Big C asks for Passport when purchasing groceries

[SheungWan]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

It is possible to make an extraordinary cash purchase if perhaps you were buying a fridge freezer or a high end TV etc that you wouldn't normally buy every bulk shop, but for normal food shopping and wanting to pay in cash, that should never happen.

It is probably no problem paying in cash or credit card for anything if one doesn't also present the Big C membership card. It is the membership card which likely triggers the request for passport.

[Toosetinmyways]

Just been to Big C Rayong. Purchased 585 bahts worth of groceries with cash. Used a Big C membership card in my wife's name. Not asked for passport. Went to the bill paying desk and paid my TOT bill, not asked for passport.

[Assurancetourix]

On 2/5/2020 at 5:19 PM, ThailandRyan said:

He again insisted I needed to show him my passport, even when paying cash.

Why chat with stupid people?

If one day the same thing happens to me at the Lotus of Sawang or elsewhere for that matter, I leave everything on the spot and I go away;

I was there yesterday morning and everything went perfectly; presentation of the loyalty card and payment in cash as usual without any comments from the cashier.

and if all the farangs did like me it might make them think; provided they have at least one neuron under the skull.

[Assurancetourix]

On 2/5/2020 at 6:33 PM, Traubert said:

My British passport has no letters just num.........

 

Oh, wait........... ????

 

It would surprise me a lot;
in any case mine, French, has letters and numbers.

[Assurancetourix]

On 2/5/2020 at 7:41 PM, Just Weird said:

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

Why did the Sawang Lotus never ask me for an ID when I present my loyalty card at each checkout?

Boycott the BigCs;

find solutions ..
and then the problem may be  also that few of you can speak Thai correctly or enough to do your shopping at Thai wholesalers;
you would be surprised to pay much less than in these superstores without soul.

[ajarnmarc]

On 2/5/2020 at 7:05 PM, Just Weird said:

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

this is not the case either. I don't even have a Big C membership card, was never given one either. I just provide my mobile number and they enter that and start scanning away my groceries. Use my debit card, credit card, never cash in my case, and they never ask for ID of any kind. 

As the OP stated, and he's correct here, when he applied for the membership card they got all the details they needed for the application, so it's in their system now. 

They are bright enough to know, most don't carry around their passport everywhere, this is the government way of quietly getting us to want to carry around our passports daily. 

So they are having merchants do the work for the government, in the sense that if we have or get used to having our passports with us to get the perks the local receive, then it will make life easier for the public service personnel i.e. police, immigration to spot check us whenever, where ever they please. Remember a few years ago when they would pull people out of taxi's to take a urine test, in a gas station bathroom stall?

The government now figures since the cashiers are not having to bag items anymore, they certainly have time to type in passport number on each and every purchase, each and every time we shop. If this take hold across the country, this would be very disturbing. I don't even bother with entering my passport number in restaurants requesting it to use the wifi. 

The data this country is trying to collect on visitors should alarm us, but instead we just try to accuse it, as something that might take place in our home country...I don't see how that relates, to here, and it's not even true to begin with. Here they almost never ask the locals for ID, and when they do, it hardly makes much sense anyways, example when a thai send a package by courier, they need to present ID, I not sure how that helps anything, could easily be a fake ID, and what purpose is the ID going to do to protect a shipment? Just think how long it takes them to enter that ID number when your shipping something, now imagine how long it will take at the register when you buy groceries...? What a potential mess coming our way if this holds to be the new norm.

[transam]

Went to Tesco Express yesterday to pay my 3BB bill as usual, this time I was asked for my ID card, I don't have one, so showed my Thai DL, no good, go to 7/11.....????

 

If they were giving me money I would understand, but I am giving them money........????

[Assurancetourix]

On 2/5/2020 at 7:43 PM, Ventenio said:

Ah, impossible.  Perfect Thai but not from Thailand.  Impossible.  Perfect Thai also would mean she looks perfectly like a Thai and was born in raised in Thailand.   I hear this all the time from Filipinos.....perfect English.

 

yea, no way

Are you sure what you write?

One of my nephews, he is French like me, lives in Tokyo where he is a lecturer, professor of French, in one of the many universities in the city.
He speaks and writes Japanese like the Japanese;
and they are unable to know who is behind the curtain ..
Another Japanese, or not?
you know why ?

He is a doctor of history from another Japanese university;
his thesis which is about 800 pages is entirely written in Japanese
With that he is married, in Japan, with a Japanese singer ( cantatrice )
A Japanese woman who sings operas in German, Italian, French .....

