NBTC import licence help

[Meanies]

Hi all,

 

So I lost my phone in Singapore, en route to Thailand.  Thankfully lost and found in Changi found it and I arranged DHL to deliver it to Chiang Mai.  However, it's now been held by customs, stating I must have an NBTC licence, despite it being a single used phone.  I can't read or speak Thai and DHL have been useless.

 

Is there someone or a service who can assist or who I can pay to sort this out for me?  Travel insurance won't have a bar of it because the location is known.

Thanks!

Edited January 18, 2020 by Meanies

[simon43]

Hi, I have dealt with DHL Thailand and the NBTC on several occasions, concerning imports of ham radio equipment.

 

Your biggest mistake was sending the phone by DHL - it should have been sent by registered EMS post from Singapore post office - that way, you would have received it without any issues.

 

I take it this is just a mobile phone right?

 

Here is the most realistic option for you:  Say goodbye to your phone, because DHL will probably never release it back to you, (if it's just a mobile phone, then you don't need an NBTC licence, but DHL won't accept that point of view).

 

In order to bring this to closure, I suggest you get a Thai person to write an email in Thai, rejecting DHL's demand for a licence, and tell them to shove your phone up their backside - sideways......  Then go and have a cold beer.

 

I previously had to 'abandon' hundreds of dollars of benign electrical equipment, and/or pay thousands (yes thousands of $ USD in import tax) for my ham equipment, simply because the corrupt b*stards at DHL Thailand 'kidnapped' my parcels without just cause or reason.

 

 

[CharlieH]

Contact the Customs helpline, they speak English, explain and ask for help.

 

Thai Customs dept.

http://www.customs.go.th

Lots of useful info on the website

Telephone: Customs Care : 1164 

 

[Meanies]

Thanks both.  A couple of very different responses...  if only I'd known this at the beginning!

 

It's only a mobile phone.  Used.  Cheap.  Very annoying that I'm going through this..  I'm annoyed with myself for losing it in the first place.

 

I'll try to call Customs again on Monday.  DHL don't seem to care but I'm trying to make them take some responsibility.  I was clear from the outset they were couriering a mobile phone.

 

Appreciate the feedback!

[Langsuan Man]

Welcome to my world.  I ordered a Google Pixel 2 and had a re-mailer forwarded to Thailand.  Got a notice from my local P.O. to come in an pay for it, got there an they told me I had to go to Lam Chabang customs office to pick it up.  Got there and after providing the signed Passport Photocopy they refused to give me my phone.  I was told that I would have to go into Bangkok and obtain a "license" from the NBTC to import a phone since it "transmits over the airwaves",  DUH, like all mobile phones do !

 

They would not relent, and told me that they would hold the phone for 90 days and if I did not pay for the license the phone would be returned to the shipper (me, via the re-mailer) 

 

Sure enough the phone showed back up with the re-mailer exactly 5 months after it was initially delivered to Thailand, but I had already make a claim from USPS for lost package so I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.  There are these pesky guys in the US called Postal Inspectors that I won't mess with 

[Meanies]

So it continues.  Making zero headway, despite involving Customs, DHL and NBTC.  I understood before I came that sometimes the Thai way just makes no sense... but this is pushing it!

 

I asked if I could have the phone redirected to another country.  Nope, need an NBTC licence to release it.  I asked if it will be sent back to the original sender in 90 days.  Nope, it will be seized by Customs.  So DHL took my money to bring it here, knowing it was a phone and now are washing their hands of it.

 

Anyone know of a like a Freelancer site I can push the task to?  When I arrived here, I paid some guy to go and sort out my resident cert.  Surely there is someone who'll do the same with this!

[simon43]

Nope, need an NBTC licence to release it. 

 

Exactly the same tactic they played on me last year when I ordered  a wire antenna....

 

DHL Thailand: "You need an import licence from the NBTC."

Me: <deleted> I do, send it back to the supplier."

DHL Thailand: "Ah solly, can't do, you need an NBTC export licence".  (Even though it hasn't yet been imported into Thailand!

 

In the end, I told DHL Thailand to go and strangle themselves with the wire.  I abandoned the shipment, and was $400 out of pocket.  I only managed to get a partial refund from the supplier after I threatened to post my experiences online, (because I had paid extra to the supplier in the US to pay for all Thai import taxes and bypass any 'hassles').

 

Corruption 100% on the part of DHL Thailand.  No other way to describe it.

 

Is the NBTC going to demand the arrest of the tens of millions of mobile phone users in Thailand who are operating their UHF/microwave transceivers without a licence?  I think not......