A friend needs to forward mail from overseas to Chiang Mai. Are there post office boxes anywhere close to Chaing Mai university?

I've been trying to get a PO box for the past two months and all the ones at the main post offices appear to be taken which now leaves me calling or visiting regularly to see if things have changed. The only place I could find one was at the post.net counter on the first floor of Tesco Lotus. They charge 100 per month (not sure how this compares with the regular post office) but my main concern is that being a private outfit they may not be quite as, how can I put it, stable as the official alternative*. Anyone using their service have a comment?

Incidentally, I understand the US Consulate offers a service - maybe other consulates too?

*and having your mail forwarded to c/o Tesco Lotus, Chiang Mai may not give quite the solid impression of reliability you might wish to impart

My box at the post office runs 160 baht per year.

I have had very bad experiences using the Post.Net counter at Carrefour. Paid some bills there, which never actually got paid. Took forever to get my money back.

A friend needs to forward mail from overseas to Chiang Mai. Are there post office boxes anywhere close to Chaing Mai university?

I've got a box at CMU PO inside the campus, near Siam Commercial Bank and Omsin Bank. Less than 200 baht/year.

CMMCB

greenside.

ive rented a box in tesco for over two years coz i thought how easy it would be to break open my wardrobe and run off with my video camera , passport , spare credit cards , cheque books spare pounds , euros , dollars , external hard drive , phone etc

but all they gave me to put in the box was a cardboard box and offered to seal it with sellotape .... : (

not very secure !

so i spent some time searchng for a lockable box and i found this one in the office shop on the ground floor of pantip plaza for about 2400 baht.

it fits in the tesco box nicely but all the simmilar ones you see all over town with a knob / dial sticking out on the front wont fit in the box

i know this is not very secure either but its better than nothing and gives me a bit of peace of mind

regards ..... dave2

Uh, I think he was interested in a PO box, not a safe deposit box.

greenside.

ive rented a box in tesco for over two years coz i thought how easy it would be to break open my wardrobe and run off with my video camera , passport , spare credit cards , cheque books spare pounds , euros , dollars , external hard drive , phone etc

but all they gave me to put in the box was a cardboard box and offered to seal it with sellotape .... : (

not very secure !

so i spent some time searchng for a lockable box and i found this one in the office shop on the ground floor of pantip plaza for about 2400 baht.

it fits in the tesco box nicely but all the simmilar ones you see all over town with a knob / dial sticking out on the front wont fit in the box

i know this is not very secure either but its better than nothing and gives me a bit of peace of mind

regards ..... dave2

greenside.

ive rented a box in tesco for over two years coz i thought how easy it would be to break open my wardrobe and run off with my video camera , passport , spare credit cards , cheque books spare pounds , euros , dollars , external hard drive , phone etc

but all they gave me to put in the box was a cardboard box and offered to seal it with sellotape .... : (

not very secure !

so i spent some time searchng for a lockable box and i found this one in the office shop on the ground floor of pantip plaza for about 2400 baht.

it fits in the tesco box nicely but all the simmilar ones you see all over town with a knob / dial sticking out on the front wont fit in the box

i know this is not very secure either but its better than nothing and gives me a bit of peace of mind

regards ..... dave2

umm i think you missed the boat on this post.

A friend needs to forward mail from overseas to Chiang Mai. Are there post office boxes anywhere close to Chaing Mai university?

I've got a box at CMU PO inside the campus, near Siam Commercial Bank and Omsin Bank. Less than 200 baht/year.

CMMCB

Do you have to have a connection with CMU to use this facility?

Dave2: Your arrangement isn't what I'm looking for but it doesn't sound too secure to me. Doesn't your building have a safe in their office or something like that?

wimpy .... electrified ?

maybe im wrong here but but the first word of a letter or reply , in this case greenside often gives you a clue to who you are replying to.

ie greenside.

he asked a question ... Anyone using their service have a comment ? .... i answered it ...... where is the problem ?

dave2 .... peacefully rowing across a lake : )

A friend needs to forward mail from overseas to Chiang Mai. Are there post office boxes anywhere close to Chaing Mai university?

I've got a box at CMU PO inside the campus, near Siam Commercial Bank and Omsin Bank. Less than 200 baht/year.

CMMCB

Greetings to all who replied,

There are not currently any PO boxes available at CMU, however my friends will be able to forward their mail to the CMU post office. They will have to pay one baht per pick-up...that's very cheap. So once again problem solved by Thai Visa members. Thanks.

BB

I have had very bad experiences using the Post.Net counter at Carrefour. Paid some bills there, which never actually got paid. Took forever to get my money back.

I can add my own bad experience with Post.Net at Carrefour. Quite by chance, I paid two TOT bills in a row there. Some time later, TOT cut off my service for non-payment. I confirmed the non-payment at a TOT shop, got a printout showing same, presented it to the Post.Net shop along with my receipts. There seemed to be true mortification at Post.Net: after less than five minutes of the lady there thrashing through paper records, she made a phone call. I was promised and had service restored within an hour. End of story? No.

SHE HAD PAID ONLY THE FIRST OF THE BILLS. When the next TOT bill arrived, I found I still owed the second of the two bills. I went to TOT, got confirmation, gave it to Post.Net. The lady was nonchalant this time, said it would take time to straighten out. How much time? An hour. I said I would be back in the hour. When I returned, she said it would take more time but I refused that excuse, pointing out how quickly she had paid the first bill. After some hemming and hawing, she said she could refund, in cash. Okay. She counted out the money, around B1150 and change, carefully arranged the paper money with B100s on the bottom, PULLED OFF THE BOTTOM B100 NOTE, and handed me the sheaf of paper money. I started counting the money in front of her and BEFORE I WAS FINISHED, she had picked up the B100 note she had pulled off and, when my count came up short, she presented me with the B100 note.

I didn't bother with arguing about a refund for the B10 service charge. Never again Post.Net.

Incidentally, I understand the US Consulate offers a service - maybe other consulates too?

The U.S. Consulate only offers a very limited service to a limited number of U.S. military retirees (when the number is reached, newbies go on a waiting list) as a courtesy. It is not standard consulate service and the service can be canceled at any time it become too onerous on them to continue it.

They had a sign at Chang klan post offices yesterday to say that they had 2 boxes available, this is where i have my P.O box and Im really happy with it and have been for almost 4 years, nothing has gone missing ever. Plus there is the new post office opening next month behind the Tesco's and JJ market, they'll probably have some.