TravelerEastWest

25 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The checking and refilling of gas is in general a complete scam, just putting the gages on the system will allow a fractional discharge also the cycling of the Schrader valves has a significant chance of inducing leaks and it’s good practice to replace them each time they get used.

Thank you - I didn't know that!

3 hours ago, Excel said:

Wrong, and that misconception is exactly why most ac compressors fail.  But still frankly I couldn't care less. Ignorance of a subject is no justification for attempting to think you are right.

Sounds like you have had some bad experiences with AC units which is different than what others are posting. I wonder your ACs were not name brands such as Carrier and Daikon? Could that explain the difference in experience?

I have around 15 units in my office and home and almost never have a problem with once a year cleanings and the guy who comes out to do it only suggests once a year and he would suggest more often if he thought it a good idea as he makes money from the cleaning...

3 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

If the units are installed correctly, you should only have to clean your filter (I try to clean mine every month or two) and you may have to clean the condenser once a year. 

That's what I have experienced - although you are more diligent with your filter cleaning...

Simple answer - pay someone to care for your dog...

Why every 4 to 6 months for service?

We do them about once a year (Daikin and Carrier) and rarely have problems... But we are in Chiang mai so maybe not as much use as Bangkok?

Carrier has an interesting history in the AC industry but Daikin seems to have better parts availability in Thailand.

9 hours ago, Pib said:

You signed up for IDD which uses the SWIFT transfer system and allows payments to be sent to a regular, unrestricted savings acct at any Thai bank (i.e., Method 2 talked in one of my earlier posts in this thread).   

 

But if signing up for ACH which uses ACH transfer system and  routes the payment thru the Bangkok Bank NY branch,  then you would have had a Bangkok Bank restricted acct which does not allow a debit card or online withdrawal/outbound transfers....and withdrawal/outbound transfer must be done by visiting a branch (i.e., Method 1 talked earlier).  And no other Thai bank can receive payments via ACH.

 

The ACH method has been around for decades; the IDD method for Thailand only since 2019.

 

Correct - I understand...

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Covid regulations aside , getting my retirement extension has never ever

been so easy,  last time, few weeks ago , less than 1 hour in the office ,

who needs an agent , probable take same time.

I go to Chiang Mai Immigration and have done for years, getting up

in middle of the night to get in the que at the old office ,crammed into

a room, the smell,and air so thick in the hot months ..... then it temporary

moved to Promenada , getting there at 4.30 ,to sit in the line, only to

find there's  6 Burmese sitters , already there ,keeping the places for

agents....

Big Joke came to Chiang Mai Immigration and "sorted them out", the

improvements were welcome ,get all your paperwork in order ,and it's

not difficult, and you definitely don't need an agent, in my opinion.

regards worgeordie

 

When you need an appointment in Chiang mai for a marriage visa extension you need an agent. Otherwise it can take hours to wait compared to no waiting in and out in a few minutes... When you work and have to pick up children and school you will understand... Also having an agent keep up to date with the requirements and put all the forms together and check all signatures are there etc...

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

 

2 hours ago, bbko said:

Most government info is posted at a 8th grade reading level, when it comes to Thai visas, many problems arise with hearsay, rumors, half information, "somebody said" type stuff and the "special ED" types go and hire an agent claiming the bypass of a 1 hour wait is worth the multi thousand bath payment....555. 

If you're too dense to understand what others consider basic 8th grade reading level instructions, and want to claim hiring an agent is easier, have at it, enjoy paying triple/quadruple for a simple procedure.

Some of us are working long hours and have children - for us using an agent to get an appointment and be in and out of immigration in less than an hour is well worth it.

If I had lots of time and not much money I would do all the paperwork myself...

Most of the visa extension requirements are simple except when iO add or change things at the last minute and different offices require different things...

I am only concerned about income so I am OK and I keep buying a small amount regularly...

4 hours ago, Pib said:

I doubt a "letter" from SSA would be good enough but you could ask. 

