Big C asks for Passport when purchasing groceries

[Felt 35]

Just now, Just Weird said:

You mean the OP, obviously.

No I mean you..….Btw, do your Thai partner have to show passport paying with a legitimate visa card in your home country when on visit.....

[bkk6060]

Geez, could care less about any discounts or coupons or whatever.

They just want a bunch of personal info to sign up for these.

Makro, Big C, etc.

None of their business to know about me and could possibly open yourself up to being the victim of fraud.

I Always always pay cash for everything here have never used a debit or credit card ever. No questions ever asked.

Edited February 5, 2020 by bkk6060

[Just Weird]

1 minute ago, Felt 35 said:

4 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

You mean the OP, obviously.

No I mean you..….Btw, do your Thai partner have to show passport paying with a legitimate visa card in your home country when on visit.....

There was more to this than just paying with a bank card, he wanted the benefit of using his Big C membership card that required ID! 

 

What have UK card procedures got to do with Big C in Thailand?

[faraday]

39 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

Me too , oh and I pay with money , those funny things you get from an ATM machine.

They're called Beer tokens.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

23 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

However, I can not see anything wrong with that the shop ask for ID or Passport when using a card to pay. According to me that gives more security. I see it like all the shops not asking for legitimation is doing it wrong. If I use a card for pay in my home country, they always asks for ID.

 EXCEPT, in this case, the Big C folks were demanding to see the guy's passport regardless of whether he paid with a bank card or cash because he's a foreigner...

 

But on the other hand, if some Thai person had stolen his bank debit card, the Big C cashiers would have been more than happy to ring up charges on the stolen card with someone else's name presented by a Thai without checking or asking for any ID whatsoever...

 

That's just discrimination against foreigners, plain and simple.

 

[Samuel Smith]

34 minutes ago, NE1 said:

Wouldn't have gone that far , would have just left the stuff where it was.

Yep, nip this BS in the bud.  Walk out & let them put it back on the shelves!

 

I wouldn't have let my wife pay, either.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Samuel Smith

[SheungWan]

10 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

There was more to this than just paying with a bank card, he wanted the benefit of using his Big C membership card that required ID! 

What have UK card procedures got to do with Big C in Thailand?

I am assuming that if the OP did not have his girlfriend/wife with him then the solution would have been to ask the manager to delete the sale with the Big C membership details and then re-enter the sale list without the Big C membership info. Payment with either cash or credit card.

[Felt 35]

10 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

There was more to this than just paying with a bank card, he wanted the benefit of using his Big C membership card that required ID! 

 

What have UK card procedures got to do with Big C in Thailand?

Obviously, getting a Visa card in the UK has nothing to do with Big C Thailand. But a Visa card is seen as an international payment method that corresponds to cash for consumer products, and by telling a regular foreign customer that he has to show his passport when he checks out once he has been given the Big C membership card which he get with  produce his passport is an easy way to say that we don't trust you. We only trust the locals, even though they hardly have coverage on their Visa / credit cards. In short, racism.

[Just Weird]

12 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

EXCEPT, in this case, the Big C folks were demanding to see the guy's passport regardless of whether he paid with a bank card or cash because he's a foreigner..

No, it's not, it's because he wanted to use his BigC membership card that they asked for ID!

[MarcB]

1 hour ago, Orton Rd said:

They also want to see your passport when posting a birthday card ???? Never understood why Bic C need your phone number to pay utility bills.

I was at the post office a while back to post some documents with EMS to another province.

They asked for my gf's ID-card. It is common practice for Thais and foreigners.

I dont know if they ask your ID card in Europe or elsewhere, but I see nothing wrong with it.

 

Every time we go to BigC, my gf gives her phone number.

It is the number registered on her BigC membership card, so the purchase gets registered to get points/discounts in the future.

That is for groceries. I never paid utility bills at bigC so I cant say if that also accounts to the BigC membership card.

