Felton Jarvis

The Fedex office in Naklua is holding my replacement debit card for some reason. As far as I can tell, they never attempted to deliver it to Jomtien. The office is located in Windmill Plaza. How do I find this place???

As many problems as I have, AT LEAST I don't have THAT problem. I truly feel compassion for your situation. It is amazing how Thai wives will ruin their marriages over money, especially a relative's debt. It's just plain immoral.

As a foreigner, he would have been "condemned" regardless of what he did or didn't do. It is always OUR fault, regardless of circumstances.

Of COURSE he did. Teflon Thai.

For clarity's sake: Hanlon's Razor: As stated by Robert. J. Hanlon, a heuristic telling us to “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Fakes, but they apparently can't do anything to stop them. Truly incompetent and corrupt.

The usual insane reply. There is no rhyme or reason within Thai Immigration. They enjoy treating the farang as their whipping boy. I have filed applications online which left boxes unchecked and several other errors and gotten approval. Your experience validates my theory that they just enjoy playing with us.

In my experience, CBD is worthless both for sleep and pain relief. An unforgivable waste of money.

Does anyone know whether this also applies to one-year extensions? I've always extended my Non_O Retirement visa at Jomtien, several weeks before expiry.

It's worth remembering that it is IMMIGRATION which makes the agent/bribery situation possible. If none of the officials took bribes, there would be no way to pay them.Expats are merely the customers, Immigration calls the shots.

The implication is that the two cases mentioned could have been avoided with extra scrutiny. The truth is that neither of the expats arrested had any outstanding warrants from their home countries. This new initiative by Immigration is just more harassment aimed at the expat community.

My credit union provided a way out of this debacle. After speaking to a Manager, they are sending me TWO debit cards. Only one will be active at a time, but if I lose one, I can activate the other with a phone call or an email. Apparently, my situation was unique enough that they made an exception to the way they usually issue these cards. As long as I can have a spare in reserve, I should be okay.

That is incorrect, READ what I wrote. The money goes directly into my credit union account from Social Security, Alabama Teacher's Retirement and a TIAA annuity. The payments to my credit card accounts were set up online. There was NO "deposit" from Thailand. I access money for living expenses with my credit union debit card.

I DO have online access to my credit union account. Wire transfers cost 40 USD. In addition to local fees, the bank also charges a fee for debit card transfers which esceed three transactions a month. They are totally inept and really don't give a damn about their overseas customers. I doubt that I am the only one. They also want complex Docusign arrangements which do not accept foreign addresses. I nearly always have to talk to a manager instead of a telemarketing turd who does not even know about the basic rules of international transfers. Average waiting time for overseas calls is between 30 minutes and an hour.

They don't care about business. Knowledge of even basic economics is sorely lacking here in Thailand. When they tank the economy, they will just blame the farang.

Most all of my money is kept in America, where it's safe. I cannot set up automatic credit card payments here.

Taxes are not part of the problem. At least not yet. No one knows whether they will be subject to Thai taxes or not. The usual slipshod Thai way of lawmaking.

I am reasonably sure that I cannot use a Bangkok Bank debit card to access funds from my American account.

Wise doesn't operate in the USA or in Thailand.

I have tried to get a Charles Schwab account, but they told me they do not issue debit cards to those who live in Thailand. Apparently, many use them here but I was told "NO"!!!

The video dealt with CARDLESS withdrawals, not WIRELESS withdrawals. Completely different from what was mentioned.

No power failures were involved nor did I leave the card in the machine. I got a message saying my card had been kept and to contact my bank. Plenty of funds in the account, too.

I only keep a local account so that my agent can use it for my yearly Extension of Stay. She supplies the required cash and then withdraws it

Not familiar with "wireless withdrawals".

That is PRECISELY why I maintain my American account. I can set up automatic payments to the three credit cards that I have active. Bangkok Bank has no such service for customers. I don't want to be drowning in late fees, so I set up automatic payments.