Correspondence With The Elite Card Company

[cutter007]

I wanted to find more about the Thai Elite card, and the services that they are advertising.

I always here vague benefits, and no real concrete facts (welcome to Thailand) on what you will receive.

I contacted the TPC (by phone), company that runs the Elite program and requested information this is what I received, I will use Khun X for myself.

Dear khun X,

thank you for your calls and i saw your inquiries in my data base now. as your request, i attached here the list of Thailand Elite service venders nation wide for your consideration.

Membership Information

Thailand Elite Members are entitled to special privilege of many services provider both by Thai government sectors and private provider. Elite members community is included special assistance regarding business investment opportunity and investment privileges preserved for members only.

Nation wide VIP services (core privilege)

1) member call center 24 hours, in English and Japanese. Member can obtain through call center for Visa information, investment information, traveling and booking arrangement before and during members’ stay

2) Free Green fees on 43 selected International Standard Golf course club nationwide

3) Free 1 ½ hour Thai Traditional Massage or spa package from 45 selected approved spas all over Thailand

4) Special Organized Tour Package Privilege such as discount rate on transportation

5) VIP tour package service within Thailand and Asian countries

6) Special yearly medical check up from 18 Thailand leading hospitals

7) Special member rate for banking, airlines, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls etc.

8) Free transportation on international arrival and departures from airport to member’s hotel/residence

9) Free special immigration privilege for special entry visa (SE), 5 years multiple entry visa with length of stay 90 days (extendable without requirement to leave the country, and fast track

Member’s Qualification

1. Applicant has not been sentenced to imprisonment

2. application is not adjudicated bankrupt

3. applicant is a person of a sound mind

4. applicant is allowed to stay in Thailand in accordance with Thai immigration laws or and related laws of Thailand.

5. the applicant is not a Thai citizen.

Membership fee

1. for corporate membership is 50.000 USD, for 30 years , for two Elite members per one company account.

2. for individual membership is 25.000 USD for a life time membership.

after June, TPC will require new members to pay for yearly membership fee of 1000USD, (though the existing member will stay entiltle to the same contract made with TPC, they will not ask for yearl membership and still enjoy the core privileges) however the new member, TPC will offer member increased privileges and benitfit to do that they devide members into 3 category,

(Elite Connection: for business will get increase privilege in connection with government office, helicopter service, document preparation),

(Elite moment for leisure, will get increase privilege of more golf course and more hours on spa treatment)

(lastly , the elite living, will get increase medical attention and treatments from hospitals all over thailand.)

For Term & Condition (new and old) regarding to Special privilege in business Investment, please visit our websites: www.tradepointthailand.com/elitecard, and our new website http://www.elite-living.com contact Thailand Elite Agent at Tel. +66 (0)53 894505 from Monday to Friday between 9.00-17.00 or e-mail to [email protected] feel free to contact anytime on Pauline Mobile 06 9227010 ka,

Attached was a spreed sheet file with the following details,

It also had a list of each vendor and whether they had a contract signed or not.

Service - Contract Completed - Contract not yet complete but Can Service - Total

Golf - 18 - 21 - 39

Hospital - 17 - 3 - 20

Hotel - 35 - 41 - 76

Spa - 65 - 5 - 70

Restaurant - 83 - 101 - 184

Shopping Center - 3 - 7 - 10

Transportation - 1 - 2 - 3

Airline - 0 - 2 2 -

Charter - 0 - 3 - 3

Other - 4 - 6 - 10

Total - 226 - 191 - 417

Facts to notice:

TPC claims 43 golf courses, yet even if they had all the contracts signed, they still would have only 39 golf courses.

What kind of value do you think you might get out of your 1 million baht, from a company that can’t even count.

Edited May 4, 2005 by cutter007

[taxexile]

applicant is a person of a sound mind

i would think that by merely applying for this seemingly useless promotion you would render yourself ineligible.

[cutter007]

My response to TPC

Thank you for the information, at this time you still have to many

contracts you have not signed.

So the privileges that you have listed are actually not guaranteed.

Please contact me again, when you can actually confirm the services that you are advertising.

Thank you,

Khun X

[cutter007]

Response from TPC

dear khun X,

thank you for your email. and your kind concern about many contract from prospect who not yet signed to become member. i would like to make a statement here, that the core privilege complimentary offer to memembers as visa, green fee, spa, limosine, immigration fast trace,

yearl medical checkup. special rate. and items that i wrote to you before will stay the same. and TPC will not ask the existing 824 members the yearl membership fee of 1000USD,

however, if the individuals want to apply to be Thailand Elite member after June 2005, they will also have above privilege as called core privilege, and will entilted to pay yearly fee., then they will enjoy an increase privileges (more spa time, more golf, 7 starts hotels.,etc) offer by TPC, the company ower of the membership card.

i would suggest you to purchase the card before June, so that you pay a flat

price. however, if you have further question please feel free to contact me

ka. have a nice weekend.

best regard,

Facts to notice: basically they are saying buy our junky package now now, before we start offering a more expensive junk package.

I was also told over the phone that you will not actually get discounts at the hotels, but and I quote from the TPC staff “you will receive something special, like a upgrade from the standard room, to the deluxe, or a fruit basket”

That’s right you heard me, 1 million baht gets you a free fruit basket.

