Are Thai Companies

[ignis]

I find it odd that I cannot get a reply.. ?

In the past couple of months I have hit the 'contact us' on 3 Thai Websites, asking about the price + delivery time of there product include the model number as advertised on there 'products' page... No reply... Do they not want to sell ? items between 60 - 70,000 baht..

Find even people that offer services, some advertise on here also do not bother to reply. ?? another post of here a Thai man said his company supply and service what I am looking to buy he says 'please do not hesitate to contact me with your enquiries' Nope he has never replied.. many give only a email address

Do others have the same problem ? do you send a follow up email ? how long do you wait for a reply?

one Company I send a email to mid June, and again 2 weeks ago, still no reply

[mark45y]

What kind of product or service are you looking to purchase?

[spud1]

You're not alone.I.ve contacted dozens of companies and never had a reply to my emails or calls.I can only presume that Thai businesses are that successful that they do not need new custom.But how they aquired

any to begin with is a dilemma.

[allane]

Sometimes, the English language version of their website was only created to impress potential Thai customers. The firm wants to create the impression that it is modern and has international connections. You can sometimes observe that the Thai language version has been updated, while the English version remains as an empty shell, unchanged from whenever it was created.

Low level Thai staff often freeze when they see English, and then hit the Delete key, thinking that if it is in English, it must be junk mail.

[ignis]

What kind of product or service are you looking to purchase?

2 services advertised on here were for translation service, both did not reply, email was the only option given.. Why advertise a service then not reply ? [German to Thai] in the end I translated myself to English and a friend then translated to Thai

Looking to buy a new motor scooter or 3 wheel motorbike in September... 3 of the Companies are Thai the other an Agent, one of the Companies say they build anything you want + show photo's of what they have built/supplied, one of these would suite me better, yet non reply..

Just would like a few more options... at the moment it is down to a Tiger T-Max [they reply very fast] or a Honda PCX in stock in a little Honda showroom a few Villages away.

[thaimate]

I find that i rarely get a reply to anything from Thai companys ,including a complaint that i made ,however when my wife wrote to the company(true) she was phoned on 3 seperate occasions to let her know how her complaint was going and the fact that the member of staff who had been rude to me had been given a warning about her behaviour.

so it seems we tend to be ignored whereas a Thai who is willing to write to head office is dealt with immediatly.

maybe they think that a Thai person who is willing and able to write an articlate letter is one who is influential enough to cause trouble?

[yabaaaa]

They dont seem to look at or like e mail they only respond by phone................ nuts aint it!!

[ignis]

They dont seem to look at or like e mail they only respond by phone................ nuts aint it!!

Yep when some adverts only give an email address

[bkkjames]

I would suggest that someone said let's set-up an email address to get customers to contact us. Then they didn't bother to think about putting in some antispam protection and have an inbox full of Viagra ads. It's no wonder that half the staff use they own email addresses instead of the company's.

[Berkshire]

I would suggest that someone said let's set-up an email address to get customers to contact us. Then they didn't bother to think about putting in some antispam protection and have an inbox full of Viagra ads. It's no wonder that half the staff use they own email addresses instead of the company's.

Good point, James! And the Thai staff often times can't distinguish between a legitimate inquiry in English and spam in English. You see, I don't "always" disagree with you. And no, I'm not following you around.

[KIWIBATCH]

This one of my pet hates about Thailand the lack of just about any response to any email. I have a company back in NZ that required huge quantities of plastic product that required both a blow/injection plastic moulding process to manufacture. In fact my company has world wide patents pending on the product so the work provided to the moulding company would have been ongoing under contract. The short story is I was sent 5 cartons of the plastic "kit" from NZ in anticipation that I would front up at the Thai companies once I received a reply to my emails sent to them..... I emailed no less than 15 specialist companies in Thailand and never got one reply, not one. The company websites indicated that they had "engrish" speaking sales managers and by all accounts the websites were upto date.