 

I do pay utilities at 7 eleven and never have to show any ID or phone number.

 

That being said,

The OP's story is ridiculous.

I go to BigC weekly, and I never have to show my passport or any ID.

Nowhere at any mall for that matter.

I pay by K-debit card most of the time, and also cash.

 

(Nobody has ever asked me to show my ID each time I use my debit card, which is fundamentally wrong, because someone could use my stolen card...)

 

It even gets more ridiculous to keep asking for his ID after someone else (his gf) eventually paid or when he offered cash.

 

I fairly believe that it is NOT a new rule. And I do believe the cashier and manager were just idiots.

It's a supermarket, they sell things to people. I would even go further and call this racism. and harassment.

 

If I were him I'll let my gf video it whilst going on.

Ask my cards back, and say I will take my shopping somewhere else and they would lose a customer.

Like I said, I never encountered this before, but I would be furious!

 

Send a complaint to BigC's head office with that video

maybe get a BS apology in broken English and a free 100 Baht coupon with 1 week expiry date.

 

 

[ChipButty]

This is a true story, BIG-C refused to sell a Farang a micro wave because he didnt have a work permit, here in Phuket

[Peterw42]

It sounds like you show a passport to get a big C card and the Big-C computer is set to re-ask for new passport number every 5-10 years or after it has expired (after-all they do expire).

They may well have entered the passport expiry date when the Big C card was applied for, and now its showing as expired.

 

A new passport number and probably good to go for another 10 years until the next passport expiry.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Peterw42

[Why Me]

At Tops I say my phone no. which gets them my 1Card member id (alternatively I could produce my 1Card and let them run it).

 

However, what might be relevant to the OP is that when there's some special discount the cashier wants to see my passport. Understandable as that's my id as a foreigner.

 

Maybe the OP unbeknownst to him had an item on a special (2b. less even) which required id. In any case, no biggie if you have your PP page pics on your phone (as you always should).

[impulse]

51 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

Doesnt bother me in the slightest as that's the wife's department. I just load and unload the trolley...????

Yes, same here! Some of us have all the luck.

 

Yeah.  Like that doesn't come with its own set of costs and risks.

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by impulse

[owl sees all]

This is the next thing after the plastic bag nonsense. You use your own bags at the check-out and lose the receipt before the car park. Next thing you know you are in the. wagon 'cause you can't show you didn't half-inch the goodies. Back to the check-out and the lady shakes her head.

 

Can't you all see the writing is on the wall. The game is well and truly up.

 

Where is the nearest soup kitchen in Dagenham?

[Matzzon]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Yeah.  Like that doesn't come with its own set of costs and risks.

 

Depends on how you make your choices in life. A dork gets a dork, so to say. I am not one.

[MarcB]

8 minutes ago, Why Me said:

At Tops I say my phone no. which gets them my 1Card member id (alternatively I could produce my 1Card and let them run it).

 

However, what might be relevant to the OP is that when there's some special discount the cashier wants to see my passport. Understandable as that's my id as a foreigner.

 

Maybe the OP unbeknownst to him had an item on a special (2b. less even) which required id. In any case, no biggie if you have your PP page pics on your phone (as you always should).

I dont know which Top Supermarket you go to,

but I never ever had to show any ID.

Discounts or not.

 

I give my 1Card, my K-card, or cash

and that's it.

 

I frequent Tops at Future Park BKK weekly.

If they were to ask my passport 1 day, I would tell them to stick it

[spinner2020]

28 minutes ago, Samuel Smith said:

I wouldn't have let my wife pay, either.

I think we would all like to know how you could "let your wife pay" anyway! What's the secret?

Related topic: I bought some small Aspirin in a pharmacy yesterday (the little ones, for the heart). Pharmacist made me write my name down. I wrote "K. James". Hope it helps them in some small way.

It's sometimes easier than arguing.......................

