Thai Elite Headache

[marke985]

I have decided to come here to vent my frustration of what happened today during my Thai Elite Visa process.

 

1. I was originally told the immigration check took one month when applied.  Took 2 months 1 week. (This was forgiven as I assume the speed of immigration is out of there hands.

 

This was extra frustrating for me as I was denied entry into DMK for (not having a valid Visa as I was deemed not a tourist anymore) and sent back to the Philippines where I started the application process.  I bought another ticket to DMK a month later and allowed in. (I was told by an immigration officer when I was denied entry that If I came back in 30 days it wouldnt be a problem.

 

Got back in to Thailand and as soon as the immigration check passed my online account at Thailandelite.com showed I passed and gave me the option to Pay.  I choose to pay Visa credit card in 2 payments of 500,000 as the website offered.

 

* so here was my mistake as I was reminded multiple times today while on the phone with Pakinya Ploydee (E-Commerce and Sales Management from Thailand Elite).

 

The welcome letter I got sent a few days after my background check was approved clearly stated "please download the completed payment details or screen capture the full page of online payment which shown the completed status as a proof of payment"

 

This I forgot to do as I already made the 1 of 2 payments before I recieved the email and was using my profile portal on thailandelite.com as guidance during the whole process.

 

5 days after my 2nd payment of 500,000 cleared my credit card account I emailed my sales rep and asked for an update.  She told me (Please kindly send us proof of payment for your reference)

 

I emailed her back to please clarify as I do not and still do not know how to retrieve that information after closing out the window on the payment screen after making payment.  I did not get a reply for 4 more days.

 

Then my account on Thailandelite was updated as a member showing both payments of 500,000 and showing a Elite Superiority Extension Membership with date of issue and expiry date.

 

So I thought great, bought a return airline ticket to Bangkok and Roi et for next week and figured I better call Thailand elite and set up an appointment to get my Visa I paid 1,000,000 for.

 

Called the number from the website and asked how to I proceed.  Was transferred to my sales rep Pakinya Ploydee and she told me I never sent in proof of payment.

 

I asked her (what exactly do you want me to send) and she told me it was now too late.  She waited 5 days for payment and then decided to sign me up for the 5 year 500,000 baht Visa.

 

At this point I'm a little upset.  It started to feel like I was being scammed.  When I asked her why she would do that, her response was (you didn't confirm payment in time and other customers have signed up for the 20 year Visa and then changed their mind in the past.

 

She told me my options now are, accept the 5 year Visa and I will get a refund back to my credit card in about 30 days.

 

She can file a correction and change my Visa to the 20 year, but that will take 15 working days. (Which would be fine, except my current Visa expires in 10 days and I've already bought the plane tickets so I would be eating 5,000 baht and a round trip 3 hour bus ride to Laos for another Visa run)

 

I got extra annoyed when I asked her why she filed for a 5 year 500,000 Visa when no where in my application I asked for it.  Her response was (sir you did not send proof of payment in time)

 

At this point as I clearly angry and she most likely could pick it up in the tone of my voice.

 

I then asked why does the website say my 20 year Visa was issued on May 31 2019 and expires May 31, 2039.

 

Her response was that is not the information she had.  Then I clearly asked, (who is wrong, you or the website?  I clearly can not trust one of them)

 

Her answer "sir you did not send proof of payment in time, how can I know you wanted the 20 year visa"

 

At this point I had had enough of this one and asked if there was anyone else I could take to and get an answer why the website says different to what I'm being told.

 

Her answer "my manger is out of the office and will be back in 14 days"

 

So at this point I'm not sure what to do.  I told her I need a day to think things over and make new travel plans.

 

Her response, I'm sorry about this sir, but you did not send proof of payment in time.  I about smashed my phone of the ground after hearing that line again.

 

Finally I asked her if I could trust anything on the website and she finally told me no.  The website is not official and does not share all the information with her system.

 

Now I don't know if she is new to the job and made a mistake.  She really pushed me to just go to Bangkok and take the 5 year Visa and refund of the 500,000.  Her insistence to this made me uncomfortable like she was caught trying to run a scam.

 

I guess my recommendation to anyone in the process of applying would be to request a new personal representative if you get assigned Pakinya assigned to you.

