silentnine

23 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Sorry, just now saw this thread.

 

Your wife can get this treated free of charge through the government health system, no need to pay out of pocket. Not at Sripat as that is a private service but at Maharaj Nakorn Hospital which has the same doctors. It used to be necessary to get a referral from the government hospital one is registered at (based on residence) but supposedly this is no longer necessary in patients with cancer.Any questions on that pointy should be directed to the NHSO  https://eng.nhso.go.th/view/1/Contact_NHSO/EN-US

 

Treatment depends on the stage of the cancer.  From the tumor size, she may indeed be looking at a combination of surgery, chemo and possibly radiation.

 

Survival rate is excellent (>90%) if the cancer has not yet spread beyong the cervix and uterus. They may nto be able to know this until after surgery (they will remove and biopsy pelvic lymph nodes).

 

As to your questions about decision making, surely your wife is  competent to make her own decisions?

thanks for the reply sheryl.

we had biopsy results yesterday. malignant sadly.

they did a CT scan which we are going back today for the results for.

I have little knowledge of the thai government health system.  

would she have a better chance if we rush back to the UK to get treatment. either NHS or we also have some UK private insurance coverage upto £50,000.  its unlikely we can afford under the thai private system as yesterday's CT alone was 20k baht so suspect we're looking at 1mill + to go private here. the Dr said waiting times are sadly long at the moment here in Thailand due to pressure on the system from covid

5am unable to get to sleep myself now. lol.  she's fast asleep.  lol.

I cannot stop worrying about it.

in true English style I'm playing out every outcome in my head and the more I think the more I'm dreading this...

even started wondering what happens in Thailand if a foreign husband does not agree with her Thai parents about what the best thing to do is. 

in the UK husband is next of kin. in Thailand is that the case? 

wishing I hadn't started reading about this now.  from what I can see it's a bit more than a standard hysterectomy that could be needed as the tumour is further down. ???? making it at least stage 2.

4am.  can't sleep. 

I've read more about this and think I'm getting  more worried than she is !!!

morning all.

my Thai wife is here in chiang mai visiting family for 3 months and I've just flown over also for a couple of weeks. 

having not seen each other for a while we did what couple do and to be blunt it was a bloodbath.   prompted a visit to sriphat medical center as we were in a hotel in chiang mai Town for a couple of nights.  she's from wang phrao which is about 80km further up in the middle of nowhere.

result showed a 5cm cervical tumour. awaiting biopsy report over the next couple of days. 

now... I of course (and she also) wants this sorted and hoping very much its not malignant.

is sriphat any good ? are there better alternatives ?  all my googling says most likely looking at a hysterectomy but I'm a man so this is one thing I know nothing about.

we could also instead fly back to the UK however very concerned about waiting times. 

so the question is.  if this is what's needed Where's the best place to go and terrible to say but I'm not made of money so price if a great deal is a concern, 

morning all.

arriving in chiang mai on 18th March 9am and need a rental car until 4th April.

any recommendations please that do NOT need a credit card, debit card is OK, but not credit.  my thai wife and me (UK, with international driving permit) to drive.  

it's seems almost easier to just get married again in Thailand instead of updating there information 

good morning guys.

my Thai wife and I married in the UK about 2 years ago. 

her thai passport & ID both still have her maiden name on. 

she is currently back in Thailand visiting family in chiang mai and she wants to change her Thai paperwork to the married name also. 

she has English banks and driving licence in married surname however all her Thai paperwork and visa paperwork use maiden name.

she went to the local government office with her UK marriage certificate and UK driving licence in hand and tried to change her surname but was sent away being told she needed British embassy and MFA paperwork, translations and things certified.  and also had to register the marriage in Thailand then also change names on the tabien bahn at whatever property she is listed on, but no longer lives at to Thailand before anything can be done.

is it really that hard to do ?

would it be easier to be done in UK London Thai embassy on her return

Hi Guys.

got to book my wedding at the registry office .. 
i know Thais like there lucky Buddha days ????

how do I find out which are good.bad days so i can pretend to give good suggestions lol

looking at some time just after 10th June i think

Hi guys 

Been waiting for an important EMS package that was posted from BKK to Ban Chang.  Tracking shows it was posted last week on Wednesday afternoon. And arrived at siricha post sorting office late thurday night. 

I translated the thai post website and I think it said it resumed today (16th) but assume it didn't as parcel tracking not changed.

Anyone know when 'normal' postal services resume? 

Hi Guys .

can't see a section dedicated to this question .. so as it related to the Mrs and her migration to UK posting here.

fingers crossed the Mrs has her passport with visa tomorrow . immigration lawyer in UK we used on her application says he things its a 95% yes ., as he says they email him the refusal letter if denied with 14 days appeal option. and he's only had the notification of postage.. 

so next step is looking for her flight ... 

looking at BKK-BHX, BKK-LON, BKK-MAN ... oh my god there so expensive at the moment !! 

is skyscanner/kayak the best place to look or do the thai travel agents have good deals ?

looked at 1 way and return as sometimes return is cheaper than 1 way but anything with a reasonable stopover is £1000+ .

found a nice one for next tueday for £252 but 60 hours travel time haha ... thing the mrs would kill me if i got that !

reminds me of my 1st time ever in Thailand 15 years ago . 
i was fortunate enough to of persuaded the company that i was working for that i they would fund a 4 days break for me in LOS on my way to Los Angeles USA.. so flew BIRMINGHAM-DUBAI-BANGKOK-TAIPAI-LOS ANGELES with a the 4 days 1st trip ever to Pattaya.