Edited February 5, 2020 by spinner2020

[Susco]

38 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

There was more to this than just paying with a bank card, he wanted the benefit of using his Big C membership card that required ID! 

 

What have UK card procedures got to do with Big C in Thailand?

Unless you are the OP, which you are not, I don't see any mention that he wanted to USE his big C membership card for the payment.

All he did is show them his card, which they scanned, to add the points earned to his card.

 

I shop daily at Big C and I have actually NEVER seen a foreigner or Thai show their big C card, much less an ID.

 

All they do is tell them their phone number, which is the ID for the Big C shopping card.

 

This is clearly another example of, we make up our own rules on the spot.

[Mansell]

1 hour ago, luckyluke said:

I have a BigC card, in fact it is my telephone number.

Last week the cashier told me I had a 20 ThB discount, but she needed to see my passport.

As I didn't had it with me, I didn't get the discount.

I get the discounts by showing my Thai drivers license.

[ThailandRyan]

43 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

You mean the OP, obviously.

Let me reiterate, the K-Bank Debit card was retrieved and I tried to pay in cash, and she still wanted the passport.  There was no discount being given either.  I used my passport years ago to obtain the Big C card, which they now use telephone numbers instead, if you do not have the card.  The card is to build possible discounts, however lately its always been 500 baht off of on-line purchasing.  Last week at the same store, I had no problems, My issue today was they were still insisting on the passport even when I was paying cash.  However when the girlfriend instead handed the cash to them, it was rung up not another word said, and out we went with the receipt and all.  Moral of the story is the girlfriend will do all the paying from now on.  In fact she thought it was strange they never asked for her ID. Double standard as of now, no reasoning why.  Like I said, I have lived here almost ten years, and never had to show my passport for purchasing anything.  Now had I used an actual credit card, that did not require the PIN code, I can see showing my passport.  maybe I should have showed them my Pink Non Immigrant ID card instead.

[Peterw42]

11 minutes ago, Why Me said:

At Tops I say my phone no. which gets them my 1Card member id (alternatively I could produce my 1Card and let them run it).

 

However, what might be relevant to the OP is that when there's some special discount the cashier wants to see my passport. Understandable as that's my id as a foreigner.

 

Maybe the OP unbeknownst to him had an item on a special (2b. less even) which required id. In any case, no biggie if you have your PP page pics on your phone (as you always should).

I tend to think the same, they probably just wanted to update the OP passport as it is now expired etc, or as you say, something to do with what was purchased, a special discounted item, an item with a warranty, an item eligible for a VAT refund.

 

It must be terrible living your life where everything is a Thai conspiracy against foreigners.

 

[ChipButty]

Good post guys make a refreshing change from all these virus post getting boring now

[bluesofa]

16 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

It sounds like you show a passport to get a big C card and the Big-C computer is set to re-ask for new passport number every 5-10 years or after it has expired (after-all they do expire).

They may well have entered the passport expiry date when the Big C card was applied for, and now its showing as expired.

 

A new passport number and probably good to go for another 10 years until the next passport expiry.

That happened to me in Big C last year.

I persuaded the customer service staff to enter my pink ID card details instead, as that number stays with you for life.

[Just Weird]

7 minutes ago, Susco said:

Unless you are the OP, which you are not, I don't see any mention that he wanted to USE his big C membership card for the payment.

All he did is show them his card, which they scanned, to add the points earned to his card.

Almost exactly what I said, except that I did not say that he was using his Big C card to pay for the purchases, he was using his membership card with the purchase which clearly required ID!  That's why he was asked for ID.

 

No one in their right mind can surely believe that straightforward cash purchases need a passport in Big C.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Just Weird

[impulse]

17 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

22 minutes ago, impulse said:

Yeah.  Like that doesn't come with its own set of costs and risks.

Depends on how you make your choices in life. A dork gets a dork, so to say. I am not one.

 

I hope you knocked on wood as you were posting that.  Because I've followed TVF long enough to see some of the guys who felt the same way devastated when their Thai brides didn't.  The divorce statistics are pretty grim, and many of the stories even grimmer.