[4MyEgo]

On 2/5/2020 at 9:19 PM, ThailandRyan said:

However, when I handed the cashier my K-Bank debit card he said I needed to show him my passport as he needed to enter the number from it into the computer.

He is correct in asking so, this is to provide you with any discount you may be entitled to from any points on your Big C card. His English was probably limited as was the managers and not knowing how to explain this to you, that said, he might have had to go out of the system to accept cash which would cancel out any discount that he was going to either apply to you or add to your Big C card.

 

The above said, it is not his problem, it is just how Big C are set up, e.g. I remember when my wife got a frypan for free because she had a lot of points accumulated on (my card), she shops, I pay...lol, the check out girl asked for my passport and my wife said he doesn't carry it with him, will his Thai ID card be ok, she said yes that's fine as it has a number on it to input on the system.

 

Nothing to do with Thai's not wanting farangs here, it is just their systems are different to ours back home, so let's lose the paranoia people, besides, what if they don't want us here, what's the big deal, how many people back in your home country don't you want there, I am sure there are certain races you don't want in your home country, it's just the way things are for whatever reasons they are, but I have never had an issue with any Thai in the entire time I have been coming here or living here since 2005.

Edited February 7, 2020 by 4MyEgo

[Assurancetourix]

On 2/5/2020 at 8:03 PM, DaRoadrunner said:

I have always wondered what the C stands for, now we know.

In fact it is the abbreviation of Casino a French brand established in St Etienne which has hundreds of stores in the world.
the problem with Casino is that this type of establishment is prohibited in Thailand;
because the word has a double meaning ...
When it was bought by a Thai billionaire, he obviously did not change the name which has been known for a very long time.

 

https://www.groupe-casino.fr/en/contact-us/

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

Are you sure what you write?

One of my nephews, he is French like me, lives in Tokyo where he is a lecturer, professor of French, in one of the many universities in the city.
He speaks and writes Japanese like the Japanese;
and they are unable to know who is behind the curtain ..
Another Japanese, or not?
you know why ?

He is a doctor of history from another Japanese university;
his thesis which is about 800 pages is entirely written in Japanese
With that he is married, in Japan, with a Japanese singer ( cantatrice )
A Japanese woman who sings operas in German, Italian, French .....

Doesn't matter how perfect you think anybody is, after a few sentences a native speaker will know if the other person is a native speaker or not.

[4MyEgo]

11 minutes ago, ajarnmarc said:

this is not the case either. I don't even have a Big C membership card, was never given one either. I just provide my mobile number and they enter that and start scanning away my groceries. Use my debit card, credit card, never cash in my case, and they never ask for ID of any kind. 

Read my post above

[Assurancetourix]

12 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Doesn't matter how perfect you think anybody is, after a few sentences a native speaker will know if the other person is a native speaker or not.

No, because in fact in Thailand there are few Thai people who speak "official" Thai

in the north they speak Lanna; in Isaan they speak Thai-Lao or Thai-Khmer if they live not far from the Cambodian border;
and it's the same everywhere in Thailand ..
my wife who is from Isaan always passes for a Laotian when we go there and so she benefits from the Laotian tariffs ..

 

You have the same thing in a lot of countries;
in Vietnam, those in the south do not pronounce the letter "d" in the same way as in the north;
and those of Hue are immediately recognizable because many words are completely different from the official Vietnamese.
and you will have the same things in UK;
one day I was very surprised to hear a Londoner pronounce monday, tuesday ... as "mondaille" "tuesdaille" ...
Or in Italy where almost no one speaks academic Italian;
they all speak in their local dialects

Edited February 7, 2020 by Assurancetourix

[tropo]

On 2/5/2020 at 5:47 PM, 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.

This is a normal formality. If you use the card to get a discount that is available, they ask to see your passport, in which case a small laminated copy does the trick. The only place in town that doesn't accept my copy is the bank. There could be a few other places, but it's really no big deal.

[toofarnorth]

On 2/5/2020 at 7:33 PM, Just Weird said:

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.

Your last paragraph , I really can't believe all this today . Maybe carrying various denominations of Baht in my wallet helps.

Lotus is across the rice fields from where we live so rarely need to go to Big C the nearest being about 20k away.  When we do go and get to the cashier my wife says her number which she remembers , simple as that . She shops , I pay.  

[holy cow cm]

No matter what it is all about as in updating the system or making sure the card holder is the true person, this country is definitely slamming the hammer down on all of us foreigners collecting our data. My wife even has to show id to pay bills now at several places. What does it all mean, invasion of privacy, and then the real question is what they will do next is anyone's guess, but you can believe there will be a next thing for sure. Seems to be going the exact way of China, and basically they are treating us like gnats as in continually swatting at us because we annoy them.

