Muay Thai Ed visa company got scammed

[Yahem]

Hello so I applied a couple weeks ago for an Ed visa based on Muay Thai ,everything went fine and we had to go to immigration today,

me and a total of around 10 people + the gym owner went to the immigration at 9:00 and where supposed to meet the lawyer making the documents.

After 2 hours of waiting and 30+phone calls from the owner no one showed up and we all assume (owner included) that the lawyer basically ran off with the money ...

he worked with this lawyer over a year as he made work permits for foreigners working at his gym.

 

So ,no one expected this as now we are all in trouble with hour visa as this week is the last week to submit the documents ,the owner tried to contact the lawyer all day and will do the same Tomorow as none of this is his fault ,but they will refund all the money .

 

the only problem is now I’m in Bangkok have everything booked for 3 months ,can’t return home and soon I will have no valid visa ?

i contacted  all of the language schools real ones as I want to spend my time learning Thai not just for the visa ,but they all told me they can’t make a visa without leaving the country ?

 

Can anyone give me some help/info in any options I have ?

im I’m Bangkok currently ,

thank you in advance ,

Nick

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, Yahem said:

,the owner tried to contact the lawyer all day and will do the same Tomorow as none of this is his fault ,but they will refund all the money .

How will owner refund money that the lawyer has. 

Your in bkk. Thinking you have 3 choices. 

Obtain 30 day extension from IMM at Muang Thang Thani. 

Or tomorrow approach agent company such as Thai Visa Centre. Or hope for amnesty extension or ongoing 30 day extensions. 

[Phillip9]

6 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

How will owner refund money that the lawyer has. 

Your in bkk. Thinking you have 3 choices. 

Obtain 30 day extension from IMM at Muang Thang Thani. 

Or tomorrow approach agent company such as Thai Visa Centre. Or hope for amnesty extension or ongoing 30 day extensions. 

I will add that it is too late to get an ed visa through a language school.

[Yahem]

16 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

How will owner refund money that the lawyer has. 

Your in bkk. Thinking you have 3 choices. 

Obtain 30 day extension from IMM at Muang Thang Thani. 

Or tomorrow approach agent company such as Thai Visa Centre. Or hope for amnesty extension or ongoing 30 day extensions. 

He will pay it from his pocket ,it’s also in the contract but he is doing whatever to help trying to contact other gyms etc who offer the visa ,can everyone apply for the muang thang thani extension ?

 

im looking for a legit company if no other way as I’ve got scammed twice now once before amnesty which still cost me 1000€ they didn’t refund...

I think for this part the gym owner is doing everything in his power to get everyone the visa they need even if it’s not in his gym ,I think he takes great pride in their reputation and this will be fatal for business 

[CorpusChristie]

Wait and hope that its just a delay 

[onebir]

35 minutes ago, Yahem said:

After 2 hours of waiting and 30+phone calls from the owner no one showed up and we all assume (owner included) that the lawyer basically ran off with the money

Terrible story, I hope it works out ok for you...

[rast23]

There are few language schools where you don't have to leave the country i believe but it's too late to apply.

 

Can you share what gym was that? I know only about Chakrit and Master Toddy in BKK provide muay thai visa.

 

Also make sure this is not just some scam story, "lawyer" ran away with money, we're innocent. 

Edited September 8, 2020 by rast23

[CorpusChristie]

1 minute ago, rast23 said:

 

 

Can you share what gym was that? I know only about Chakrit and Master Toddy in BKK provide muay thai visa.gym 

Better not to name the Gym , as they may be an innocent party and things may get sorted out

[Yahem]

2 minutes ago, rast23 said:

There are few language schools where you don't have to leave the country i believe but it's too late to apply.

 

Can you share what gym was that? I know only about Chakrit and Master Toddy in BKK provide muay thai visa.

I can’t name names I was told as with one of those I had a real bad experience pm me if you like to know tho

[Yahem]

Just now, Yahem said:

I can’t name names I was told as with one of those I had a real bad experience pm me if you like to know tho

Isn’t one of these btw

[Yahem]

1 minute ago, CorpusChristie said:

Better not to name the Gym , as they may be an innocent party and things may get sorted out

They 100% are innocent and doing their best when it’s solved I will name them because this gym really cares about their members 

[Yahem]

12 minutes ago, onebir said:

Terrible story, I hope it works out ok for you...

Thank you me too 

[Yahem]

14 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Wait and hope that its just a delay 

We’ll kinda stressed tbh waiting won’t do much I heard this week is the last one to apply for the visas 

[CorpusChristie]

50 minutes ago, Yahem said:

After 2 hours of waiting and 30+phone calls from the owner no one showed up and we all assume (owner included) that the lawyer basically ran off with the money ...

he worked with this lawyer over a year as he made work permits for foreigners working at his gym.

Go and have a look around the bars for him 

[CorpusChristie]

Just now, Yahem said:

We’ll kinda stressed tbh waiting won’t do much I heard this week is the last one to apply for the visas 

It was the long week-end , maybe he went away somewhere (Just hope he comes back ) 

[rast23]

13 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Better not to name the Gym , as they may be an innocent party and things may get sorted out

If this gets sorted, it's very good for their reputation and i would name them. 

[FritsSikkink]

You have a contract with the owner of the gym, what ever "his lawyer" is doing is not your problem.

[Scott]

Troll post reported and removed. 

