A Couple Of Things To Watch Out For

[chiang mai]

I took my desktop PC into the Acer offices in Phuket Town about five months ago to get it repaired. In he past I've been quite impressed by the service they have provided - explain what the problem is, the nice man opens the machine and checks how much RAM is installed and writes it on the service slip, sign the form and five days later its fixed and typically, for a machine that is out of warranty, the cost is less than 1,000 Baht. Except last time I got the machine back from them I used the opportunity to reload my operating system and when it was all done and dusted it ran very nicely. Over the following months the response time started to slow down until last month performance became really quite slow and I decided to try and figure out why. Was it my internet provider that was slowing things down, usually the culprit - no, CAT was working quite reasonably. After much digging I noticed that installed RAM was showing only 1 GB whereas I had added a second GB to the machine some two years prior. I opened the case and sure enough there's a just 1 GB of RAM - I then dug out the receipt from the ACER repair shop and that showed 2GB. So it seems that whilst installed RAM is verified by ACER when the machine is delivered it is nt double checked when it is collected. Clearly it's two late now for me to go back and raise the issue, in fact, it's probably too late to say anything fifteen minutes after you've walked out of the door of the repair shop. You might want to keep this in mind the next time you take your PC in for repair.

The second business that causes me to be very suspicious is CAT and their EVDO billing at the Patong office, although in all fairness I can't prove anything because I haven't kept all the receipts for the past year but the story goes like this:

I bought the EVDO Aircard service which costs me 845 baht a month - the first bill arrives about two months after service has started so in my case I duly paid it at my local CAT office. Over the next few months the process of receive bill and pay bill continued until one day in May this year when I went to pay my bill and the lady asked me how many months I wanted to pay. It seems that after only nine months of service I had somehow managed to get three months behind in paying my bills although I hadn't realized it. So I duly paid three months and that I was assured brought me up to date - subsequently I had started to examine my bills more closely and to ensure they were paid on time, I also started to save my receipts, something I hadn't been doing previously. Last month I had a clear out of all my paperwork and felt comfortable in throwing away a bunch of receipts and papers that I was certain were no longer needed, ha!

Today I went to CAT to pay my bill and once again I heard those terrible words, how many months do you want to pay. I said I wanted to pay my current bill that covered the cost of service from 1/8 to 31/8 and was told that I had to pay the previous bill first. I have the receipt for that I said and duly produced the bill covering the period 1/7 to 31/7 along with a paid receipt attached. Ah she said, that (stapled) receipt is for the previous bill as indicated by the issue date of 10/7. But wait a minute, I paid you three months and was current in May, I've been in here to pay YOU in cash faithfully at least three times since and now today you tell me that I still owe from June until today? I must admit I lost my cool with the young lady, mostly because I know something is very amiss but I can't prove it, although I have a strong suspicion that receipts can be issued containing any old issue date as a reference and unless the customer checks, oh well. The moral here is twofold, save all your receipts and secondly, check them and understand them.

[BillR]

CAT tried to hold my laptop hostage. I got frustrated because the software for the air card was not for Vista, clearly could see this, yet the continued to tool around for 45 minutes. I said, I will come back with a different laptop, tried to grab mine, and the rep literally tried to grab it away from me and block me from exiting. Never went back.

[baabaabobo]

Some good advice there thanks for sharing

[ericthai]

Had the same problem with CAT in Surin, no bill for a few months, then pay stay current and keep being told I was behind, I too finally started to keep track and now stay on top of them, not sure if their accounting is not working right or employee is keeping the money or just not enterning it into the system, who knows, but you need to be careful with CAT.

[LivinLOS]

I had similar issues with UBC 'losing' my payments when I paid cash over the counter bank payments.. One time it got into a complex argument where they claimed I had been paying the previous month for 4 or 5 months but as I did have a drawer full of receipts I was able to show them the payment they had 'missed' in their system.. Hours of phone calls and messing and a total waste of time and not a hint of apology for their mistake. Since then I have made sure its all bank to bank, recorded on my statements, and check online via the website to see bill payment received.

Sadly you really have to double and triple check everything, even months past when a matter should be closed.

[katabeachbum]

I had similar issues with UBC 'losing' my payments when I paid cash over the counter bank payments.. One time it got into a complex argument where they claimed I had been paying the previous month for 4 or 5 months but as I did have a drawer full of receipts I was able to show them the payment they had 'missed' in their system.. Hours of phone calls and messing and a total waste of time and not a hint of apology for their mistake. Since then I have made sure its all bank to bank, recorded on my statements, and check online via the website to see bill payment received.

Sadly you really have to double and triple check everything, even months past when a matter should be closed.

Check the paymentslips and keep them. At least for a year.

A friend payed his electricitybill in 7/11 couple of months back, like 10k. Power was disconnected, and he started checking. The bill was 100 baht pluss the fee, but collected 10k.

Had to pay again, this time to PEA.

Life in Paradise

[steelepulse]

 Easiest solution for these mishaps is to have the amount deducted out of your bank account so you have a verifiable record. 

Edited October 10, 2009 by steelepulse

[LivinLOS]

 Easiest solution for these mishaps is to have the amount deducted out of your bank account so you have a verifiable record. 

Yeah except for the fact that you have to give a Thai company direct debit access to your bank !!! Given the arguments I have had over the years I wasnt comfortable with that and made a special 'bills only' bank account with just a few 1000 in, and even then still prefer to pay by online banking Tx's rather then give them DD access.

Also mightily annoying is maxnet have no way to be paid via kasikorn bank, in cash at the bank or by Tx !! So for this one bill alone I have to keep a totally different bank account with SCB. I mean how can you not pay a bank account from any bank !! Just leaves me banging my head sometimes.

[katabeachbum]

Yeah except for the fact that you have to give a Thai company direct debit access to your bank !!! Given the arguments I have had over the years I wasnt comfortable with that and made a special 'bills only' bank account with just a few 1000 in, and even then still prefer to pay by online banking Tx's rather then give them DD access.

Also mightily annoying is maxnet have no way to be paid via kasikorn bank, in cash at the bank or by Tx !! So for this one bill alone I have to keep a totally different bank account with SCB. I mean how can you not pay a bank account from any bank !! Just leaves me banging my head sometimes.

Pre war banking systems. Not only Maxnet. Tisco, Tanachart, Bangkok insurance you name it.

As for PEA deducting from bankaccount, sometimes they do, sometimes they miss 50 baht and sometimes they withdraw 50 baht too much. If 50 baht is missing, they sure take the meter. I was about to say unbelievable, but in Paradise its believable. Wonder what kind of software they use

And I would never give any company direct access to a bankaccount with more than 10k in any country with no consumerprotection whatsoever

Edited October 10, 2009 by LivinginKata

[steelepulse]

I guess I've been lucky, but in 6 + years the electric company hasn't screwed up.......................yet.

[toptuan]

Check the paymentslips and keep them. At least for a year.

A friend payed his electricitybill in 7/11 couple of months back, like 10k. Power was disconnected, and he started checking. The bill was 100 baht pluss the fee, but collected 10k.

Had to pay again, this time to PEA.

Life in Paradise

Good advice.

A friend of mine had the same problem with his electric bill, which he paid at the post office. He always tossed his receipts. But, as Murphy's Law would have it, his power was cut off. When we went to the electric company, he was told that he was 4 months in arrears. Couldn't prove he had paid his bill at the post office, where someone was obviously pocketing the payment. Keep those receipts!