Scenario 2....I wanted to purchase six 4 wheel "quad" motorcycles for a rubber plantation "modernisation" in southern Thailand. I approached a household named company in Thailand that sells these machines via email asking for current prices and spec sheets and availability (they had pictures listed of the motorcycles on their website)......I received no reply to 3 emails sent.....but was pestered repeatedly by a young lady from the company via numerous telephone calls wanting to relay extensive specs/prices by telephone. I could hardly understand her english. I managed to politely tell her that I required the specs sent by email so that I could peruse them in my own time.

Result....The plastic moulding contract was signed in China last month...and the motorcyles were purchased in Singaporefrom a Singaporean company and trucked through to Southern Thailand direct to the plantation.

My son is an english teacher. Wanting to spend sometime in Thailand and earn a living at the same time, he fired off numerous emails to Schools/Colleges that were advertising on the Net....in alot of cases only providing an email address in their advert.....same result...out of 9 emails sent he only ever received 1 reply....yet the teaching positions were marked "urgently required"...."start next week"

Thats my rant for the day.......I have no idea how this situation will ever resolve itself......it is totally unbelievable and quite astonishing and is very very common.

[thomo]

How many responses would an email written in Thai get from Western companies in the West?

Learn Thai, or at the very <deleted> least have a Thai PA if you're doing business here, in order to contact Thai companies you're looking to deal with. It's simple common sense of the lowest level.

Edited August 4, 2010 by thomo

[Chunky1]

How many responses would an email written in Thai get from Western companies in the West?

Learn Thai, or at the very <deleted> least have a Thai PA if you're doing business here, in order to contact Thai companies you're looking to deal with. It's simple common sense of the lowest level.

Yet still over the head of our comrades.

[Jingthing]

If Thailand hopes to compete with the likes of Singapore, China, Vietnam, etc. their business firms had best learn to respond to email inquiries in ENGLISH. It is indeed the international language of business. Next ...

Edited August 4, 2010 by Jingthing

[bkkjames]

How many responses would an email written in Thai get from Western companies in the West?

Learn Thai, or at the very <deleted> least have a Thai PA if you're doing business here, in order to contact Thai companies you're looking to deal with. It's simple common sense of the lowest level.

Haha, funny mate. Get your Thai PA to email then call to see why they haven't replied. Ok, got it thanks.

[TAWP]

How many responses would an email written in Thai get from Western companies in the West?

That is a joke, right?

If a company has a website in English they should be able to respond to an email in English.

Same in my home-country. Why cannot Thai people do the same?

And yes, I have had the same issue as the OP on many-many occasions.

[angiud]

4 weeks trying to order in 4 different thai company websites their products by email (english) without any answer. No big deal (about 10/15.000 ฿ amount).

Until now no answers.

[apetley]

How many responses would an email written in Thai get from Western companies in the West?

Learn Thai, or at the very <deleted> least have a Thai PA if you're doing business here, in order to contact Thai companies you're looking to deal with. It's simple common sense of the lowest level.

Fair enough if a website or advertising is purely in Thai, but when a website is also in English surely it is reasonable to expect a reply in English, chai mai?

As for western companies replying in English I used to work on a company helpdesk and whilst not getting any enquiries from Thailand all foreign language enquiries were efficiently dealt with....it was good business.

[Pdaz]

I've had the same problem here many times.. Worse I am usually trying to contact the agent of an international brand.. I have located a product on the net that I want to use. usually by going to the companies international website. Then I follow the link to International dealers/agents/stockist etc.. Then send an email of the somchai@whatevercompany and as usual never get a reply. If there is a contact number I will call.. But even the phones are seldom answered.. Occaionally if a mobile number you will get a Thai guy/girl who says ''wrong number''

No communication problem as I usually mail in Thai and English.

Only conclusion I can come to is alot of these companies get some Hiso's son/daughter to be a rep and have their name on the paperwork but then don't follow thru with the business of the kid has so much cash already they aren't interested in the business.. I don't know but it is infuriating when you can see a product is supposedly available here but then can't buy it..

Suppose it's no different to the countless businesses here that offer services that they can't perform and others offering shoddy second rate service and products but proclaiming their 'expertise'.. TiT !