 

Sorry for the long post.  But I will admit it was therapeutic for me to write it.

 

Now my questions for the forum

1. Am I overreacting here?

2. Is this just another example of Thailand? 

3. Was I wrong to expect a better process when handing over 1,000,000 baht?

 

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by marke985

[johng]

2. T.i.T

 

 

[Maestro]

There is a consumer ombudsman or something like that in Thailand. Hopefully, another member will come and post the contact details.

 

Take it to the ombudsman immediately.

[richard_smith237]

You have made a simple mistake which should be readily rectified once you speak with someone who is above 'idiot' level... I'm sure they do not take lightly to their staff having bungled this up. 

 

The onus is now on you to obtain proof of payment from your online account *(you should have a a reference number for each of the 500,000 baht transactions). 

 

Also, the question you should be asking them is how they can issue 1x5 year membership if they needed proof of payment (or did you send proof of payment for the initial 500,000baht transaction)?

 

Don't get angry, I've done that with the Thai Elite Staff before and they just become more infuriating (they gave me incorrect renewal advice - details on that below for those interested).

 

Ask to speak with one of the supervisors straight away the next time you call them. 

 

 

(*The poor advice they game me was for the 90 day report. After speaking with them, I sent them my passport for the 90 day report, it turns out it was an extension that I needed (as I'm on the initial 1MB lifetime membership), so I needed to be present myself, but they could not attend ChaengWattana the following day, thus I needed to do the extension myself (thats fine, I can easily do that myself). It was 4pm when the called me to tell me this. My existing extension expired the following day. I needed my passport back that day. 

They asked me to go to their office and collect my passport (bad traffic - I live across town, I asked them to send it with their courier. Their couriers had all finished for the day, I asked them to send it with Grab Bike, they wouldn't.

 

So they'd given me the wrong advice, held on to my passport for 2 days, then told me they couldn't do what they said they could do without my presence and then they couldn't return my passport in time for me to do what needed to be done myself - they'd dropped me in it. 

 

After much argument I finally got them to agree to ensure that I'd receive my passport before lunch time the following day.

 

 

[marke985]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Also, the question you should be asking them is how they can issue 1x5 year membership if they needed proof of payment (or did you send proof of payment for the initial 500,000baht transaction)?

You're correct.  That question never crossed my mind.  I will admit, I was a little stunned during the whole conversation.  I had a hard time accepting what I was being told, especially when I was constantly being reminded it was my fault.

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ukrules]

30 minutes ago, marke985 said:

1. Am I overreacting here?

Maybe a little, follow all instructions to the letter, any deviations can result in a complete failure of whatever you're trying to do.

 

I once ordered a sandwich (5 star hotel in BKK) and asked about the availability of different types of bread- that's all I did - I just asked, it became obvious she had no idea I was talking about so I just pointed at the sandwich on the menu and said 'this one please'.

 

I then received something completely different to what I had asked for. Simply deviating from the norm caused the end result to change.

 

Lesson learned, just point and keep the mouth shut, don't deviate from the standard script or everything can and probably will go wrong.

 

I've found that this applies to pretty much everything in Thailand because you're almost certainly dealing with an idiot no matter what you're doing and if they don't understand they just make something up.....in your case the 20 year membership became a 5 year membership and they didn't even think to clarify this with you.

 

[madmen]

She was actually correct , you should have showed PROOF OF PAYMENT !!

 

 

 

kidding ????

Seriously though getting angry achieves nothing and will work against you especially over the phone.

[humbug]

i can imagine they have some new staff, btw it took me a month to be issued the original confirmation, i can only think the 2 months is people at imm. wanting extras, as for the rest of missing this or missing that and not confirming etc, if you get a 5 year first then later 20 year, would you still be liable for a discount, even after waiting to receive the second 500k, or if have time enough, go down to the office in sathorn in person to avoid any other confusing customer servicing, and try to get a clearer picture for your self on your options, maybe do what another poster had done and get a written confirmation of the money being returned,as its been an extremely messy process 

[wisperone]

All that and it only cost 1,000,000. You must be making a good salary in Thailand to pay that much to stay in the country.

How is it that they don't have the ability to check your account.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

[marke985]

4 minutes ago, wisperone said:

All that and it only cost 1,000,000. You must be making a good salary in Thailand to pay that much to stay in the country.

