Credit Card Biz In Thailand

[brahmburgers]

It's a good thing Thais aren't subcontracted to deal with service calls - as the Indians are. First off, Thais have few fluent English speakers, but that's not the main point of this post. They're so encumbered by stratified archaic thinking, that the service people wind up making things unduly complicated. Just getting a person on the phone is a task. Then they put callers on hold, and we're compelled to listen to their crumby 'music' which sounds like Bobby Goldsboro played backwards on a 40 year old tin speaker as big as a match head. Then, if we're lucky to not get disconnected (about 50-50 odds) we get a service worker who is divorced from the idea of making things easy, straightforward or simple. Complicated and difficult is the order of the day. After 3 Thai credit cards, I still have a different name on the card than is on the account. I tried valiantly to rectify that, but their process leaves me numb, so it's easier for me to just go on with a schitzoid account that may or may not function at any given time. I even tried to make a very slight adjustment my mailing address with them, but they were determined to make it as complicated and difficult as inhumanly possible, I gave up on that also.

Is it a surprise that the only two credit card companies in Thailand are King Power and another run by the Shinawatre family? (correct me if I'm wrong about that) .......Talk about a rock and hard place.

[Darrel]

Hmm. Indian call centres are pretty dire in my experience.

My bank (Kbank) issued me a Visa card in about 10 minutes and changed an incorrect name on an account in about 1 minute. All done without any waiting at all, at my local branch. If your bank cant do the same why not try another bank?

[thailandbluegrass]

I don't even understand this post. Is there a point or a question here or just bitching about Thai's?

[brahmburgers]

I don't even understand this post. Is there a point or a question here or just bitching about Thai's?

Sorry if it sounds like bitching, but I got to call it as I see it.

Though extremely unlikely, it's hoped that posts like mine might influence perhaps one manager in one 'service center' to adjust the policies a bit - to try and make such services a tiny bit less intractable, and perhaps a tiny bit sensible.

I've written a lot of comments and letters (an average of 1 per week published in the Bkk Post and Nation during the past 13 years). It's easy to say, "So f*chin' what, nobody gives a fig what a nobody farang writes in a letter, particularly not Thais. And furthermore, how can you be so naive, Brahmburgers, to think that any Thai will ever be influenced by you - to improving anything in THEIR country?!"

Some of the topics I rail about most often:

>>> Thailand not going Nuclear

>>> MSG (is it ok to poison a few, because the majority don't mind MSG?)

>>> deadbeat dads

>>> abandoned dog problems, noise pollution

Have my comments helped one iota? I don't know.

[Darrel]

Some of the topics I rail about most often:

>>> Thailand not going Nuclear

>>> MSG (is it ok to poison a few, because the majority don't mind MSG?)

>>> deadbeat dads

>>> abandoned dog problems, noise pollution

I'm with you on the dogs and the noise.

I think that it's probably better if 3rd-world and/or unstable countries dont have nuclear technology. Most of them could do quite well with hydro and solar power and at least if they screw it up it probably wont release anything toxic.

There are far worse things than MSG in all our food.

I dont even know what a deadbeat dad is. Nor do I care.

None of which has any bearing on the simple fact that not all Thai banks are as bad as you think yours is. If you dont like yours, just change.

[brahmburgers]

None of which has any bearing on the simple fact that not all Thai banks are as bad as you think yours is. If you dont like yours, just change.

For the most part, banks don't issue credit cards, credit card companies or their agents do. Banks usually act as intermediaries. The people at my bank (Siam Commercial) are generally good at what they do. When I applied for a Thai c.card, the gave me two options: King Power or AIS/Shinawatre. Because I dislike Shinawatre more than King Power, I chose the latter. When I have an issue about the c.card, I'm compelled to call the c.card service people. They're probably decent people and are trying to do as good a job as possible, yet they're hamstrung by silly rules handed down by higher ups, and there's no wiggle room, and no room for down-to-earth humanity. I could detail a list if you'd like.

Here's the opposite: I just read a bio of an American who wanted to be an air force pilot but was compelled to join the Army instead (in the days before the Army had an air wing). Later, he saw a chance to switch from one service to the other. He went directly to the Pentagon and asked the Army rep if he could be let go if the AF accepts him. They said yes. He then went to the AF and asked for a letter of acceptance, then took that letter to the Army - and got his transfer. Can you imagine anything remotely like that happening in Thailand? In Thailand, to do something much simpler would take piles of papers and years of bureaucracy, if possible at all. Most likely, the petitioner would get endless 'mai dai' (cannot do it) every way he turned. Sometimes it seems Thais say 'mai dai' more often than they say 'sawadee' or 'mai pen rai'. It's the mantra of bureaucrats; 'mai dai' 'mai dai' 'mai dai' 'mai dai'.