PPGuy

The whole point of visiting Harbin 'in the middle of winter' is to experience the well known ice festival. Would not be the same if going in the middle of summer...... My son travelled there on Monday,19th and, based on his facebook photos, had a great time. Being dressed appropriately for the weather, the freezing temperatures would be no problem.

Yes, I find this most concerning. If the reported timeline for police being advised by the hotel of his demise is correct, the SOP would be for the UK embassy to be notified and their next step would be advising family back in the UK. Matching up the police notification with the missing person report would seem an automatic process by the embassy. Not having travelled to Pattaya would be of no consequence, it should just be a name match. The family needs to press the UK embassy for an explanation.

His story sounds a bit fishy to me.........

So, the Jewish / muslim ratio is 19%. Yet the 2021 census has the actual jewish / muslim ratio at 12.5% (0.4% / 3.2%). Seems the jews are more commonly targetted than muslims. Thanks for your figures.

If these accusations are indeed true and are of such severity that they remain as a painful memory to this day, one would assume that the affected pupils would have brought this to the attention of their parents at the time. Given the nature of the complaints one would also have expected that the parents, seeing the impact such actions seemingly had on their children, especially having remained a painful memory for nearly fifty years, would have immediately raised a serious complaint with the school to have the matter dealt with at the time. As no record exists, or even any indication that such complaints were made by the parents of the seemingly deeply affected children, one can only come to one conclusion...... Indeed, coming at a time when Reform are pulling away in the polling, from the rabble that remains of the 2 party ruling class, the timing of these incessant hit pieces from the likes of the Guardian and the insufferable Owen Jones can, again, only lead to one conclusion...... Running scared comes to mind.

I have used The Fry Group in he past. They are based in the UK but have an office in Singapore which services Thai based expats as well as others in the region. They were recently bought by Progeny, another UK financial services company. My dealings with their Singapore office have provided excellent advice. As with all such matters, caveat emptor.

I have used BHP dental department in the past. Last year had root canal / crown, plus a separate tooth extraction. Cost about 45k, self pay. Process very efficient with early appointments / minimal waiting time and excellent service by the dental team. I had poor service previously from a smaller Pattaya practice, not mentioned in this thread so far, so was prepared to pay that bit extra for professional treatment. The cost may not suit some but, for me, it was perfect.

Have seen unverified reports that one of the targets of this attack was Vladimir Saldo, the governor of occupied Kherson oblast. The article indicated that some important VIPs were at the resort at the time of the strike. It would be no surprise if Ukraine received intel on a meeting taking place and took the appropriate action. If so, yes, reason to cheer.

Another happy GiffGaff user. Sim sent direct to Thailand (a few years back, so not sure if still the case) and topups via credit card.

Have been having similar problems with Wise funds from UK to SCB. I mentioned this on a different thread as it had happened a couple of times 2 weeks back. Wise gave 4 options, one was to try again. That worked each time. Same happened in the last couple of days, again to SCB and an email from Wise indicating a name mismatch. Used the 'send again' option and it came through in minutes. Obviously something has changed, maybe a new intermediary. In any event, no big deal at the moment as it has just taken a 'send again' instruction to resolve. But should that not work, that would be a hassle to resolve.

What, no neck brace?....

Just seen your post. Have set up a similar transfer to BBL and info is: Sending: Now Should arrive: in 6 hours Repeats: Never Reason: Thailand long term stay Set up at 15.37 So, not aligned with arriving at 14.01. (Note, another dummy set up at 15.50, with same results) I do recall that when i set up my actual transfer on 01Sep (at around 08.00) the sending info had: Sending: in 2 hours Should arrive: in 6 hours So that did align with an expected arrival of 14.00, as did happen and noted as 'International transfer' on the BBL app. But have yet to update my bank book to show, what should be, the FTT notation. So, totally confusing but will see what happens next month as I only use BBL for the 65k transfer, other transfers I use SCB, which has had mismatching issues recently. So will see if that continues, or not.

Normally, for me, any transfers set up for BBL prior to around 9am will arrive around 2pm provided it is a bank working day. These are immigration related transfers which need to be shown as International FTT transfers.

Yes, I believe so,. I have always checked on the reason for transfer to ensure description is correct. That was easier up to a few months back as the screen showed up automatically. Now, you need to click on the 'reason for transfer' 'change' button on the 'Review details ' screen to check. However, it has always shown Thailand as an automatic reason so I had no need to change. But best to check anyway. Would be interesting if, for those not successful, whether they had ticked the 'Thailand' option in the 'Reason for transfer' section. If so, but still not successful, maybe the earlier tagging has assisted but the current method set up by Wise is not working for the late comers. Wise may need to be chased by those affected.

My experience. Today, 1st, I arranged my usual 65k transfer from Nationwide UK to BBL via Wise (Funds for long term stay in Thailand). Set it up at 8am and it arrived, as usual , around 2pm. Noted as 'International funds transfer' on my App with the Banking partner as 'Bangkok Bank THB'. Happy with that.