How is it that they don't have the ability to check your account.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

All my money was made in the USA and now I live on passive investment income.  I was lucky to be born in the USA and understand how to maximize wealth in a crony capitalism economy and retire and move to SE Asia at 33.

 

I'm not sure what your asking about don't have the ability to check your account.  If you clarify, I will do my best to answer.

[SteveK]

Why do they need proof of payment when they can see if the money has arrived or not? Is this not supposed to be a super-premium service?

Edited June 4, 2019 by SteveK

[jackdd]

Let's say everything is finished and you got your visa and so on and you then just make a chargeback, does anybody think Thailandelite would even notice this?

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, marke985 said:

9 minutes ago, wisperone said:

All that and it only cost 1,000,000. You must be making a good salary in Thailand to pay that much to stay in the country.

How is it that they don't have the ability to check your account.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

All my money was made in the USA and now I live on passive investment income.  I was lucky to be born in the USA and understand how to maximize wealth in a crony capitalism economy and retire and move to SE Asia at 33.

 

I'm not sure what your asking about don't have the ability to check your account.  If you clarify, I will do my best to answer.

 

I think he means check their account so they can see proof of transfer from someone with your name.... that perhaps 'dot's the T's and crosses the I's' but someone will need to check this properly and cross-check the Thai Elite Bank Account, which will mean someone who has access to the account, those why have account access (the accountant) is unlikely to consider their position within such a company one of 'service', thus they'll want a reference number to cross check everything so that finally the T's can be crossed correctly and I's appropriately dotted (and no metaphors mixed)

 

Thus: Get Proof of payment, with a reference numbers etc, get back on script (as 'ukrules' put it) and this issue should hopefully slip away... 

[ChouDoufu]

a million baht and they call this "elite" service?  sheesh, if they can't even handle a simple payment confirmation, i can't imagine how they'd respond to a actual problem situation.

 

i'd file a dispute with my credit card, consider myself lucky, and move on to a more welcoming location.

[Jingthing]

Great PR for the Elite Program. 

[wordchild]

53 minutes ago, marke985 said:

All my money was made in the USA and now I live on passive investment income.  I was lucky to be born in the USA and understand how to maximize wealth in a crony capitalism economy and retire and move to SE Asia at 33.

 

I'm not sure what your asking about don't have the ability to check your account.  If you clarify, I will do my best to answer.

Highly sensitive, insecure farangs , always seem to collide with Thailands deeply ingrained bureaucracy  with predictable results.

Edited June 4, 2019 by wordchild

[BestB]

I do not think you are over reacting, the problem is you are limited with your options.

 

Either way you loose some money, now you need to decide how much you willing to lose for their mistake.

 

But before i go on, if i were you, i would call again and ask to speak to someone senior, supervisor.

 

Her telling you he/she away may not be true.

 

I would also try speaking to another sales rep if indeed supervisor is away. Other reps may have better brain and other options.

 

She stuffed up and all she is doing now is covering her backside, lying and providing false information is fairly normal.

 

I also find it hard to believe there is only one supervisor, Thai business will never leave office without someone in charge.

 

Perhaps bluffing that you want to cancel the entire thing may get them moving.

 

Personally i would not take 500 000 for 5 years as you loosing 1 million over 20 years. 

 

Do the visa run, do visa extension or whatever else and insist on what you had paid, 20 year visa, use website screenshots as evidence they had received the money and did not require any further proof.

 

Their sales and website being different is their problem not yours, 

 

Good luck, if you persistent you will get it sorted, just avoid dealing with the dumb dumb as she is in covering her butt mode.

[marke985]

31 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 move on to a more welcoming location.

This will be considered tomorrow after I sleep on it.  You lose faith in a company that they will be able to deliver what they've promised for 20 years after being told incorrect information and not being able to get a competent answer to some questions.

[BestB]

2 minutes ago, marke985 said:

This will be considered tomorrow after I sleep on it.  You lose faith in a company that they will be able to deliver what they've promised for 20 years after being told incorrect information and not being able to get a competent answer to some questions.

welcome to Thailand where incompetence flourishes.

 

Saying that, other south east asian countries are not much better.

 

Christ even Australia, called my bank in Oz yesterday and asked to issue with new cards.