The Immigration officer in LA/USA took great interest in my passport .. i think he must of suspected at least a little bit that i could of been running drugs from Thailand .. so he asked a lot of questions.. luckily he was a man ???? .. i gave him a in depth review of pattaya go go bars and confessed to be newly divorced and having the time of my life. ..  he was happy with my replies and he even said .. 'your not going to have that much fun here !' ... he was right ????

The wife just got her SMS saying her processed visa application was ready for collection today (10th April) .. followed by the 'will be delivered to chosen address' .
does anyone know which days the post office does NOT deliver over Songkran. ? shes near ban chang rayong area. 

and how long after the SMS it normally takes it to arrive .. 1 . 2 . 3 Days ?  got no tracking info off them as i suspect she put that piece of paper in the pack sent to Sheffield by accident lol

Hi guys.

Applied for UK  settlement Visa for the Mrs . Biometrics done 21st Feb. .

As per an old thread of mine the vfs website cocked up and took my money for priority service . That's all sorted now and they updated her application about 2 weeks ago to priorty .

Just wondering if the UKVI paid email service for enquires is worth the trouble for updates.  Do they reply with a general 'it's in the pile' answer or give a useful update. 

20 hours ago, KneeDeep said:

Don't panic. If they are UK cards, you will get your money back...eventually.

You are protected under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/86/86-consumer-credit.htm

 

So if no service is provided, you will get your money back. 

 

The debit card is a bit different; https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback/ though again, you will get your money back if no service is provided.

21 hours ago, sandyf said:

I feel your pain, a couple of years ago I had a problem with VFS and a payment. I had made the payment and it had gone from my account but they rang my wife and said it hadn't been paid, the first time my wife just said she would check. A couple of days later they rang back again saying it still hadn't been paid, I took the phone and told them the money had left my account at a certain time on a certain date but it was like talking to a brick wall. It was a Friday afternoon going into a holiday so there was little could be done to the Tuesday. Sure enough Tue morning another call and I had had enough I just said if she didn't sort it I would be phoning the British Embassy. First time she drew breath, put the phone down and within an hour they had found the payment.

Following that call I got an email from this address [email protected] , I know its the Canadian office next door to the UK but may be worth a try, logically the UK could be [email protected] . Also the general email but may be a no reply  [email protected]

This is the telephone number from the email, again may be worth a try.

Please note our new helpline number is +66 2 1187007

 

Failing that it may be worth sending an email to the British Embassy in Bangkok but it would be best to avoid the word visa and refer to it as a customer service issue, more chance of it getting read. Try the following emails

[email protected] (consular assistant)
[email protected]

[email protected]

Many thanks for that information
2 of the transactions have gone from pending to fully paid , 1 on credit card, the other the debit card
i've had an an email exchange with VFS helpline and they asked for the bank statements and said thye would forward the info to there payments provider.
and the UKVI helpline referred me back to there premium rate email and phone service who already said its not them its vfs i have to speak to.

my bank (metro bank) , the one i used with the debit card are still being difficult insisting only VFS being the receiver can do a refund, but armed with the new info posted above i will try again today.

1 hour ago, KhaoYai said:

Your bank knows where it sent the payment, money is not just sent into cyberspace - the recepient has an account number. Your bank can tell you where the money was sent to so if this is a genuine transaction and not fraud, you will be able to obtain that evidence and show it to VFS.

if i was in Thailand ... it would not be so hard. 
sorting this out from the UK though i think is not going to be easy.
and have you been to VFS office in BKK ? 1st hurdle the reception on ground floor.. the girl there directs you to the appropriate floor for your country ,  then the reception on the UK floor only deals with paperwork and puts you to the next waiting room.
theres no visible accounts/billing/financial area that can be accessed by the public to even start make inquires about payments made on there website.

and thats even if the these types of thing are even dealt with in that building and not in another office in India or somewhere.

ever tried to get a refund at homepro ! .. thats a mission in itself even when you have a receipt.. lol 
now think of trying that at VFS with nothing other than a bank statement in your hand

14 minutes ago, blackcab said:

No problems here:

 

ok..
there seems to be a character limit .. 'test' works ..
but it does not tell you if you hit the limit .
trying to shorten it now
groan .. had to shorten the complain so much that is ceased to make sense.
'VFS thailand payment system for payments for priority visa applications is broken . it has taken over £3000 out of my bank and says failed transaction'

was all it would allow

1 minute ago, blackcab said:

As you received an online service relating to Thailand, you can complain here:

 

https://www.ukvi-complaints.homeoffice.gov.uk/who

 

UKVI define a complaint as: An expression of dissatisfaction about services provided by or on behalf of UKVI that requires a response."

that does not work either!

you get to the end and get and error on submit

there could be merit in thaivisa sending out a warning to not make payments on the VFS website until they can confirm this is fixed .. there cannot only be 2 of us who this has happened to in the last few days .. 