 

[Phillip9]

5 hours ago, Yahem said:

This geen didn’t require any fees to bribe the immigration

I think it is impossible to convert to an ed visa without leaving the country unless you pay a substantial extra "fee" at immigration--At least for informal schools like muay thai.  Anyone who didn't charge you an extra fee probably didn't really understand the process or was scamming you.

 

Also, I don't think this has even been possible in bangkok.  At least not for language schools.  I could not find any language school there that could get an ed visa without leaving the country.  others have reported the same thing.  People in bangkok have had to go over to pattaya and get visas at schools there.

[Phillip9]

At this point I think you have to assume this was a scam until proven otherwise.  There are lots of things here that don't make sense.

 

Did they take scans of your passport?  ask you for passport type photos?  ask for proof of your address, a rental contract?   They would have needed these at least 3 weeks ago to apply at the ministry of education.

 

Ask the owner if he has your documents back from the ministry of education, or at least an application receipt.

[Yahem]

1 hour ago, Phillip9 said:

At this point I think you have to assume this was a scam until proven otherwise.  There are lots of things here that don't make sense.

 

Did they take scans of your passport?  ask you for passport type photos?  ask for proof of your address, a rental contract?   They would have needed these at least 3 weeks ago to apply at the ministry of education.

 

Ask the owner if he has your documents back from the ministry of education, or at least an application receipt.

They did need passport photos ,tm30 etc 

im not sure if I understood right but it looked like the “lawyer” never went to immigration at all so no applications for anyone 

[ubonjoe]

I just did a clean up of this topic by removing several off topic posts meant to deflect the topic and replies to them.

Time to start over again.

[stephen tracy]

Hey OP, sorry to hear that. It sounds like the lawyer has gone AWOL. Yesterday I met with a visa agent, filled out some immigration forms and submitted pics and paid 11000 baht for a 'Volunteer' visa, which is supposed to be good for 3 months once granted. There was me and another guy there at the time, and after dealing with paper work and paying we were told that the next step will be to go to immigration on either 22, 23 or 24 September. They said they will be taking people up in batched on those days. I have no idea if the whole thing is just a scam or what but I was willing to give it a shot. After reading the OP's post, I'm now even more doubtful. If no one contacts us to go to immigration or if they do but the immigration rejects the visa applications for whatever reason, it doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room with regards to the 26-September deadline.

[BritTim]

35 minutes ago, stephen tracy said:

Hey OP, sorry to hear that. It sounds like the lawyer has gone AWOL. Yesterday I met with a visa agent, filled out some immigration forms and submitted pics and paid 11000 baht for a 'Volunteer' visa, which is supposed to be good for 3 months once granted. There was me and another guy there at the time, and after dealing with paper work and paying we were told that the next step will be to go to immigration on either 22, 23 or 24 September. They said they will be taking people up in batched on those days. I have no idea if the whole thing is just a scam or what but I was willing to give it a shot. After reading the OP's post, I'm now even more doubtful. If no one contacts us to go to immigration or if they do but the immigration rejects the visa applications for whatever reason, it doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room with regards to the 26-September deadline.

It is quite rare for agents to run out and out scams. Quite apart from anything else, Immigration does not want negative publicity over agent assisted extensions and, as a branch of the police, can make life very unpleasant for those involved. That said, in the current environment, 11,000 baht is worryingly cheap. It is probably just a good deal, but I would be slightly worried. Is the agent one who has been in business a long time?

[stephen tracy]

10 minutes ago, BritTim said:

It is quite rare for agents to run out and out scams. Quite apart from anything else, Immigration does not want negative publicity over agent assisted extensions and, as a branch of the police, can make life very unpleasant for those involved. That said, in the current environment, 11,000 baht is worryingly cheap. It is probably just a good deal, but I would be slightly worried. Is the agent one who has been in business a long time?

Their website is quite new, as is FB page, but I'm nots sure how long they've been in business. I guess I now just have to wait and see. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

10 people on this special visa, mhhh

 

and how much was such a miracle visa ?

[anchadian]

Nearer the end of the amnesty, I'm sure we'll here more stories of those who are unable to get the necessary visas/extensions/flights.

 

Why do people leave these important things right up to the last minute?

 

Let's hope the OP gets his ED visa sorted.

 

 

[BritTim]

51 minutes ago, anchadian said:

Why do people leave these important things right up to the last minute?

In some cases, simple procrastination. In others, people managing to convince themselves that the amnesty will be indefinitely extended as long they want it to be (and who knows, maybe they will be lucky though I do not think so).

[patient37]

I considered using smaller outfits to get a visa extension as I have been seeing so many advertisements every day.

I ended up biting the bullet on August 20th, and used TVC.

Yes this was during that time everyone was saying they were fake ????, I contacted them for a refund and they were more than happy to cancel the whole process, and refund me. Because of that I decided to wait, also they have this online application tracking system which made me trust them. I mean who build a custom visa tracking system for clients if they were just going to scam everyone.

On Monday this week I got my visa back, and called up immigration to confirm my visa was real, and it was indeed real and in the system. So maybe this guy should just wait it out (worked out for me, even-though i was worried every day)? If not at least make sure they have their passport back, and can approach a larger organization.

Edited September 9, 2020 by patient37

[warcy]

It's amazing how people can get all types of non-essential visa with the primary purpose of staying in Thailand. Ed visa muay thai, study thai, volunteer, even though half of the time nothing was learned.

 

Is Thailand really heaven where people don't want to leave the country?