sandmonster

My wife fell for the scam. I ordered a mechanical keyboard through Shopee, from a reseller in China.  But decided to cancel the order before it was dispatched as I found a better deal elsewhere.  However the details of the order were somehow leaked to a scammer a few weeks later. The wife got a call from the courier for a keyboard from a Bangkok seller for COD for exactly the same amount as the one I had cancelled. She assumed it was mine and paid for it. When I got home I opened it and inside there was a cheap nasty $5 keyboard. Shopee didnt wanna know even though someone is leaking their data. I tracked down the actual sender of the package on the labels to a an address in Bangkok with a Line ID. I suspect they are not the scammer but were fulfilling a drop ship order from the scammer. I sent a message to the original seller in China and the Bangkok shipper saying they are involved in this scam and I would report to the police and Shopee. To my surprise they agreed to take it back and refund me the full amount. So I returned the crappy keyboard using Kerry's COD service and got a full refund. 

On 4/13/2021 at 2:03 PM, Pattaya Spotter said:

Nothing like a little racism to brighten the day.

Entitled white privilege never fails to rear it's ugly head on TV.

On 1/15/2020 at 5:20 PM, Captain 776 said:

I did mine in Chiang Mai 40 minutes, new Retirement and multiple entry.

extremely efficient.

Thats nice to know as I am gonna do mine in a few months there. So they can renew the 1 year extension on the same day you walk in to apply ( assuming everything is in order ) ? Bit concerned as I am travelling the following week so if it takes a while I may have to delay my trip. 

8 hours ago, SheungWan said:

A disaster if the timing is wrong.

So what isnt a disaster when the timing is wrong ? ????

10 minutes ago, SuwadeeS said:

 

3. This statistics reflects nothing, because, they do not use one equal standard for

    all the countries. 

 

 

Surely this statistic proves chinese cheat in UK exams too ???? . Just helping you reinforce your "beliefs"

2 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

That's true, China is one of the "has beens" together with Rome and the British Empire. Communism destroyed pretty much everything as it always does. In the last 10 or so years they've gotten good at copying stuff and abusing their native population for producing cheap <deleted>, as well as digital warfare and fake news. I remember when Japan used to be the copy-copy place, they managed to proceed from there. If China managed to get rid of the commies, which I don't see happening any time soon, the future could be bright. But not as it is now.

They copied 5G. I know because Trump says so ????

14 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

So where are the Chinese inventions?

 

We talk using the internet that originated in laboratories in the US, UK, and France

 

Electricity, cars, planes, antibiotics, and everything you can think off - nothing from China or Thailand.

 

Name one service or product that people use and originates from China. You can't, because it doesn't exist. They just close their market and copy what someone else invented.

Geez..the ignorance here on TV is more astounding than the xenophobia ????.

Here, if you can read English a bit better than Thai 15 year olds,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions

2 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

Both your confusion on causation vs correlation along with a misunderstanding of ethnicity vs education would likely mean you’d feature quite badly on any reasoning test.

The ginger kid in the picture the translator ? ????

16 hours ago, DrTuner said:

They seem to be good in passing exams. Applying what they have memorized to real world situations seems to escape them though. 

That old chestnut lol. PISA is actually designed to test application of knowledge to real world problems ????.  Maybe they cheated again ????

From Wiki,

"The PISA mathematics literacy test asks students to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems set in real-world contexts. To solve the problems students must activate a number of mathematical competencies as well as a broad range of mathematical content knowledge. TIMSS, on the other hand, measures more traditional classroom content such as an understanding of fractions and decimals and the relationship between them (curriculum attainment). PISA claims to measure education's application to real-life problems and lifelong learning (workforce knowledge)."

20 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:

China cheated their way to 1st place as they always do

 

I certainly don't see the intelligence when I happen to accidentally book a 4* or 5* hotel frequented by Chinese

I went to school in England and the chinese kids always cheated their way to 1st place too ???? !

Here's some evidence, rather than TV xenophobia. ???? 

https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/think-leicester/education/2016/against-the-odds-ethnic-minority-students-are-excelling-at-school

19 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

The article says two different things.

 

That the top three tourist patients were French, Russian and Chinese.

 

That half of all (not just the ones in the top 3) tourist patients didn't pay their bills.

 

Any bets that it is mostly Chinese, but they don't want to say so?

 

 

 

 

All bets are off. I am sure Chinese will be no 1 by some huge margin.

You need me to explain the stats to you below ?  ????

http://www.atta.or.th/statistics-international-tourists-arriving-in-thailand-as-of-29-february-2016/

19 hours ago, FarangULong said:

Anyone with a half decent credit card already has travel insurance. I do with both of mine (even though the insurance on my main card is more than enough, as it includes everything incl. being flown home in a medical plane, if needed). Problem solved. And if someone doesn't even qualify for a credit card, maybe they shouldn't be travelling and get their life in order instead.

 

On a side note, when I read "3 nationalities", I immediately thought: "Gee, let's see. I'll go with Chinese and probably Russian." French does, admittedly, surprise me though.

You go with Chinese immediately because of your prejudices or because of this statistic ?

http://www.atta.or.th/statistics-international-tourists-arriving-in-thailand-as-of-29-february-2016/

Based on that bar chart I would go with China, Russia and Japan. Yes the French appear to be an outier. Cant be !.. they are white europeans ???? 

