bamboozled

Right, no promises. It's too bad they can't delay the transfer until there is the possibility to have it as an international transfer. That is, one opts in to agreeing to wait longer for the money to arrive in order that it is guaranteed to show as FTT. Perhaps it's not that easy.

I sent Wise an email about the issue and received the reply below. It is more promising than what I got on the phone call with Wise yesterday. I replied to the email that, yes, I do want them to tag my account so they appear as international transfers. We'll see what comes of it. I only have one day left to secure an international transfer for this month, not even a day. Wish me luck. Laura's looking forward to hearing from me! "Thank you for getting in touch. When you send a transfer with the local currency (THB) the transfer is a local transfer. This is because of how Wise works: with us when you send a cross-currency transfer (USD to THB), you pay to our USD account in the US and we send out the equivalent from our THB account located in Thailand. Like this money never actually cross the borders so the transfer arrives earlier than traditional bank transfers. International transfers are the ones when you receive a global currency (like USD, GBP or EUR) to your account, when the currency you receive is not the local currency. If you want to send international transfers, these need to go through the SWIFT international payment network. Here you can read more about sending USD to countries outside the US. However Bangkok Bank (BBL) & Kasikorn Bank (Kbank) are capable of showing transfers as international transfers if we are sending through these banking partners. We can help you to route your payments via your desired payout partners, however we can't promise that the payments are definitely going to be paid out with the partner you chose. It can happen that there is an unforeseen scenario where a certain partner might be facing a technical issue. In this case the system will route the payment via another available partner to ensure same day delivery. Please, confirm if you'd like us to set this up for you and which partner you want to choose. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best wishes, Laura

Yes, my friend has the same luck, his transfers for the last 3 months all international. Does it matter the amount, by chance, do you think?

Transfer was from US bank.

They wouldn't have me, I tried in two different branches. And I'm married and been here 20 years. They wanted wife's signature but she's in Bkk. However, it's MY account and she has nothing to do with it. ...Just to point out the insanity. I'm putting my money IN the account not getting a loan. Insanity. Plus, as someone pointed out, no saying when they will then go via Bangkok Bank first and then transfer to Kasikorn. Wise should not pretend with the "funds for long term stay" choice. Moonlover, what exactly have you been showing the I/Os? They would not accept my stack of papers showing the paper trail of transfers. Wasted A LOT of time and money getting that stuff together, all for nothing. Bank holidays may exasperate the situation but today isn't a bank holiday and my test transfers all went to Kasikorn bank first. Not sure what I'll do. A SWIFT transfer is very expensive compared to Wise.

So, my transfers last month were direct to my Bangkok Bank account and showed as international. This month, they have gone through Kasikorn and now appear as local transfers. <deleted>! I just got off the phone with Wise and the nice guy on the other end of the line really had no input except to say get the FET from Kasikorn. And he had no idea why sometimes the transfers go to Bangkok Bank directly and sometimes via Kasikorn. He also said there is no notation that he knows of that he can put on my account to have the transfers go direct to Bangkok Bank. Has anyone had luck getting the FET forms/credit advise to prove their money came from abroad? A couple years ago, I had all my transfers go to my SCB account and they all showed as local. Thus, I went around to 3 different banks (Kasikorn, Bangkok, and Deemoney) to get the credit advise and tried to show it to immigration. It was all for naught. They wouldn't accept it, wouldn't even look at it. I had to scramble to find another visa route. I recently opened a Bangkok Bank account (after being rejected by Kasikorn) just to avoid this and now I find Wise is sending it to Kasikorn (whilst my friend is still getting direct international transfers to his Bangkok Bank account). It makes no difference if I choose "long term stay" or "buying property". They are going to Kasikorn first and showing as local transfers. The Wise guy on the help line said that Wise does indeed have a Bangkok Bank account so no reason that they must go to Kasikorn first. Anyone have anything to add here? This is very frustrating and I would say heads up to everyone using Wise for monthly transfers/visas. I would say do your transfer early in the month and if it shows as a local transfer you might want to pay the extra money and do a SWIFT transfer to be on the safe side. Cheers...Bam

I have one right now...and have been going out every 90 days.

For the multi-entry, yes, you have to leave every 90 days. Can just do a border bounce, though. Would love to know the answer for your first question.

It hasn't rained that much in the past week which made it easier to get lazy about.

The vids I saw...they are dunking their heads in it or completely submerged. They come out covered head to toe in excrement water. I don't know how they don't get sick. Or even vomit before getting in the filth making it impossible to proceed. Leaves me rather speechless.

I've seen some videos taken in India/Bangladesh where the folks climb down into the tanks/sewers and scoop them out by hand. Ghastly.

Still on the trail, Neal. I got off track or more to the point got lazy. But it's still on my lengthening to-do list.

RIP Boy. I can still see that smile.

They didn't have the stuff. Tried to sell me something for the septic. Back on the trail today.