 

However, a SSA 1099 Form should work as that listed on ID.me secondary docs list.  A SSA-1099 is the tax form the SSA sends you each year for income tax filing purposes.   

 

Or a Non-SSA 1099 Form should work as that's listed on ID.me secondary docs list.  To the best of my knowledge/googling a "non" SSA 1099 is a 1099 Form a civilian financial institution like a mutual fund company, bank, etc., reporting dividends/interest earned for tax filing purposes.

 

Just started this month getting SS so no 1099 yet... But the letter looks very official maybe it will work along with another form/letter from my old home state with an absentee ballot form which has my name and address.

Either way I can wait its not urgent...

Not sure about the no ATM rule for direct deposit as I just started receiving earlier this month a SS direct deposit to a  normal Bangkok Bank savings account which allows ATM cards.

As for filling out the form as with most things in Thailand you just need to politely patiently talk to teh bank - ask for teh manager if staff don't understand...

Many thanks for your detailed reply.

I got up to the point just before the video.

They agreed that I didn't have what they need on that day.

But I didn't think about my annual Bangkok Bank statement. I usually get one to renew my marriage visa. Also I do have my recent Social Security award letter which is in English and addresses to my Thai address - so perhaps that will work?

The reminder email is a great feature!

ID.me was not possible for me as I don't have a document in English to prove my current address. My Electric bill etc are in Thai.

But I recently got a Social security letter in english with my Thai address perhaps taht will worK?

"A document that provides/proves your current address, matches with what you submit for verification (Unfortunately, this is going to be one of the more difficult documents to submit as the document needs to be in English or provide an English translation)"

Online accounts are not always easy to setup - at least not for me - I have an American passport and social security number and family house in the States (as well as a house in Thailand where my social security mail goes to) but do not have a current US drivers license which may be my problem? Anyway I can't do an online account as they say they can't verify me...?

Going to the states to do SS paperwork is not an option for me for more than one reason...

So I may have to use our friends in Manila again - slow and poor communication skills but in the end they get the job done...

10 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Online,  as Reposed stated, or call and you will probably have the change effected a month earlier.

For me online is not possible - I got an error message that they could not match me to my social security or address or something like that - it wasn't clear...

I will try to call and if that doesn't work go through our friends in Manila...

7 minutes ago, Reposed said:

I have SS deposited run BKK Bank. I take out in person, but also via ATM, transfers to others, and debit card charges on Lazada, etc.

 

I did not set up a "special account" as someone mentioned earlier. The branch bank manager signed off on a 15 year old existing savings account.

 

Manilla SSA is horrible: incompetent, unknowledgeable, and generally unresponsive. Their English is sub-standard. I'd suggest you continue having your benefits deposited stateside, and using Wise to transfer to BKK Bank every quarter. 

 

I am in the process of changing back to just that.

I agree with your comments about Manila.

I am going to change from a Thai bank to US bank but I will send teh money once a year as the transfer fees are too high....

51 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I made my change online, from US bank to Thai bank. Took about a month.

Thank you.

But how do I do this?

I am in Thailand and do not visit America.

Update:

I just received my first Social Security payment to my normal Bangkok Bank savings account. Everything went smoothly but I think I will change to having the money sent to my American bank account and once a year sent to Thailand as the transfer/sending amount was too high.

Anyone know how long it takes to change to having the money sent to my American account?

Should I go through Maryland or the PI office? (I am in Thailand)

Worldwide income for Americans is taxed except for exceptions such as earned income to a certain amount etc.

if the US Thai tax treaty has an exemption for your certain investment you would be OK.

Not sure how wide you need but I wear a 9 - 6 E SL2 last (wide toe box) New Balance shoe and so far I have not found anything available in Thailand so I order from America - no problem at all just expensive. although I get them via my sister as I get other clothes at the same time.

Good luck with your shopping!

On 5/17/2022 at 3:24 AM, LukKrueng said:

Can you give a list of any other infectious diseases that anywhere in the world asymptomatic people or people with mild symptoms were regularly tested for enmass as for COVID over the last 2 years? Can you recall any situation in the past were people were considered as dendagrously infectious and as a threat to society until proving else by regular weekly medical tests?