1 hour ago, cme said:

Since I first came here the $, Eu and £ have all fallen at least 3-40% against the Baht. This means all imported food should be at least 30% cheaper than than they were at that time, even compensating for manufacturers increases. However, what happens is that prices increase each year, usually at a rate corresponding to the rate they should fall. This means massive and incredible profits are being made, year in year out for the handful of powerful families that control everything that enters Thailand. It's perfect for them, with their ever more and stronger Baht profits they can purchase more and more cheaper $, overseas properties etc etc. Should the Baht ever fall, then they can bring back the overseas profits for even more Baht. What's not to like?

If the product source cost has fallen say 30%, the overall drop in total cost of the product to the retailer on the shelves won't be anywhere near 30%. The reasons are that the actual cost to land a product on the shelf has a lot of costs which are not in the source currency e.g in US$ ( freight ), or Baht ( logistics, warehousing, retail costs, salaries, marketing, dividends etc ). You might be surprised to find that the actual product in source currency is only a small proportion of the final selling price. Depends on the product but the actual ex-factory price of the product might be say 20% of the retail price. So in that case, only the 20% portion has fallen by 30%, whilst the majority baht costs probably rise each year.

Thailand is not a place one associates with bargains in diamonds. The market is simply too small as its culturally insignificant. Unless you are very very knowledgeable about the industry, never buy a stone without a certificate from either the AGS or the GIA. Even then, it doesn't stop you getting a stone that only looks good on paper. But better than buying blind. I suggest a good starting point is acquiring as much knowledge about the 4Cs as possible online. The whole diamond thing is a scam, so the more you know, the better questions you can ask and the less fleeced you will end up..

If you want to know how much you are getting fleeced by your local specialist, try comparing target stones with similar specs from the big reputable online dealers like bluenile or jamesallen

Good luck !

My house had reflective foil on the underside of the roof as standard. In addition, I chose to add the thickest StayCool insulation during the build. I am SO glad I did. My neighbours who only have the reflective foil are amazed how much cooler my house is especially upstairs. It really is night and day. When I go to my friends house nearby with only the reflective stuff, its like a furness in comparison.

Whatever the science, my 5 years real world experience says it works and was well worth it. 

16 hours ago, Isaan sailor said:

OK, we’re painfully aware of these foreign inflows that have devastated our currencies.  Now tell us WHO it or they are.

i can make an educated guess...

One certain culprit since end of May has been foreign investors. Huge purchases by global tracker funds after MSCI increased Thailands weighting in various indices in May.

4 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

This is not the point we were making. Yes they outspend because there's so many of them. The point was that per person they do not.

 

Sorry to disappoint you..they outspend Europeans per day per person. You still not tried Google ? I will help you...

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism-income-Thailand.asp

Sorry to shatter your illusions, but Europeans are the cheap chairlies .

32 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Come to Chiang Mai. The only policemen you will see are the ones who are at checkpoints for scooters or rarely for cars. Ok, very, very rarely they check clubs in the night for drugs and underage people. But I never saw it personally. 

Not forgetting the wonderful jolly rush hour traffic police without whom you would ever be able to do a U turn on any major road in rush hour. 

On 6/26/2019 at 3:13 AM, BestB said:

Well that’s in total contradiction to our Thai visa experts who claim Chinese outspend Europeans. 

 

Would appear Chinese spending does not make up for loss of European money . 

Thai Visa experts simply Google it. Like it or not, every article says Chinese outspend Europeans on holiday here. Try it sometime ????

Chinese numbers have been declining since last year's Pattaya incident. Loss in European AND Chinese money mitigated somewhat by increases from India, ME, Asia etc who are probably even bigger spenders than even the Chinese.

15 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

It's not the baht going up it's the dollar and pound going down.

Not quite. The GBP is a basket case agreed and continues its downtrend. The USD has been extremely strong until about the last few weeks after the Fed indicated rates will fall. Only the Yen was stronger than the Baht in 2018. This year the Baht remains one of the strongest, so far. So Baht has been going up.

5 hours ago, CMNightRider said:

The Thai government do not want westerners living in Thailand anymore.  Their loony requirement to deposit 800,000 in a Thai bank is an example of how to rid westerns from Thailand.  

 

Westerners tend to pose a problem for police state governments.  Westerners think they are entitled to free speech, right to a fair trial and other crazy ideas, which police states bristle at the mere thought of.  The party is over for westerners.  The Thai leaders would prefer to have Chinese citizens to replace them.  These people are used to living in a restrictive environment. ???? 

So it is cheaper than 800K for chinese to stay. Do they get special exemptions against breaking the law ?  

On 4/25/2019 at 3:56 AM, Thaidream said:

 

While it is true that an exodus of Westerners will not have a huge impact on the overall Thai  balance of payments- the exodus if it actually occurs will be felt in such places  with large concentration of Westerners such as Chang Mai; Phuket; Pattaya; Bangkok and Udorn.  These type of long stay foreigners will NOT be replaced by long stay Chinese who tend to return home after a few weeks.

 

Pop down to CM immigration and ask the officials which country is applying for over 50% of long stay and retirement visa's. Its Chinese. I asked when doing my extension just 2 months ago. My local coffee shop is often occupied by middle class chinese kids having private tuition in English by a young english speaking teacher. Credit to them, their English at age 10 is much much better than your average Thai Uni grad. I know Koreans who bring their kids to Thailand for an international school education. I would guess the chinese are now following. The East Asians put a high value on a good education.

Limits are typically set by your issuing bank. HOWEVER, in an ATM there is a physical number of notes the mechanism can dispense in one withdrawal. This limitation is normally based on the model of ATM and configure in the software. Take into account that ATMs typical hold different denominations in their cassettes and some may run out of some before others.

A counter cash withdrawal is different from an ATM withdrawal, and again your issuer may set its limits accordingly. It may be same, different, and then lumped together in a wider cash limit.