can be 50 qualifying years but only 35 are required. The summary for mine says 48 complete years and one incomplete year. Yours may well say something like 32 complete years and 18 incomplete years. The other thing is when were you told you had paid the MAX, if it was in 2009, or sometime before 2016, then the requirement would have been 30 years and they probably meant you had paid over that, but may not be the 35 years that came in in 2016. From what you posted earlier I suspect you are missing 3 years so it would all depend on whether they can be paid for or not. What you should accept is the government gateway doesn't operate in real time, the information cannot be said to be contradictory, just not up to date.

Why the government can refer to the pension as a welfare benefit, they made it one for some.

No Electronic fax is purpose made software designed to meet fax requirements. For legal reasons, fax was and is the only recognised alternative to snail mail for certain documents. These days some documents can be sent by email if the document is password protected. Of course that also requires purpose software. At the end of the day if an organisation requests a document by fax it is not up to anyone on here to question that request. The OP only asked for some information.

Not a recognised legal option.

I was stung by one on the finger about 3 weeks ago. It was like a vaccination with a red hot needle and my whole hand became swollen, took about 4 days for hand to go back to normal and you can still see the puncture mark. My niece is a doctor and said I should go along to the clinic and get tetanus jab and antibiotics. I had been moving rubble ant that type of scorpion lives in the ground so a bigger risk from soil bacteria than the venom itself. The doctor said he didn't think the puncture was deep enough to be a tetanus risk but suggested I have it anyway. Gave me a course of antibiotic and some other pills for headache and nausea, job lot came to 240 baht. The vaccine was free, just 30 baht for the nurse to stick the needle in.

Of course they do, fax is about the only way to send a legal copy of a document, either by physical or electronic fax.

The real problem here is that foreigners want Thais to think the same way they do - never going to happen. As a nation, the Thais know how to survive much better than most. They recovered from the 1997 crash relatively quickly, took the Tsunami in their stride and dealt with Covid much better than the west. I would have thought that foreigners should be looking closer at there own countries rather than what Thailand is doing, after all if things do get tough we could all be kicked out under the first rule of survival.

I couldn't see Koh Chang on that website, but did see Koh Kood. This statement appears on the info. Please Note: this journey comprises 2 parts, by bus between Pattayah and Trat, and by ferry between Trat and Koh Kood. The cost of the bus ticket is included in your booking. https://ssl.directferries.com/ferry/secure/booking_redirect_df.aspx?stdc=DF10&grid=0&rfid=4231&psgr=2&curr=1&retn=true&rfidr=4232&outd=2024-08-15&outt=9&retd=2024-08-18&rett=17&exp-dealfinderVersion=A&dfusrpid=dadd38e8-62bc-4910-bf48-bf32f505a947

Strange how many that were contracted out seem to think they are being deprived of a full state pension. Following the 1975 pension reforms the government ditched the Graduated Pensions scheme and introduced a two tier State pension arrangement. In their infinite wisdom they allowed those on an occupational pension scheme to "contract out", where part of their NI contributions that would have provided the Earnings Related Additional State Pension was diverted and paid into the occupational pension. Initially this arrangement applied to a certain type of scheme and then in 1988 the scope was widened to include other types and private pensions. At this point in time the government paid an additional 2% of earnings into these pensions for 5 years as an incentive for people to "contract out" The whole arrangement was blatant discrimination against those that were unable to "contract out", with many of the participants being quite oblivious to what was happening in respect of their NI contributions. We now have people receiving their occupational pensions which were partialy funded by the state to include their Additional State Pension and those that receive their Additional State Pension directly from the state. The former will have their ASP index linked whereas the latter may not. More recent reforms brought about an end to contracting out and changed the rhetoric around the state pension to that of a single entity in moves to try and hide the injustice and eventually turn the state pension into an old age welfare benefit.

You shouldn't be posting such misleading information. Not all extensions are treated in the same way. You cannot even do a 12 month marriage extension in the same province as you live if there is more than one office, you must use the office for your area. I knew someone that got sent from one office to the other.

You ought to have said that in the beginning. Hopefully he may agree to improvements but I suspect unlikely, after all Thai tenants are not going to say anything.