I can understand the histery in the first couple of months, but it was proven long time ago that all hard measures taken by most governments around the world that nothing really helped. Sweden, a country that put no restrictions at all is in a much better situation than most other countries.

 

As for the vaccines - the biggest scam in the world. I talked to a teacher in a local school the other day. Nearly ALL teacher got infected after 3-4 jabs. Many of the students at that school got infected after 2 jabs. In 1 class 3 out of 16 students for infected, 1 of which was not vaccinated and had the same mild symptoms of the others.

Many of my vaccinated friends got infected. My son, unvaccinated was positive with no symptoms at the same time that many of his vaccinated classmates got infected AND symptomatic...

As for masks - there is not even 1 valid medical research that confirms they help against respitoral viruses. The only 2 real researchers (with randomly selected participants and a control group, not computer simulations) that were conducted and published recently (1 in Denmark and 1 in Bangladesh if I remember correctly) came to a conclusion that masks do NOT help. The Bangladesh research claimed something like 5% prevention rate in people over 50 years old and in certain conditions.

You are taking some information out of context.

Masks are not perfect (nor are vaccines) but properly sued are very helpful in slowing teh spread of covid lots of good information out there in support of tis here is just one example from the Mayo clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449

I notice that you have no links in support of masks not being useful...

Vaccines are what is saving us from many many more deaths and hospitalizations... plenty of information to support this. From what I read vaccines clearly help to prevent covid infections but even more important they help keep you out of the hospital and not dying - sounds good to me.

Again no one thing will protect you from COVID you need to get the vaccine and wear masks use alcohol and wash your hands and so on...

I wonder what the habits were of the teachers and students in your local school that you cite as an example? Also maybe even more important did teh get Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the less useful, Chinese vaccines?

Sweden: https://sweden.se/life/society/sweden-and-corona-in-brief

They have a high vaccination rating Sweden: Are you saying that the Swedish government didn't know what theywq ere doing and wasted their money ?

"Swedish Covid-19 vaccinations started in December 2020. At the end of March 2022, 87 per cent of the population aged 12 or older had been vaccinated with at least two doses. Of the population aged 18 or older, 62 per cent had been vaccinated with three doses."

Actually Sweden had restrictions but relied on a public information campaign to persuade citizens 

1 hour ago, paulikens said:

@dinsdale and they could have done that with flu, so thailand and the rest of the world didnt mind passing that to the elderly.  it's like there was never any viruses before covid. strange. 

The flu is very different - for example vaccines for most of the strains have been available for a long time.

1 hour ago, paulikens said:

@TravelerEastWest  depends what you're eating!

Certainly.

I have a garden and an orchard so lots of organic fruits and beans and vegetables as the base of my diet.

So my food is fresh with plenty of nutrients and clean.

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Masks are also useful in stopping the transmission of many viruses etc but completely useless when people pull them down to sneeze as I have seen here so many times. What about when your eating. Can't do that with a mask on. People talk whist they're eating, maybe cough and that's enough as this is airborne/aerosol transmission. So what's the point. Get up to go to the toilet and you have to put your mask up. Come back, sit down take your mask down and have a good old cough and if your infectious bingo you have just spread the virus. Again temp checks are nxt to useless as fever is not a common symptom of Omicron. Maybe the doctors you have asked should look at the ZOE institute's list of the most common symptoms. No.1 for Omicron B2 is a runny nose as it stands. This of course is interesting as we all get a runny nose now and again. Omicron? It would be really nice to have some sort of cheap and reliable test for antibodies just to see if you've had this without knowing it. 

Good point about eating outside and masks - I do not eat in restaurants since covid and have no intention of doing so in the near future. Eating at home is much healthier at least for me it is.

Good news if Delta does not exist anymore or new similar varieties can't evolve but I am not so sure about that so for now temperature checks seem useful although not as useful as before.