4 minutes ago, LucysDad said:

 

 

No.... VfS system shows declined transaction.

 

 

I have evidence of the transaction authorisation code - and by Tuesday the transaction will be showing on my online card statement.

 

 

That is sufficient evidence of payment for when my missus submits her application next Friday.

you think ??? 
i suspect they will just say its not gone thru .. therefore not paid .. 
i have the authorization codes for all 3    .. but i really think in the thai way they will just say .. mr . you not pay ... there computer say no . 

or even worse they will say they will look into it.. 

i really want to know if priority visa service can be purchased when you get there .   I've read on other countries VFS staff try and sell it whne your there .. but no idea if they do for UK ... if my mrs can buy it there i'll tell her to then i can relax mentally and just try and get the refunds for the 3 * 44,000 baht already paid

6 minutes ago, LucysDad said:

 

 

It's OK, mine is not a loss - I have evidence of the payment transaction.

 

 

It was a credit card.

you got a receipt from the VFS system ? i have the bank transactions on the statement .. but alas on VFS it still shows unpaid

14 minutes ago, LucysDad said:

 

 

I don't believe so.

 

Today i went online to book the courier return, sms service and 'keep my passport when applying'.... 3,015 Baht in total.

 

i had a message to say the transaction was declined - I have that in black and white in front of me.

 

 

I just called Nationwide, my card provider, who confirmed that GBP 76.40 was approved earlier today - and they gave me the authorisation code that applied to the transaction.

yes !   sorry for your loss ...   but now i know its not only me .

was yours a credit or debit card

if like me a debit card my bank are saying only VFS can reverse it .. and of course there system is saying unpaid so trying to get through to them is not easy

7 minutes ago, virtualm said:

Ok understood, so did you receive two payment emails from them?

 

You obviously have your reason for paying the 43k super priority visa, but that's just crazy money.

 

Still hope you get it sorted

 

 

yes ... got main gov emails .. and the main application fee is paid . and done.
the reason for the super priority .. was we really only wanted the priority which is 30 working days .. but once we had uploaded all the 400 pages of paperwork to the vfs online portal which you have to do it seems to use there priority services the option for normal priority had gone .. and only super priority remained ... its and extra 20k baht ... so we decided in for penny in for a pound ..
also having read a few posts on here by ppl saying they applied last year in july and still had no reply it was not a hard descision  

its was 100% the VFS website. not a fake one.
this is money for the extra services provided .. not the main visa application fee that is paid for on the gov website.

after paying for the visa application and having booked the appointment you can then regsiter on the vfs website ... and buy services such as prioty lounge, scanning etc .. and also priory and super priority applications ... this is where the problem is

you only part with extra funds on the VFS website IF you are buying extra services such as these ...  normal applications without priorty payments do not suffer there payment system , 

do they even offer upgrade to priority application at the center itself when applying .,, or can it be only done in this crazy faulty online system .   other countries i've read about ppl paying for the express priority service when they attend . but for UK VFS i've seen no mention of it (other than there website)

1 hour ago, Formaleins said:

 If those swine had taken that from me I would be on a plane and at their door the next day or sooner. If I couldn't get there then my wife would be high tailing it on my behalf. There must be a way to contact them. Does Thaialnd not have a Directory Enquiries Service? If they do, see if you can get the number for Trendy Building and see if someone there can help get you through. I do not believe those people do not have a phone, they just don't want to give the number out. Terrible people down there and a terrible service for anyone living outside Bangkok! Good luck with your money.

 

They have a Facebook and Twitter account - just Google it as this site won't let me post links. The Australians are on the same floor next to VFS UK, give them a ring and see if they can give you a number or even a contact, their number is 02118 87100. (Usually find that any other country is more helpful than what you will get from the British Embassy or VFS - they seem to think their citizens are just dogs!)

The VFS UK Facebook page has a CONTACT US - Link, it says "usually replies within 1 day" so maybe try that too.

i've tried them on twitter and facebook .  amazing that on twitter they are boasting in all there tweets about introducing new support phone lines , but nearly all of them are for india and other countries . not a mention of anything for the UK users.  
no replies of any sort as yet but it is the weekend.

thought about just jumping on a plane but i'm convinced that as a global company there payments are handled by yet another 3rd party and they will just fob me off. 
when paying it goes to something called 'digitpay' then i also noticed siampay diverts on the web browser

what makes it so infuriating is i can already imagine the conversation with them .. there going to ask for the receipt. but as there system said failed no receipt was generated . and the bank statements are showing 'asiapay*vfs(thailand) bangkok tha'