Cash refused

[mikebell]

Wow!  When I asked for advice, I little expected so many contributions; thankyou. 

 

Here is an update; Head Office in Bangkok have decided the cash only thing was a 'misunderstanding.'  They tell me the local manager has emailed me a full explanation though I cannot find this response.  I am still working on the A/C problem.

[new2here]

The Currency Act BE 2501, does not, as I recall, have any language that mandates a private business accept paper or coin forms of currency for the payment of goods or settlement of debts.  

 

As such, unless the Ministry of Commerce has something within their scope of regulation, I suspect the answer is that any privately run business may choose to accept Thai cash (paper/coin) as they see fit and are not mandated to do so.

[mikebell]

11 hours ago, Isaanlife said:

It is obvious that puny amount is of no concern to them.  

 

Who in this world in 2022 does not have a bank card and why?

I have a card but do not wish to share my details  of it in Pattaya. I have a phone but my number seems to have escaped DTac's security resulting in a number of unsolicited calls.

[easydoor]

Complaining, complaining ..... about everything..... what are you doing here? This topic is even not worth the inkt.

[mikebell]

Just now, easydoor said:

Complaining, complaining ..... about everything..... what are you doing here? This topic is even not worth the inkt.

Are you complaining about me complaining?  Why don't you save your 'inkt'?  I asked a civil question on a forum which offers advice.  I got five pages of replies, not all of them from grumbletwats like you.  'What am I doing here?'  I am enjoying my life in Thailand and loving a game of table tennis four times a week which had just been curtailed.  

[tonray]

[mikebell]

16 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

So you had your moneys worth. what are they doing with the space now? After upkeep, maintenance,  electricity I wonder if your contribution  was not  worth it. Plus the time and presence of staff required to take money and open and close the premises and take care of a petty cash box. I find it incredible that not one of the OP's friend had a bank card or were notnprepared to cooperate  with the hotel staff.

The facility is still open; still being overmanned; still empty.  If you get someone to read the opening post to you, it will be revealed that my friends & I all have cards but are unwilling to share our card information in the wake of banking scandals locally.

[ChrisKC]

In real practical terms, I have not been inconvenienced by cashless transactions in Thailand. 

 

What may prove to be a problem in the near future is the gradual disappearance of ATM's. 

[digger70]

22 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Seems to be the way things are going.  Here in Bangkok, most Starbucks and Subways are now "cashless".

Great ,now we know not to go there .

[Laughing Gravy]

21 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

In UK I got so used to using my touch and go card I stopped  carrying cash except  to give to the beggars

Here in China everything (almost) is done electronically. I always carry cash as I still like the feel of it i my wallet. I often get refused when i try to buy things. Its either Alipay or WeChat.

 

I even saw beggars in Xieman and Sanya at Christmas with WeChat codesm so people could scan and give money. Some call it progress. I have a different opinion.

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

That reminds me, got to hit the ATM today. 20K is my usual withdrawl. Using a card sort of desensitizes the cost. Recently in the USA I found myself using my card for buying gas because I could pay at the pump and the high gas prices was easier forgotten. 

 

And I totally get that. I card can be a great convenience. I use my cards too. But, to live your life using only a cyber wallet, and cards, and never carry cash, is beyond my ability to fathom, thankfully. Real men use cash!

[champers]

53 minutes ago, JohnBetong said:

i also make a habit of checking change. I once returned 1,000 Baht and never forget the look on the cashier’s face, priceless ????

How could that happen? 1000 Baht notes are the highest denomination notes. 

[Satcommlee]

Maybe staff are suspected of pocketing your cash, hence no cash policy.

[Thingamabob]

The fact is that paper money and coins are dirty. We don't know where they've been...

[khunjeff]

19 hours ago, Caldera said:

At least they still accept bank cards! I'm more concerned about places that only accept QR code payments. While that isn't a problem for me personally, a foreign tourist can usually neither open a Thai bank account nor a TrueMoney wallet, so how are they going to pay at such a place?

That also bothers me. I understand why merchants like it - no fees from cards, and no cash to safeguard or account for - but in a country with so many foreign visitors (in normal times...), it seems odd to effectively exclude a large pool of customers.

 

19 hours ago, billd766 said:

I would call it stupidity on the hotels part. For every 4 persons over 50 weeks is equal tp 160,000 thb.

That 160k baht could buy the players a nice table of their own for their games, plus pay rent on a dedicated room to house it ????

 

18 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

There are such places that only allow QR code payments?   Really?  Where?

