luudee

Now if I could just find a nice guitar teacher for my daughter, I would be thrilled !!!

luudee

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Holy crap. I thought slightly over 200 bt was expensive for meds. They really took you for a ride.

That is such a dumb comment to make without knowing the treatment that he got ...

Attached are two pics that show how I chose to do the final finishing of

my windows (and doors). As you might recall from my previous posts, when

the workers ripped out the old windows they broke off pieces of concrete

around the windows, and their method of fixing them, to fill the big holes

with silicone.

I knew I was going to re-paint the house after the window job anyway, and

asked them not to try to finish the outside walls.

As we where getting ready to repaint, we cleaned out all the silicone they

did squirt in various holes and around the frame.

We used proper fillers to repair the walls. Than primer and paint.

As a final step we installed L brackets over the wall edges and than sealed

all seems with UV resistant acrylic sealant. The L brackets we used where

quite big (6 cm) and had to be cut to properly fit on the window side.

All windows frames are about 1 cm from the wall edge towards the inside of

the house.

This look might appeal to everybody, but my main concern was the wall edges

cracking open over time and water sipping in (as it happened when the original

windows where installed).

I hope this will last !

Cheers,

luudee

Take a look here if you haven't yet ...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/204156-pvc-windows-in-pattaya/page-3

I think it is time to post a follow up.

As you can see from this thread I had PVC windows installed by ARC. I also had

4 A/C units installed by them around the same time.

Since then, my regular contact at ARC (Khun Tum) quit. And my alternative has

been the other thai staff or one of the farang managers.

I have been very disappointed with the after sales service and one repair request.

It appears as I have to send at least a half dozen emails and make at least 10 phone

calls before any attention is given or somebody follows up. This includes the farang

manager (will not post his name here - I do have his full contact).

I gave up on having the A/Cs serviced by them and contracted another company for that.

When Khun Tum was still there, any single email/SMS/voice mail got returned the same

or next day. She was really great. Without her, I feel the entire company is worthless.

Even though their installation team with the back than German supervisor did an OK job.

Now, about a year later, I can see where they replaced the stainless steel screws with

regular screws (which are starting to rust) and am I going around and am trying to replace

them ... I am not sure I would chose ARC today again ... would take a very very careful

look at the competition. When I did chose them, they where the best deal in my case (25

windows, 3 x 5m sliding doors, and one 5m swing door).

I will post an update on my windows finishing in the next couple of days. I made some

changes to what they did on original installation ...

luudee

Dear inwardglee,

I'd like to disagree with your point "f".

There is no way in hell I will hire a farang run contractor in pattaya ever

again. Every single time, the sweat talking shits have screwed me over. Most

of them, just hire some cheap thai subcontractors, who do a shitty job and

do not answer to you.

I have much better luck dealing with Thais, as you can always negotiate with

them if you keep your cool as they are messing things up (learn Thai or have

a *cool hearted* girl friend interact with them).

I have dealt with farang companies from the US to Europe, and every single

one (farang biz) in the construction business is a rip off. Most guys have

started construction after they came to Thailand, but will try to convince

you they know something about it. They are clueless and you will pay for

their mistakes.

BTW, I do speak a bit of thai ...

luudee

Susan,

for 100 baht per day there is no chance you will find somebody.

My father in law drives my kids and their cousins, and he hates it (morning

traffic is hell he sais). For 100 baht that will just pay for gas and a bit

of the car.

And, as other have pointed out, I would not trust a stranger with my kids ...

Better of drive them yourself !

good luck !

luudee

The .69 baht/unit is the fuel tariff (fuel tax based on costs for fuel to produce the electricity). That value is standard nation wide.

http://www.mea.or.th/profile/index.php?l=en&tid=3&mid=2986&pid=2985

Thank you so much for the explanation !!!

luudee

Many thanks for the link ...

I have been wondering about my electricity bill for a long time.

I have a large house with a pool, and consume about 2500 Kwh per month.

So I fall in to the "1.2 Normal tariff with consumption exceeding 150 kWh per month" category, and the numbers almost make sense.

Except, in addition to the tarif listed on the website, I have another line item on my bill, it specifically lists and additional 0.69 baht per kwh.

I can not figure out what that means.

So for last month, I used 2588 kwh.

I get charged per table 1.2 9998,90 baht.

Than they add an additional 1782.72 baht (0.69 @ 2588)

And than 7% vat

So the total bill comes to 12,609.54

Anybody has something similar ?

thanks,

luudee

Hello Everybody !!!

First of all thank you all for your support and suggestions !

I am truly overwhelmed !

