digbeth

Liked it when it was Homeworks, has some higher end stuff that Homepro didn't have, but then Homepro has improved, especially in their own store on Sukhumvit to North Pattaya, the one in Big C not so much.

Since then Central Group has taken over Thai Wassadu and that's their main home improvement store brand now, the stores is aimed for contractors more, looks like Central has ceded the market for middle class DIY home improvement to Homepro, the rebranded Baan&Beyond never gained traction, when it was Homeworks there was 8-10 stores in Bangkok, there was only a couple of stores nationwide for Baan&Beyond and looks like it's gone from Pattaya now

one thing I never liked about them is that for electronics items, there was never consistent pricing, in their 'PowerBuy department, between the store on the dark side of Sukhumvit, one on Klang and in Central Beach Rd. and what used to be in Homeworks/Baan&Beyond you would find the same items have different prices 

On 2/17/2024 at 5:24 PM, Mike Lister said:

Interesting piece of trivia here:

 

"The merger between TMB Bank and Thanachart Bank to TMBThanachart Bank (TTB) was completed on July 5, 2021. TTB hence becomes a larger bank, having greater connectedness with the rest of the banking system and provides a greater volume of essential financial services such as loans, deposits, payment transactions as well as servicing a larger number of customers. As a result, this year TTB is identified as one of domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) in addition to the existing 5 D-SIBs, namely Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, Kasikornbank, and the Siam Commercial Bank. All D-SIBs are robust, maintaining capital ratios significantly above the level prescribed by the Bank of Thailand".

 

https://www.bot.or.th/en/news-and-media/news/news-20220221.html#:~:text=As a result%2C this year,and the Siam Commercial Bank.

During the rice pledging fiasco years back, political opponent of the scheme were angry with the Government Savings Bank for giving loan to the scheme and start to withdraw money in droves, causing a mini-bank run that they had to pause service.

If the economy is at the point that the big banks needed the deposit protection scheme, I don't think the government savings bank with their 100% deposit protection can do any better, the government will have been defaulting on lots of things by then 

if there's cash prizes, I can see the organizer won't bother with how to do a withholding tax for foreigner and potentially non-residents, for the big marathon maybe they can afford it, but for local provincial or amphur level events, forget it, but the participation medals/bibs shouldn't be any different 

the tv aerial should be grounded right? what issue could arise from tapping ground from the co-axial cable that's likely unused these days, but in condo building these would have been ran through splitters and amplifier to your room, would the ground still be good

I've seen case where organizer would claim that insurance for foreigner is more expensive, or opt out of having insurance for foreigners at all, but I've never seen where foreigner can't win the prize

even if they exclude all foreigners from certain prize, you can hardly claim it's racial discrimination as african athletes are equally excluded as european ones 

58 minutes ago, Kalorymetr said:

What do u mean technically could build anything? Is there no legal requirement here to have a road to the plot? 

If the developer hold the deed to the road and hasn't registered the easement, if he has a plot next to the road, he could well within his right start building on the road,

or registered easement is for only 1 meter wide pedestrian access road only, 

there might be 16 meters wide road when you were sold the plot, but years down the line subsequent owner could acquire the road and start building on it

a lot of the newer build 'loft' style condos with duplex aren't actual duplex in the deed, the sq. m on record will be of one floor only, and the second level is actually classified as 'furniture' like bunk bed, these loft/duplex room will have same floor space as non-duplex room below, if they were to only use the floorplan sq meters, it'd be unfair as they actually have more usable floor space 

an easement is and agreement between two landowners giving access through their property, it will be recorded on the chanote and at the land office

simple one would be giving access to the 'landlocked' plot in the back of your plot say, a road certain meters wide through the plot owned by you

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Nope,

Honda add fobs to the box in the bike electronically, but the number on the fob is useful as you can use it to unlock the bike without the fob.

I've seen case where in order to get a lost key reprogrammed, without the barcode tag present, they don't even bother and proceed to order the whole ecu new to the tune of 3-4,000 baht

if it's keyless fob, you only got one from the factory, make sure you take care of the barcode on the keyring, it's needed to program another key in should you need a second fob or lose the original

20 hours ago, Mutt Daeng said:

I'm would like to see the banks and phone companies eventually embracing something like the YubiKey to provide strong 2FA for their apps and other services. Probably not in my lifetime.

 2 factor token generator are available and used already on commercial accounts for most Thai Banks, I'd happily pay extra 5-800 baht a year to use it with my personal accounts 

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why?  Why would you wait for the taxi you booked to turn up for you, watch it waiting and not use it?  Surely you're abusing the system (unless you didn't describe the circumstances accurately)?

You only watch them stay 'stationary' on the app, they don't actually show up to your location, some even drive in the other direction away from you even 

45 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

There is no taxi mafia in Bangkok ...

Try hailing a taxi in front of popular shopping malls.... the rank full of taxis and tuktuks blocking traffic that's conveniently ignored by the police would be evidence otherwise 

It's not upmarket anymore with Emquartier just up the road

It'd be quite telling to see if over half the showings are Thai dubbed instead of subtitled which would indicates a lower income -working class clientele 

I've seen case where the prosecutor office (must be where they have the equivalent of legal aid) help Thai family get estate executor appointed without need for lawyer, they just need a few fee like for the advertisement on court paper of the court date, and on the date they just read out the case in court, no body turns up to contest and it's done. the wait was long like 6-8months though 

18 minutes ago, Henryford said:

 

My tgf just lost her fob for a Honda 150i. The dealer, in Pattaya, charged 1500 for a replacement. 3k is definitely a rip off.

3-4000 sound like replacing the whole ecu, which is required for case where you don't have the original keyring with the codes on a small card required to program new key to existing ecu

as far as your standing in the communities, maybe the village gossiped if you don't offer the monks alms.. but it's in private

I find that turning up to the big temple festival once in a while is good to satisfy the aunties of the village and they'll mention that they saw you at the temple for years, 

neighbor's funerals and such is attended as needed of course

if you're looking for the 1% solution.... you can either:

set up a company in the UK with low volume 'kit car' that can register the car as 'new' in the UK, then import as a restomod 'new' car, this is a known route, Maybe you could set this up from neighboring country instead 

or

keep it garaged in border town in Cambodia or Malaysia, drive it in temporarily, Limit is six months total per year time spent in Thailand, so two cars ought to cover it

2 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

Possibly, but it is ridiculous, I can make a printout with another telephone too.

yeah, but another phone using its camera to take a picture will have limited access to the phone with the banking app open, plus the user will have to be actively doing that, vs something running in the background recording the screen and sending button presses on the compromised phone 

in most DLT, after three years of non-payment, the vehicle is 'off the road' and you are supposed to surrender the plate and logbook, to get it taxed and legal again you have to re-register on a new plate plus any fines and back taxes of the three years.

you would need some 'convincing' for the DLT staff to jump through hoops to re-use the old number plate if it was special to you

you can also voluntarily surrender the plate and stop paying any taxes earlier than 3 years