There are indeed - I've encountered one restaurant and one coffee shop, both in Bangkok, that only accept QR payments. At least the coffee shop made the policy known before the drinks were prepared, though after ordering. The restaurant, on the other hand, didn't tell us until after we had eaten - I have no idea what would have happened if none of us had had a local bank account. The bill was over 3k baht, so I had automatically assumed that they would take cards, but luckily I did also have enough cash - though that turned out to be irrelevant ????

 

18 hours ago, sandyf said:

I was at my niece's graduation in China 3 years ago and that is effectively a cashless society. Everyone pays by QR code on a mobile phone, even the old ladies in the market.

One weekend we went up into the mountains for the weekend and our hotel was on the other side of the river from the town centre. There was a small ferry across for about 5 baht and the driver was gobsmacked when I put money in front of him.

Being cashless with that system makes life quite difficult for visitors, I had to give my niece the money and she paid through her account.

I've read everywhere that it's nearly impossible to use cash in China, and yet I never had an issue during the 1-2 trips I made there every year prior to Covid - everyone took my money without question. Just good luck? Or does it depend on the city?

 

13 hours ago, Polar Bear said:

I had to pay for a visa extension today and they only accepted QR payment. The desks issuing resident certificates were still taking cash though ????.

Which office was that? I haven't done an extension since the middle of last year, but at CW they always required cash. I guess insisting on QR payments lets them verify that your bank account really exists...!

 

2 hours ago, EricTh said:

It's ridiculous, I was recently refused cash for using DHL.

 

They should accept all types of money and not just digital.

 

Why print money when you can use it?

DHL refused to accept my cash payment even 35 years ago in the US, so that's not a new policy for that particular company.

 

1 hour ago, new2here said:

The Currency Act BE 2501, does not, as I recall, have any language that mandates a private business accept paper or coin forms of currency for the payment of goods or settlement of debts.  

 

As such, unless the Ministry of Commerce has something within their scope of regulation, I suspect the answer is that any privately run business may choose to accept Thai cash (paper/coin) as they see fit and are not mandated to do so.

Similar to the US, actually:

 

"Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?

 

There is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise.

 

Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," states: "United States coins and currency [including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve Banks and national banks] are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." This statute means that all U.S. money as identified above is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor."

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm

[bbko]

18 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

The fact is that paper money and coins are dirty. We don't know where they've been...

Imagine handing a piece of cloth from one person to another day-after-day for months/years on end, how filthy would the cloth be? 

 

Studies have piled up in recent years describing exactly how filthy—specifically how bacteria-laden—our dollars and cents can be. Fecal bacteria and other pathogens may have hitched a ride from someone’s hands, nose or apron onto our cash. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dirty-money/

[tgw]

the question about cash is interesting

 

as far as I understood:

 

- shops, businesses can refuse cash payments. to get paid, they must ascertain the customer agrees to their preferred method of payment before the customer receives goods or services.

- in case the customer has received already received goods or services before payment, if the shops or businesses want to get paid immediately, they have to accept legal tender (cash)

- legal tender (cash) is a legal way to pay debts and cannot be refused for debt payment

 

if a business insists on card payment and the customer has already received, for example, a meal and offered cash payment, it is my understanding that he cannot be legally prevented from leaving if he provides an address where the business can send an invoice.

Edited January 13, 2022 by tgw

[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, bbko said:

Imagine handing a piece of cloth from one person to another day-after-day for months/years on end, how filthy would the cloth be? 

 

Studies have piled up in recent years describing exactly how filthy—specifically how bacteria-laden—our dollars and cents can be. Fecal bacteria and other pathogens may have hitched a ride from someone’s hands, nose or apron onto our cash. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dirty-money/

It's unlikely bacteria would survive on bank notes.

Not from before the last person that handed it to you.

[JohnBetong]

1 hour ago, champers said:

How could that happen? 1000 Baht notes are the highest denomination notes. 

Whoops, It must have been 100 Baht :) 

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, mikebell said:

The facility is still open; still being overmanned; still empty.  If you get someone to read the opening post to you, it will be revealed that my friends & I all have cards but are unwilling to share our card information in the wake of banking scandals locally.

What banking scandals ?? (forget the Kasikorn investment scam - thats unrelated to paying by card).

 

Are you not creating your own paranoia out of not wanting to do something slightly differently ?

 

 

It shouldn’t, but it does often surprise me how some create their own barriers to convenience out of stubbornness more than anything else. 