As I said in my original post, this was my nephew. I did relay all the recommendations

and suggestions to the Thai side of the family but had to respect what they decide to do.

Which was unfortunately not enough (in my opinion). They went to the school, to complain.

Apparently the teacher was very apologetic and sorry. And it was enough for the Thais

to settle the matter at this point.

Not enough in my opinion, I would have liked to see her be fired at least ... But I can

not force the Thais to fight either ...

I did name the school in the original post, so I hope that will make the rounds eventually ...

Again, many , many thanks to all of you for your support, it means a lot !

Thank YOU!

luudee

What a joke ! Sounds like the military guys want to collect their tea money

as well ! And whoever doe snot pay up (enough) gets blamed ...

Nothing new, just different players ....

luudee

On reflection OP, I think your nephew isn't being honest with you.

Kids do not get beaten when they fail exams.

If you take this matter up with the police or school headmaster, I

think much more will come out regarding this beating.

I appreciate your skepticism. I too had my doubts at the beginning.

But after the grandfather (who is also the driver who brings the

kids to school and back (total of 6 kids in our family)) talked

to other parents and they confirmed the abuse as well, I believe

the story.

I'll keep you guys updated as things progress ....

luudee

Get the full story first.

Do you speak fluent Thai? Does your nephew speak fluent English? Who else have you spoken to to corroborate his story?

No, not fluent.

This is my nephew. I have to kids of my own, half thai, 12 and 10 years

old, I trust their interpretation.

The grand-father of my nephew has been in contact with other parents,

3 other students got beaten up even worth ...

I have no doubt he is telling the truth.

luudee

Numchai has been recommended several times.

 
Ive used NUMCHAI for many years and always been pleased with them until this week.
 
I had a service booked in with them for Monday this week and sure enough they turned up etc, but all they did was a very very fast wash with pressurised water only of the internals and a external basic wash of the compressor.  No cleaning agents at all... I felt that was a waste of time compared to previous services...it cost a reasonable 450 Baht, but not a very good job..they took about 15 minutes from arrival to leaving.

FYI, PK Air was here for at least two hours. My A/C was really
low on gas, and one of the guys had to go back and get a second
tank of gas ...

I was very surprised that the bill was that low ...

luudee

OMG, just called "NT Air Service, just off Thrappasit - tel 089-9361910"

Asked how much a gas refill would be, was told it is about 2,500 baht per unit !!!

Are they nuts ?

 
There's a big difference in the amount of gas needed for a refill compared to a top up.
 
They quoted you for a refill, that's why it was 2500bt.

I'm not aware of any situation where a literal *refill* is needed.
I apologize for using the wrong term here ...

A native thai speaker called them, and explained that a "top-up" was needed.
Specifically it was explained that the A/C was "low on gas" ...

I am sure they understood correctly.

In my opinion this was a rip-off attempt ....


luudee

If anybody knows them and/ or a link to them, I'd appreciate it.

Not Pattaya specific but the main one is the Paveena Foundation. Unfortunately can not find a functional website for her organization but here is one link.

http://www.survivorsconnect.org/map/reports/view/301

Thank you Tywais !!! That's one of the ones I was looking for !!!

luudee

"PK Air on Thepprasit Rd... 081-1777437 038-300913"

Just came by.

- Filled and cleaned up one A/C.
- Topped of a second unit
- Checked a 3rd unit

all 3 are inverters, need R410 ...

Charged me 500 baht (for everything) ! I tipped the boys another 500 baht, they did a great job ...

luudee

OMG, just called "NT Air Service, just off Thrappasit - tel 089-9361910"

Asked how much a gas refill would be, was told it is about 2,500 baht per unit !!!

Are they nuts ?

There is one or two foundations Pattaya I have read about, One is something

like "Women and Children Protective Services" and the other one is named after

some person ...

I see them periodically being mentioned in various posts, but of course now

that I want to find them, can't find either one ...

If anybody knows them and/ or a link to them, I'd appreciate it.

PS: It was a female teacher who did the beating, and apparently there are

3 more kids who got it worth ... great way to develop a math phobia ...

luudee

My nephew came home today all bruised up (see pics).

Apparently this was the teachers punishment for him doing

bad on a Math test. Is this the norm in Thailand ?

He goes to the Wat Boonsampan School in Pattaya ...

luudee

Typical response ... Mai pen rai, mai me pen ha ....

luudee

Happened to me a couple of years ago when my daughters where very

young. They charged a few bucks through my Google account. I simply

wrote a polite email to the company making the game and they where

very happy to refund the funds ...

I'd be surprised the makes on this game wouldn't do the same if

made aware of the situation ...

luudee