A hassle for sure. Having to make changes on a transfer process that has worked perfectly for many years seems crazy, even more so when, in your case, it is left to you to try options to resolve the issue rather than the banks making efforts to assist. Good luck. At least, for me, my monthly 65k transfer to BBL came through in the usual fashion today. Actioned by me at 8am and arriving just after 2pm with an indication of 'International funds transfer'. So that was good.

I had similar issues with my last 2no Wise transfers from UK to SCB, funded via Nationwide. This was on 28Aug and early am on 31Aug. Both times Wise sent me an email indicating a name mismatch with advice to do 1 of 3: Change recipient bank If details correct, try again Cancel transfer and obtain a refund. I have been using the same name /bank details for many years with no issue, so I went for the 'Try Again' option. Both times this worked and the transfers arrived in the usual seconds. Both successful transfers had 'Banking partner as 'Tranglo SGP (THB)'. This matched with an earlier transfer which did not have any mismatch warning. Unfortunately I did not pick up any partner info on the unsuccessful transfers, if indeed available, as that may have indicated a different partner and a possible reason why the mismatch warning was given. I am due to arrange my monthly 65k transfer via BBL and have seen the comments on possible issues with BBL on FTT recording. Will hold on setting that up until the 1st to avoid a premature transfer, but hopefully this is not a return to the problems of a few years back. Having to send 100k minimum, as noted by an earlier poster, whilst doable, would not be ideal for me at this time. Will be interested in any feedback on this in the next day or so.

Way back in the late 80's I was staying in The Village on Sai 3. Had a townhouse that looked onto the 1st row of bungalows. One of these was occupied by an American and his Thai lady, no idea of the ownership status. One day I noticed him above the entrance to the property bashing away with a sledgehammer. Seems something went wrong with the relationship and he decided to vent his anger by having a go at dismantling the property. Don't recall how it ended but such actions are likely not uncommon.

Have had my BB account for about 10 years. Only use it for transferring the monthly 65k from UK for Immigration purposes. Now use Wise and these arrive, like clockwork, around 2pm on next working day, or same day if sent prior to 9am. A few years back there was a problem with international transfers from Wise but soon resolved. Only recent issue was setting up facial recognition which needed a visit to my branch. Also have SCB account, this for over 30 years. Use for expenses plus additional transfers from UK. Wise transfers take seconds, working day or not. Never a problem. More than happy with both BB and SCB.

Yes, appears to be a Kai Fak transaction. Sale with right of redemption. The property is signed over to he lender at he Land Office. But if the loan is not fully paid in the agreed time period,usually a year but can be more or extended, then the property stays with the lender with no recourse for the borrower. Normally entered into by those desperate for funds with only a low % of the market value given out as a loan. The lender sees it as easy money as the borrower's financial position likely means that a full repayment in the stipulated time period is unlikely. Even more so if the main breadwinner is unaware of the details until too late and is left to pick up the pieces, if that is even possible. As seems to have been the case here. Some lenders attempt to over-egg their gain by not returning any loan repayments at the point of the sale being considered complete, due to non repayment, and the borrower losing their property. Am aware of such a circumstance and the Finance Company was sued for recovery. Ended up in the Supreme Court but recovery was agreed. A minor victory due to the amount loaned being far less than the property value.Of course, it depends on the loan conditions as some specify monthly repayments (recovery may be possible) whereas others only require end of loan period settlement. The Finance Company warned of consequences for taking legal action but that ended up being hot air. Absolute PoS. So, 10ft barge pole comes to mind.

As mentioned, the process to change to weekly, from 4 weekly, was simple. A phone call requesting the change was all that was needed. No special circumstances in my case, except for a need to have a UK bank account. My pension is frozen as based in Thailand, but the payments are credited to a UK bank, Nationwide. I then transfer to Thailand via Wise as and when needed. The PoL certs seem to be sent out every 2 years. Covid did change that cycle for a year or so.

Weekly is also possible. That requires a UK bank account. I arranged this with a call to DWP a few years back. A rather painless process as I was not changing the bank account only the timings. It was just after I had my pension stopped due to non submission of the proof of life cert. It took some time to get that sorted and I was cheesed off with the delay and considered that going for a weekly payment I would have earlier knowledge of a problem.

A number of Trump supporters, including Bill Ackman (Hedge fund owner), Sean Davis (The Federalist) and Don Jr, have chimed into say that DJT would never use the word 'enigma'. This has proven to be false as per 'Newrepublic' article. https://newrepublic.com/post/198123/maga-trump-never-use-one-word-epstein-birthday-letter-enigma Possibly pertinent. An anagram of ,enigmas, is ,gamines,. The meaning of which is not difficult to find....If the letter is proved to be genuine it gives an interesting slant on it's use.

Yes, have also had a number of emails from them confirming their return. Used them a number of times prior to them stopping their service and found them to be very efficient and economic on transfers to UK. A number of reports of transfer delays just prior to the stoppage so will likely hold off on using them again to ensure they have returned to their earlier good service.

Yes, had the exact same problems with the BB face scan. After many failed attempts doing it myself went along to my BB branch and got it sorted. It did take many attempts and I believe the staff member was more frustrated than me as he was wanting to head off on his lunch break....