[Heng]

Did some business this morning, shipped out around a ton of fresh cut flowers, but around 11am said f-it and put on my motorcycle taxi jacket (#7) and lounged around for the rest of the day. Needless to say I didn't answer any email either.

[Chunky1]

A better conclusion is that they do most of their business in person if they are not answering their email and phone, or that they do their business by phone and in person if they aren't answering their email. I think we all know how many websites get abandoned. Assuming they aren't tech savvy, they probably need to visit their hosts site, log-in just to check an email account that probably didn't get a single email the first 4 months. Ask them for their email in person and you will probably hear something like [email protected] or whatever as opposed to [email protected]

Or maybe I am wrong and they just like setting up businesses and shops and then they never sell anything because they just really enjoy working on their organizational skills and also because they have really rich parents which is very very unfair because they probably made a face like they bit into a spoiled egg that time you asked them if they wanted to go on a date with you. It's no wonder that they can't form a workable democracy.

Let's not limit this thread to unanswered emails, not when so many of our brothers are hungry!

Edited August 4, 2010 by Chunky1

[zzaa09]

You're not alone.I.ve contacted dozens of companies and never had a reply to my emails or calls.I can only presume that Thai businesses are that successful that they do not need new custom.But how they aquired

any to begin with is a dilemma.

I believe this might be a common phenomena as it applies to Thai companies and officialdom - the email inquiries and communication directives. The same inactivity or vacant response {to email questions and communique} is quite understood as well within the Thai government sector. More often than not, suggested email contact is just for show and rhetorical purposes.

[Garry9999]

The mistake you are all making here is, you are trying to do business in a developing Asian country, not a western developed country. It's not the same in Thailand as it was at home. You will need to adapt a little bit.

[thomo]

^ ^^

Both absolutely correct.

Some people come here and still think they're in Kansas. Learn how to do things the Thai way if you really want to be in business in Thailand.

Get somebody proficient in the local language and culture to deal with the locals.

It really is simple common sense.

Edited August 4, 2010 by thomo

[ignis]

You will need to adapt a little bit.

Please how ? You have no name, or even a Town/City.. Just an advert posted under services and a button to 'reply to this advert' ..?? this was x 2

Another was someone that posted in a topic on here was in the family business and to reply to his personal email address all written in English... yet weeks later still no reply.. No idea where there business is other than BKK, no idea the name of the Business, No idea if they have a website..

[thomo]

Please how ?

Get an email sent in Thai.

We've mentioned it a few times already.

Edited August 4, 2010 by thomo

[Garry9999]

translation service - lots of good translation services around Chaengwattana, visit them and they'll have it done in a day.

Looking to buy a new motor scooter or 3 wheel motorbike - do the rounds of the showrooms, what you see is what's available.

Edited August 4, 2010 by Garry9999

[mark45y]

It is common sense really. I wrote a business plan for a VP of a large IT company. She was estimating growth at 15% a year.

I also write her sales emails to potential customers who speak English. I also look at their answers and questions and proof her responses.

There is a lot of business opportunities in Thailand doing business with foreign companies.

Thailand is a rental economy because they can’t do much technical themselves. Hence the airport or transit systems in Bangkok are done by foreign firms.

Some day when Thailand develops the expertise to build things like cars and airplanes and basic infrastructure they may not need to rent overseas people.

For now with little local technical know how they better learn to respond to their emails if they want to get ahead in the international business community.

It is just common sense really.

[zzaa09]

How many responses would an email written in Thai get from Western companies in the West?

Learn Thai, or at the very <deleted> least have a Thai PA if you're doing business here, in order to contact Thai companies you're looking to deal with. It's simple common sense of the lowest level.

This is not so universally true....as reference to your common sense. Many Thai companies and their higher-ups, execs, management, and those with the responsibilities towards communication with the outside world will almost always have a degree of English comprehension. So what you might find as common {whatever that is}, might not be so observed elsewhere.

[thomo]

Being able to comprehend an English email, being able to confidently respond correctly, without exerting too much time and effort that could be spent elsewhere...: Not many.

Doing so in Thai...: All. 100%

Contacting Thai companies in Thai...

It really is a quite simple concept to understand.

Edited August 4, 2010 by thomo