In dire straits following a UK pension service form that didn't reach me.

[Ossy]

I guess the title says it all. TPS say they sent me a 'Life Certificate', last Aug. Next thing is their notifying me (by letter dated 27 Nov; rec'd Fri 14 Dec) of failure to return form and stopping my pension payments as of 3 Dec. By midday, Mon 17 Dec I had the necessary 'proof of life' requirements and the replacement form was air-mailed to TPS. That was 22 days ago, accepting it spanned the Xmas/NY period, my pension pmts remain unpaid and my Thai wife and I are feeling the pinch.

My big question is, how reliable is the Thai Post office and is there a recommended course of action for complaining about mail lost-in-post? Knowing that the UK Post Office now comes 2nd to the US in the reliability stakes makes me curious as to how Thailand fares. Any advice will be welcome.

[ivor bigun]

I guess the title says it all. TPS say they sent me a 'Life Certificate', last Aug. Next thing is their notifying me (by letter dated 27 Nov; rec'd Fri 14 Dec) of failure to return form and stopping my pension payments as of 3 Dec. By midday, Mon 17 Dec I had the necessary 'proof of life' requirements and the replacement form was air-mailed to TPS. That was 22 days ago, accepting it spanned the Xmas/NY period, my pension pmts remain unpaid and my Thai wife and I are feeling the pinch.
My big question is, how reliable is the Thai Post office and is there a recommended course of action for complaining about mail lost-in-post? Knowing that the UK Post Office now comes 2nd to the US in the reliability stakes makes me curious as to how Thailand fares. Any advice will be welcome.

Just recieved a christmas card here in Pattaya,it was sent nearly 3 weeks before xmas from England Go figure.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Crossy]

32 minutes ago, Ossy said:

By midday, Mon 17 Dec I had the necessary 'proof of life' requirements and the replacement form was air-mailed to TPS.

Did you use a tracking service like EMS? The extra $$ is worth it for important docs.

 

Stuff from Thailand, even non-tracked, seems to reach the UK in a week or so (my limited experience YMMV).

 

It's also worth scanning the stuff before you send and emailing to TPS.

 

[Kwasaki]

This happened to me and being discussed on a forum already. 

[OJAS]

22 hours ago, Ossy said:

the replacement form was air-mailed to TPS. That was 22 days ago,

My witnessed Life Certificate took just 8 days to get to Wolverhampton using the standard Airmail service.

 

Suggest you give IPC a bell to check whether yours has now safely arrived and been duly processed. That's what I did in the case of mine.

Edited January 9, 2019 by OJAS

[dick dasterdly]

I assume TPS is Teachers' Pensions Service?

 

The same thing has happened to me recently.  They sent me a 'proof of life' form which I completed and returned at the beginning of last November, but noticed that I did not receive the end of December payment.....

 

I'm lucky in that it doesn't really matter - as long as it is eventually sorted out!

 

I've sent them a letter enclosing the EMS slip and a copy of the completed 'proof of life' form and am now waiting to see what happens.

 

Has something gone wrong with the Teachers' Pensions Service?

[Ossy]

40 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

I assume TPS is Teachers' Pensions Service?

 

The same thing has happened to me recently.  They sent me a 'proof of life' form which I completed and returned at the beginning of last November, but noticed that I did not receive the end of December payment.....

 

I'm lucky in that it doesn't really matter - as long as it is eventually sorted out!

 

I've sent them a letter enclosing the EMS slip and a copy of the completed 'proof of life' form and am now waiting to see what happens.

 

Has something gone wrong with the Teachers' Pensions Service?

I guess you were a teacher, dd, back in the day. No, TPS stands for The Pension Service, the UK pension service having decided to include the definite article in their name, maybe thinking that PS may get confused with other things. They're certainly taking the ps out of me, though, as they battle their way thro' the hundreds - thousands, maybe - of expats 2nd sendings. Thanks, anyway.

[NE1]

I had to wait 5 weeks for every bit of correspondence to arrive from the U.K. from my private pension company . 

Every time there was a discrepancy , another 5 week wait . Everything was sent surface mail .

They wouldn't even send documents by e-mail . Apparently sending documents here by surface mail ,  is more secure than using e-mail. 

That was their policy.

Edited January 11, 2019 by NE1

[losworld]

On 1/8/2019 at 5:16 PM, Crossy said:

Did you use a tracking service like EMS? The extra $$ is worth it for important docs.

 

Stuff from Thailand, even non-tracked, seems to reach the UK in a week or so (my limited experience YMMV).

 

It's also worth scanning the stuff before you send and emailing to TPS.

 

or easier yet just snap a few pics for backup

[Ossy]

52 minutes ago, losworld said:

or easier yet just snap a few pics for backup

Thanks, losworld. In hindsight, given the gist of most responses, my OP does wrongly place my questioning of the Thai Post Office's reliability on the outward mail that I returned to TPS. Although this continued delay in reinstating my payments is quite a nuisance, my main Thai Post query was regarding the incoming original Life Certificate that failed to reach me, thus triggering the 'dire straits' situ, and that does pose a question that causes me more than a little grief. About a month ago, I read somewhere on the net that Thai Post routinely dismisses postmen, following non-delivery complaints and the thought that my current problem could have been caused by our postman having failed to place this TPS mail in my hand, as they normally prefer to do (as opposed handing it to a relative or a neighbour) does make me more than a little angry, anger which only gets amplified by the almost guaranteed arrival of the mail in question at my local post office, from where the postman collects his delivery rounds. Hmmm! ????

[mfd101]

Persuading your pension people to enter the C21st could be useful ... It can be done, and mostly is in my experience in the case of the Australian equivalents. They even accept digital signatures these days. Heavens! what is the world coming to?

 

On the rare occasions when a letter comes (invariably airmail) from Oz, it generally takes about 2 months to arrive here in Surin ...