Edited February 7, 2020 by holy cow cm

[transam]

I am going to get a farang pink ID card...Should sort the ploblem..

[holy cow cm]

4 minutes ago, transam said:

I am going to get a farang pink ID card...Should sort the ploblem..

Yeah it is useful. I just bought a new truck and new bike with one the last couple of weeks.

[bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

16 minutes ago, transam said:

I am going to get a farang pink ID card...Should sort the ploblem..

Yeah it is useful. I just bought a new truck and new bike with one the last couple of weeks.

That's great! I didn't know it doubled as a credit card with a high enough limit to buy two vehicles.

I'm off to the BMW showroom in a minute.

[holy cow cm]

1 minute ago, bluesofa said:

That's great! I didn't know it doubled as a credit card with a high enough limit to buy two vehicles.

I'm off to the BMW showroom in a minute.

Yeah, but don't tell anyone. It is a secret.

[bluesofa]

7 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Yeah, but don't tell anyone. It is a secret.

Mum's the word.

[chatette]

The cashier wanted to give you a discount based on the spending points you'd accumulated on your loyalty program membership.
They ask to see ID (Thai ID card or foreigners' passport) to verify that it is in fact your membership card and not someone else's. It's a reasonable ask.
Their failing was they were unable to explain the reason to you or your girlfriend, which I would put down to poor training.
Nothing sinister.

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, transam said:

Went to Tesco Express yesterday to pay my 3BB bill as usual, this time I was asked for my ID card, I don't have one, so showed my Thai DL, no good, go to 7/11.....????

 

If they were giving me money I would understand, but I am giving them money........????

They have their procedures, why blame the staff?  Apart from maybe a couple of baht fee, you're not giving Tesco any money, you're using them to pay money to another company.

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

On 2/5/2020 at 7:33 PM, Just Weird said:

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.

Your last paragraph , I really can't believe all this today .

What is so unbelievable about that last paragraph?  You're not seriously contending that Big C ask for production of a passport for a normal cash purchase of groceries are you?

[transam]

19 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

They have their procedures, why blame the staff?  Apart from maybe a couple of baht fee, you're not giving Tesco any money, you're using them to pay money to another company.

Not blaming the staff, I have paid my bills at the place for many years, now an ID card is needed, why...?

Tesco charge 10bht for the service, it is not free, and it is probably a nice earner when you consider the millions of transfers they do daily.

[Just Weird]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Tesco charge 10bht for the service, it is not free, and it is probably a nice earner when you consider the millions of transfers they do daily.

Of course it is an earner of some sort, if they have "millions of bills being paid every day!  Do they? 

 

Don't forget that it then costs Tesco money to pay those "millions (?) of bills every day" on behalf of the customers, corporate banking is not free, that's partly why they charge a fee.

[NanLaew]

4 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

11 minutes ago, transam said:

Tesco charge 10bht for the service, it is not free, and it is probably a nice earner when you consider the millions of transfers they do daily.

Of course it is an earner of some sort, if they have "millions of bills being paid every day!  Do they? 

 

Don't forget that it then costs Tesco money to pay those "millions (?) of bills every day" on behalf of the customers, corporate banking is not free, that's partly why they charge a fee.

Not so much a case of how much Tesco, Big C and other service points make of providing such a convenience as would the cost of you going to the utility office to pay in person be greater than 10 baht?

[transam]

12 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Of course it is an earner of some sort, if they have "millions of bills being paid every day!  Do they? 

 

Don't forget that it then costs Tesco money to pay those "millions (?) of bills every day" on behalf of the customers, corporate banking is not free, that's partly why they charge a fee.

Tesco, BigC, 7/11 all do the service, can even pay for flights there, it is a money earner and gets folk into their shops to spend money. The cash even goes into their own bank when collected, bulk cash, perhaps making interest...

My DL and PP printout was refused, must have ID card, I can only assume the ID card has a bar code, looks like information is being collected..

[transam]

13 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Not so much a case of how much Tesco, Big C and other service points make of providing such a convenience as would the cost of you going to the utility office to pay in person be greater than 10 baht?

Of course, but why now do they want an ID card after many years...?

My local Tesco know me, they were embarrassed that I could not pay my bill...

[aussienam]

On 2/5/2020 at 6:17 PM, RichardColeman said:

Should have just paid the cash and walked out, what would they do ?Arrest you for inappropriately paying for groceries ? 

I would have just dumped all the groceries there and walked off.  Have done it before.  Consumer choice.  Get treated like an underclass then don't give them money.