[cutter007]

My response to TPC

Thank you for the advise.

What is immagration fast track, normally I only spend about 4 minutes in the queue at immigration?

The last time I was at immigration I walked through the Thai Elite Card

line.

So I don't even need to pay to get the fast track immagration service

offered by the TPC.

I am also curious why TPC even talks about free yearly checkups?

Anybody with 1 million baht to spend is already going to have insurance, and which case the checkups are free.

I am most interested in the free greens fees, as you have not signed any contracts with the

airlines, you can't garuantee, any airline discounts, and you said

actually you don't recieve any discounts at hotels, so the golf greens fees are really the only

thing TPC has to offer that is worth any real value.

Below are the courses that I am interested in:

Alpine Golf Club

Blue Canyon Country Club

Summit Windmill Golf Club

Green Valley Country Club

If you can sign contracts with these courses, before June, then I would be interested in purchasing a card.

But TPC has a reputation for promising things and then not delivering

them, so I need contracts before purchasing the card.

I am not worried about the 1,000 USD monthly fee, TPC could only sell 824 memberships

(which I am sure about 200 were given as gifts), so actually they only

sold 500 memberships, in over a year.

This is with the promise of owning land.

Now they would like to increase the price, and revoke the right to own

land.

Any Western university graduate can tell you that lowering

the services and increasing the price will not increase your sales, but

actually lower them.

So after this next year when they only sell 100 new memberships, either

TPC will declare bankrupcy or they will lower the price, and then I will decide whether to purchase the card.

Thanks for all you information, good luck,

K. X

[cutter007]

Response from TPC

dear khun X,

thank you for your email ka, i hope you are doing fine ka.

all the golf course you mentioned are on service for Thailand Elite members

at present. i have check the vender updated list.

however, we cannot garauntee venders (airline, shopping, hotels,) that they will stay throughout the long terms contract as long as life time , because it is promotional limitation timing for each venders.

when you become thailand elite member, you will be closely keep up to date by post or through call center with promotions from venders.

the free yearly medical check as core privilege, each hospital will offer to Elite members different specialist area of health check up which is more specific ka up to different hospitals.. for example, member in Chiangmai can choose to go to Chiangmai Ram 1 or Lanna hospital, and they call callcenter to ask what service offers or discount if they need medical attention, at

these hospital and they chose the one suitable for they need ka.

please allow me to tell you that after June, TPC will lauch a new membership packages, (elite connection, elite living, and elite moment) for member to choose to signup and member will get increase privileges, (eg. if they chose Elite moment, they will get more golf deals, or spa hours per day, or more shopping discount,) and TPC will charge member 1000USD yearly fee, on top of

membership fee 25000USD ka.

lastly i understand how you feel about Thailand Elite Card., it is an

attractive program that needs alot of improvement., since it is the first country membership program. we seek your support and your suggestion to make our program work better for you ka. feel free to contact me any time, and i hope you have a nice day

Chiangmai Trade Point,

Thailand Elite, Sale Agent

Summary: basically nothing is garuanteed, and there advertising/selling point slogan at this time is, hurry up and buy it before it gets more expensive.

In the year to come, I suspect there will be a lot of finger pointing and accusations as the TPC becomes more and more cash insolvent.

I know their plan is to now start charging the annual fee to members

to avoid the insolvency, but it is too little to late, and the overhead of this endeveor will run them into the ground.

I really do feel bad for the people that bought this card, this program is little more than the fancy version, of the tuk tuk driver charging you 4 times the price.

Edited May 4, 2005 by cutter007

[Darknight]

They might like to hire a spellings checker from that 25 thou their pulling of you.

[PeaceBlondie]

Pardon me, I'm just a little teacher of English, but if I have to put up with that level of mangled English on an e-mail, where the sender has the benefit of spellcheck and really thinking about what she's writing, I hate to imagine how unintelligilble they're going to be on the call center line, ad lib.

A million baht is a lot of money for almost everybody except folks like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, the Sultan of Brunei, and HMTK. Peope who have that kind of money to spend, usually don't waste it on pie-in-the-sky promises.

Whom do they think they're kidding, besides a few hundred people?

[cutter007]

If you think that is bad, the first time that I called them, a person picked up the phone, that spoke almost no english.

They told me in Thai, that I need to call back, or leave a message because the person that could talk with me (aka the person who could speak english) was not there.

I left a message, I had to give it to her in Thai.

[The_Eye_Of_Sauron]

Lets not hammer the Sales Girl - she could get her ass fired for this. Hardly her fault they have a duff scheme.

Its not her fault they won't hire a slick bilingual sales force. We know why they don't invest in their staff. Its because its all smoke and wires.

[Axel]

Are you saying, I cannot believe their web-site?

24 hour Member Service hotline

Part of Thailand’s charm is that it is one of the safest and friendliest countries on earth. But it’s still good to know that in any situation and any event, you have full and instant backup from Thailand Elite. The Elite Member Service Center is a 24-hour hotline where you can get instant access to assistance in English, Japanese, French & Mandarin for any queries you may have, or to help you deal with situations of any description that might arise.

http://thailandelite.com/privileges_member_service.php

OK, in the previous (2003) brochure they had as well German, Arabic and Spanish, although from October to December 2003 English, only.

Edited May 4, 2005 by Axel