 

Provided an address, was very clear house number 52, he sends it out to house number 53 and tells me to ask neighbors to bring it over.

 

Well dumb dumb, i would if i lived in Australia instead of visiting for 4 days to pick up cards and few more things

 

Again, just relax, call back and speak with someone else.Worst case leave the country, stay nearby and then demand manager to reimburse you for the losses or add another year onto visa for your troubles

[mfd101]

The lesson of all the above is that, at least in Thailand, paying big or biggish money for an 'elite' program is no guarantee of either competence or service beyond what anyone else might get for 100th or 1000th the price.

[CygnusX1]

After Thai Elite received the approval letter from Immigration for my 20 year visa, the same lady emailed me that my 5 year visa was ready for payment, but she fixed the mistake with no problems when I emailed her. Maybe they prefer that people take out the 5 year visa instead of the 20? I’d just write off the 5,000 baht and inconvenience as part of being in Thailand, and still go for the 20 year visa, at least she’s offered to fix the mistake, even if it’s a lot more hassle than in my case.

I’ve just had a bit of an epic trying to pay my electricity bill while I’m away from Thailand, as it’s impossible to pay in advance, the Electricity Authority Accounts section apparently can’t cope with negative numbers. Complicated process to tie it to my Thai bank account, but no receipt or proof, so I’m fully expecting the electricity to be disconnected when I return from Europe. If that’s the case, just keep smiling, book a hotel until it’s reconnected, never try to blame anyone or lose my cool as I would if I were back in Australia.

 

[poohy]

Sums Thailand up in a nutshell

 

Lesson learned, just point and keep the mouth shut, don't deviate from the standard script or everything can and probably will go wrong.

 

I've found that this applies to pretty much everything in Thailand because you're almost certainly dealing with an idiot no matter what you're doing and if they don't understand they just make something up..

[happy chappie]

Do yourself Favour and don't buy a Rolex off a man in the street.just say you don't want a 5 visa and can you have  your money back but this ain't the USA and you'll be very lucky to see any of it back.myself I would be in contact with the credit card company as you've paid for something you have not received.easy peasy lemon squeezy.youll find the visa/MasterCard have a lot more clout than someone ranting down the phone who forgot things.

[dcnx]

2 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

a million baht and they call this "elite" service?  sheesh, if they can't even handle a simple payment confirmation, i can't imagine how they'd respond to a actual problem situation.

 

i'd file a dispute with my credit card, consider myself lucky, and move on to a more welcoming location.

I’d file for a chargeback today. With the documentation you have, your bank will side with you.

 

Typical Thai nonsense. Hardly Elite. Based on my own experiences with them, I have no doubt their staff is just a step above a girl plucked right from a bar.

[DaRoadrunner]

Was it worth the money? For 1M Baht I would expect elite service, which clearly you did not receive.

 

Knowing what I do about Thailand, I would not have fronted 1MB for any kind of Thai service.

 

If I had your problem I would have my bank stop payment and refund as you have clearly not got what you paid for.

 

It appears from your screenshot you do have proof of payment, plus your bank records. If you still want the damn thing, you could take this to their office and demand to see the managing director.

 

What a waste of money. Some have more money than sense. Imagine how much beer n pu55y that would buy.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

 

12 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

What a waste of money. Some have more money than sense. Imagine how much beer n pu55y that would buy.

You'd spend 1,000,000 baht on beer and pu55y ??? erm instead of ensuring your your visa status?

[champers]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Great PR for the Elite Program. 

Quite so. I'll give it a miss, not that I'm likely to last another 20 years.

[DaRoadrunner]

15 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

You'd spend 1,000,000 baht on beer and pu55y ??? erm instead of ensuring your your visa status?

Money well spent. At least I'd die happy. What did the OP get outta this?

 

If you think having an elite visa ensures your status for 20 years you are dreaming. Thai immigration reg's change all the time, in this country anything could happen. Witness the original post, they can't even handle the application process.

Edited June 4, 2019 by DaRoadrunner

[Puchaiyank]

This is Thailand...immigration visa frustrations are part of the attraction...????

[lamyai3]

"Thai Elite Headache" is quite catchy, and might be a good new name for the visa in the Thailand 4.0 era.