 

 

 

 

[RJRS1301]

3 hours ago, Asquith Production said:

Yes for the moment. We are every year becoming a more cashless society and eventually everybody will have to conform else you will not be able to operate financially. The younger generations tend to embrace these things and the older less flexible will just die off

I was at a briefing in Australia about 15 yrs ago, given by a senior person with the Reserve Banl of Australia. During the briefing it was outlined how there were very distinct targets to reach a cashless society in Australia, which was supported by the "Big4" Australian banks. I assumed this was a world wide target . I have no idea how this will be achieved in many "digitally" poor countries, and many remote communities in countries which ahve good digital coverage, let alone for those who lack literacy and unreliable connection to even basic electricity, some of which are close neighbours to Thailand

[MadMuhammad]

On 1/12/2022 at 10:48 AM, roo860 said:

Exactly mate, when I'm trading in the UK, always a bit of discount for cash, straight in the ar$e pocket.

I get airline miles, complimentary lounge access half a dozen times a year, travel insurance, a $400 travel credit which offsets my card fee of $400, prodigy ticket sales to many events, no international transactions fees and almost instant buyer protection refunds with very few questions asked. And that’s just one of my 5 credit cards.

Cash is most certainly not king in my little bubble ????????

[phetphet]

2 hours ago, khunjeff said:

That also bothers me. I understand why merchants like it - no fees from cards, and no cash to safeguard or account for - but in a country with so many foreign visitors (in normal times...), it seems odd to effectively exclude a large pool of customers.

That's another thing.

The banks used to charge a fee for internet transactions. They stopped soon after the pandemic started, to try and encourage people not to use notes (spreading the virus.)

But what is to stop them introducing them again? More fees equals more profits.

Remember the exorbitant ATM fees on drawing cash on foreign cards?

[david555]

2 hours ago, tgw said:

the question about cash is interesting

 

as far as I understood:

 

- shops, businesses can refuse cash payments. to get paid, they must ascertain the customer agrees to their preferred method of payment before the customer receives goods or services.

- in case the customer has received already received goods or services before payment, if the shops or businesses want to get paid immediately, they have to accept legal tender (cash)

- legal tender (cash) is a legal way to pay debts and cannot be refused for debt payment

 

if a business insists on card payment and the customer has already received, for example, a meal and offered cash payment, it is my understanding that he cannot be legally prevented from leaving if he provides an address where the business can send an invoice.

if some general shop refusing to be paid by cash .... simple let stand your full shopping trolley at the cashier and leave without  the goods.... simple..! ????  vote with your feet !

 

Digital payments  ...O.K....BUT

i use when i feel to use them , but not liking to be forced to them , both system  can be used alongside each other 

Edited January 13, 2022 by david555

[brewsterbudgen]

22 hours ago, Morpheus42 said:

What does it mean? You really cannot pay with cash anymore?!

Not in the branches of the stores I mentioned.

[david555]

2 hours ago, bbko said:

Imagine handing a piece of cloth from one person to another day-after-day for months/years on end, how filthy would the cloth be? 

 

Studies have piled up in recent years describing exactly how filthy—specifically how bacteria-laden—our dollars and cents can be. Fecal bacteria and other pathogens may have hitched a ride from someone’s hands, nose or apron onto our cash. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dirty-money/

You better not come out home anymore .... or use such plastic bubble dress with your own oxygen equipment as you shall touch many items many others touched before you...... and ..... do not invite any " TF order gf "  as they are not only servicing you ...... never thought of those ....? ????

Edited January 13, 2022 by david555

[Captain Monday]

16 hours ago, phetphet said:

And when your bank's systems, or the internet go down ( the first happened several times in the UK in the last two years), how will you buy food or pay for goods?

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/bank-scotland-lloyds-halifax-down-25486405

Stone the crows are you 80?

 

A printed QR code. A keyfob device, the NFC  cards that work without power in mobiles.

[Burma Bill]

On 1/12/2022 at 9:48 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

Here in Bangkok, most Starbucks and Subways are now "cashless".

Oh dear, would be of no use to me, a "cash only" person. I will use my debit card if I have insufficient cash in my wallet. When shopping, all the retailers I use accept cash. I do not own a smartphone and use my computer for personal internet banking.  If Starbucks refused my cash then I would refuse their coffee and walk out - simple! There are plenty of other establishments which accept cash, for example Amazon and Black Canyon. With respect, what is "Subways" - never heard of it.

[Harveyboy]

On 1/12/2022 at 10:39 AM, champers said:

Cash is king.

amen to that

[richard_smith237]

Oh dear...... All these personal protesters standing up for their rights and freedoms !!!! ????

 

Pay by cash or card, or contact etc....  which ever is there.... some people just want to make life difficult for themselves and protects the most pathetic of issues. 

 

 

If a company prefers cash.. use that, if you don’t have it, well thats that. 

If a company prefers cashless... use that, if you don’t have it, well, set it up... easy.

 

If you ‘don’t want to evolve’ don’t complain... you are the creation of your own inconvenience.