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by impulse

[ThailandRyan]

27 minutes ago, MarcB said:

I was at the post office a while back to post some documents with EMS to another province.

They asked for my gf's ID-card. It is common practice for Thais and foreigners.

I dont know if they ask your ID card in Europe or elsewhere, but I see nothing wrong with it.

 

Every time we go to BigC, my gf gives her phone number.

It is the number registered on her BigC membership card, so the purchase gets registered to get points/discounts in the future.

That is for groceries. I never paid utility bills at bigC so I cant say if that also accounts to the BigC membership card.

 

I do pay utilities at 7 eleven and never have to show any ID or phone number.

 

That being said,

The OP's story is ridiculous.

I go to BigC weekly, and I never have to show my passport or any ID.

Nowhere at any mall for that matter.

I pay by K-debit card most of the time, and also cash.

 

(Nobody has ever asked me to show my ID each time I use my debit card, which is fundamentally wrong, because someone could use my stolen card...)

 

It even gets more ridiculous to keep asking for his ID after someone else (his gf) eventually paid or when he offered cash.

 

I fairly believe that it is NOT a new rule. And I do believe the cashier and manager were just idiots.

It's a supermarket, they sell things to people. I would even go further and call this racism. and harassment.

 

If I were him I'll let my gf video it whilst going on.

Ask my cards back, and say I will take my shopping somewhere else and they would lose a customer.

Like I said, I never encountered this before, but I would be furious!

 

Send a complaint to BigC's head office with that video

maybe get a BS apology in broken English and a free 100 Baht coupon with 1 week expiry date.

 

 

So an actual report of a real incident is ridiculous to you.  I only brought this up MarcB because of the recent issues with wanting to show a passport when paying bills at Tesco Lotus.  This is a store I frequent also weekly, and have never had an issue until today.  The cashier showed me where he needed to input the passport info on the screen, and no it did not have anything to do with my Big C membership rewards card, as all the information was on the screen, its how he knew my name.  I just sent Big C a message asking why this was done today.  The receipt has the cashiers number on it and it was also scanned and attached to the e-mail I sent.  Maybe I will get an answer.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

So an actual report of a real incident is ridiculous to you.  I only brought this up MarcB because of the recent issues with wanting to show a passport when paying bills at Tesco Lotus.  This is a store I frequent also weekly, and have never had an issue until today.  The cashier showed me where he needed to input the passport info on the screen, and no it did not have anything to do with my Big C membership rewards card, as all the information was on the screen, its how he knew my name.  I just sent Big C a message asking why this was done today.  The receipt has the cashiers number on it and it was also scanned and attached to the e-mail I sent.  Maybe I will get an answer.

Will you get a reply? I'm all ears - well both really.

[Just Weird]

9 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Let me reiterate, the K-Bank Debit card was retrieved and I tried to pay in cash, and she still wanted the passport.  There was no discount being given either.  I used my passport years ago to obtain the Big C card, which they now use telephone numbers instead, if you do not have the card.  The card is to build possible discounts

As I said, the reason that you were asked for ID was because you were using the membership card in conjunction with the purchase. 

 

Big C is not asking foreigners to show their passports for a normal cash purchase when it is unassociated with anything else such as membership cards.

[ThailandRyan]

26 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

It sounds like you show a passport to get a big C card and the Big-C computer is set to re-ask for new passport number every 5-10 years or after it has expired (after-all they do expire).

They may well have entered the passport expiry date when the Big C card was applied for, and now its showing as expired.

 

A new passport number and probably good to go for another 10 years until the next passport expiry.

Peterw42, maybe you have a point there or the system needed to be updated.  A simple explanation from these folks at the time or asking me to go to the customer service counter after the sale would have been the right thing to do.  It could have been easily told to myself, as well as my girlfriend, we both speak Thai.