I'm not sure if it's separate. But the amount of water that accumulates in the yard in a heavy rain, when it comes down fast, is pretty immense. No way any tank under the house could handle it. I mean, it goes down into that hole in the photograph which is already full. And then eventually empties out into the gutter on the side of the street and goes on it's way into the city sewer system, I suppose. Hmm, so perhaps no matter what pumping I do it's always going to fill up in rainy season. Lots of dirt and debris gets sucked in there with the rain water, too.

As mentioned above, and I guess I didn't know this, the toilet water and shower/sink water should be going in different places. That would suggest the hole in question I'm discussing here is shower/sink water only and not the septic system so that's kind of a plus. It also takes in any debris that flows in there when it rains. That certainly can't help things. Perhaps the stink I sometimes get is not sewage but just whatever is in there rotting away, old food and such. Well, I'm off to by the enzyme and we'll see. Dan, that sounds like something I would let the landlords deal with...if it comes to that. There would be no easy way to dig a hole/put down pipe as this drain seems to run under the house and almost all the footprint of the property is concreted but for a small area around the perimeter. It would not be an easy job.

OK enzyme first and we'll see. On my To Do list tomorrow. It's a rental house so I have no idea what's going on under there. Landlords are hands-off types and we both like it that way so I'll handle it myself if I can. I've been here 6 years or so and the drainage over the years has slowly gotten worse. A big rain usually floods the whole place for a bit and things start to smell a little funky when that happens. Yes, sewage type smell. 100-150 baht to drain it? Wow, might as well do it daily for that price! Thanks for the prices, Arick and Charlie for the prices. Dan O, good call and advice. I could just leave it be, too, but the sewage smell with a big rain kind of has me wondering if things will go down hill thus my getting off my duff.

I can only imagine what is going on down under the house/yard/septic system. Highly doubt it's to "code" and functioning correctly or even installed correctly. Even in dry season, if I dig down two feet, I hit standing water. So in the rainy season it's even worse. I might try with the snake but from having seen how it reacts over the years I don't think it's clogged so much as full. But heck, what do I know, really? Would be a shame if pumping out somehow caused the system to completely fail....like the septic tank collapses. I suppose it happens on really old systems. Well, who knows. Triple thanks to CMBob for the contact info. Will report back! Cheers!

Per request, 1000 words (pic). Can't see much with the water there but it is pretty caked up with debris and small bubbles are arising. Hmm, probably not the healthiest thing, come to think of it. It doesn't smell at the moment but does with a big rain. I will try that additive, Neal, thanks. ...Will look into a grease trap to avoid future problems. Curious...where does the sewage go in a private residence/house? Is it piped away by the city system or is there a septic tank on the property? I'm in a rental so I don't have all the lowdown. And I don't bother the landlords for these types of things (the rent is reasonable and I am willing to take on various upkeep to keep it that way).

It's ok, he's wearing pants.

Good point. But there's a SUCKER born everyday. Hopefully, said sucker BUYS my dirty water.

I'm in Chiang Mai city, folks, just north of the moat. Where would my "local council" be? City hall on the road to Mae Rim?

Thanks all, folks. This particular pipe doesn't take the toilet water but it probably ends up in the same place further down the line. Which might account for the smell when it overflows with big rains. I'm sure the various gunk, oils, and food residue that goes down the kitchen sink is going to foul it up over the years. Sheryl, you're on the money that it's not just the drain pipe from the sink. About a year ago, the big truck came by sucking out all the gutters on the side of the road (surely sent by the city) and he was willing to clean up/suck up the gunk around the perimeter gutter of the yard (for an offering) but he wouldn't suck out this particular pipe. Probably he knows that whatever is in there can't be combined with the stuff he was sucking out of gutters. I'll try and get the neighbors in on it but I don't know the Thai word for "giant truck that sucks gunk out of pipes". Rwill, I'll try and look for junction boxes but just looking into the mouth of this pipe I can see that it's pretty nasty. Not an all out blockage but again, entering rainy season and with my flood-prone yard, I'm sure to have some overflows. Had one a couple days ago and it didn't smell like roses.

Hiya folks, does anyone have info for a service that can come to the house and suck out all the muck that I'm sure has accumulated in an outdoor drainage pipe? Is that a common thing here? This drain is just an open hole in the ground in front of the kitchen window into which the kitchen sink drains. As well as rain water and debris that accumulates in the yard. I assume it empties into the city sewer system....if there is such a thing. Over the years, it has become slower and slower to drain and when it rains now it backs up and smells unpleasant. I'm pretty sure it needs to be serviced. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Cheers and thanks!

I had someone plug my 120 volt amp into a Thai socket and fried something or other. This happened once in Europe, too, where it was fixed and was fine afterward. Wasn't cheap, though, 200 euro if I remember. Here in Chiang Mai, I took it to an electronics guy I know of (fixes anything/everything) and he fixed it very cheaply. However, it now sounds really bad. I don't know why or what was changed but it was a great, very clean, Yamaha amp and now I don't even listen to it because the audio quality is so bad. My point being, try and make sure whoever repairs it uses high-end parts, if that's what's called for.