Western Union Office With Competent Staff

[heybruce]

I know there are Western Union offices all over Chiang Mai, but none that I've visited will let me send money to a business in Europe. I checked the Western Union booth near Tha Pae Gate and was told they only receive money, and the Western Union service in the Bangkok Bank branch that I visited only sends money between individuals.

The small Western Union office in Kad Suan Kaew said they could transfer money to a business, but for some reason the transfer wouldn't take place on Sunday. The women there suggested I try again later, which I did today. This time a different women told me that it would cost me almost 23000 baht to transfer $500 to Europe, not the $16000 and change I was quoted on Sunday. I declined to make the transfer at a cost of more than 45 baht to the dollar.

Is there anyone who has succeeded in transferring money from a Chiang Mai Western Union office to a business in Europe? I've exhausted all bank transfer, internet payment service and credit card options, so I'm stuck with Western Union. I need a Western Union office staffed by someone who can get the job done without charging me 50% too much. The standard 5% to 6% fee is outrageous enough.

[Loaded]

Western Union knows that its customers come to them because they cannot transfer money through a bank or open a bank account or open a PayPal account for whatever reason so they have you by the balls. It's true they only accept payments to individuals and not businesses. Try a branch of Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow one). They are agents for WU. They seem a little more professional and have fixed rules.I suggest find a trusted friend who will allow you to use their bank account or PayPal to transfer the money. MoneyGram from a branch of SCB is another option but I think the terms and conditions are similar to WU.

[2unique]

Bangkok Bank are also agents for WU...

Sent from Android please excuse errors in type or judgement

[heybruce]

Thanks for the replies. I know that what can and can't be done depends on how the official you must deal with interprets the rules, not on the rules as written. This is true everywhere, but especially true in Thailand, and not just with money transfers, also licenses, visas, bank accounts, permits, etc. I suspect my problems arise in part from WU employees who don't know how to do the transfer I need and so tell me it can't be done or quote me an outrageous cost. It's also possible that the last women I dealt with didn't know how to do her job and gave me the transfer cost for U.K. pounds, not dollars.

If there are specific Bank of Aydhya or Bangkok Bank branches with better than average WU agents, and if so, could you give me directions to them?

[hellodolly]

Western Union knows that its customers come to them because they cannot transfer money through a bank or open a bank account or open a PayPal account for whatever reason so they have you by the balls. It's true they only accept payments to individuals and not businesses. Try a branch of Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow one). They are agents for WU. They seem a little more professional and have fixed rules.I suggest find a trusted friend who will allow you to use their bank account or PayPal to transfer the money. MoneyGram from a branch of SCB is another option but I think the terms and conditions are similar to WU.

We just transferred 10,000 Baht to a bank in New Zealand from SCB. Cost for transfer was 500 baht. Plus of course the usual rate of exchange,

[heybruce]

Sorry about the double post. After I posted yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail telling me my original post ended up in the "dead-letter box" of Thai Visa, so I resubmitted the post yesterday evening.

[elektrified]

Western Union knows that its customers come to them because they cannot transfer money through a bank or open a bank account or open a PayPal account for whatever reason so they have you by the balls. It's true they only accept payments to individuals and not businesses. Try a branch of Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow one). They are agents for WU. They seem a little more professional and have fixed rules.I suggest find a trusted friend who will allow you to use their bank account or PayPal to transfer the money. MoneyGram from a branch of SCB is another option but I think the terms and conditions are similar to WU.

We just transferred 10,000 Baht to a bank in New Zealand from SCB. Cost for transfer was 500 baht. Plus of course the usual rate of exchange,

Not sure how you pulled that off. Wire transfer in Thailand is 1400 THB. It used to be 1200 for years but was raised earlier this year.

[elektrified]

Here is my experience.

I wanted to transfer 30,000 THB to American Express by Western Union. American Express told me that it was possible in most countries. I went to Ayudhya Bank which as another member said, is the agent for Western Union. Fortunately I was attended to by a woman who spoke absolutely perfect American-style English and knew exactly what she was doing. She later told me that she worked for banks and insurance companies in the USA for 5 years. She told me that it was not possible in Thailand to transfer money to a company the traditional way but it could be done. She was determined to help me and called the W.U. Dept. of Ayudhya in Bangkok for advice. She then told me that in order to transfer to a company by Western Union, one would have to have the company's actual merchant account number with Western Union. She said it may be impossible to get that number because the customer service rep. from American Express (or any other major company) would not have access to that number. Another problem she said was that by making the transfer that way there would not be provision for me to include my account number with American Express, therefore making it extremely difficult for my account to be credited with the payment. I thanked her for her help and left.

When I got home and contacted Amex they told me that they could not provide me with that merchant number and that without my account number being included with the transfer that even after faxing the receipt, it may not be 100% possible to confirm the payment and get my account credited.

I ended up going to Kasikorn Bank and paying the 1400 THB fee to transfer direct to Amex bank account. Got there in about 12 hours time.

[heybruce]

Here is my experience.

I wanted to transfer 30,000 THB to American Express by Western Union. American Express told me that it was possible in most countries. I went to Ayudhya Bank which as another member said, is the agent for Western Union. Fortunately I was attended to by a woman who spoke absolutely perfect American-style English and knew exactly what she was doing. She later told me that she worked for banks and insurance companies in the USA for 5 years. She told me that it was not possible in Thailand to transfer money to a company the traditional way but it could be done. She was determined to help me and called the W.U. Dept. of Ayudhya in Bangkok for advice. She then told me that in order to transfer to a company by Western Union, one would have to have the company's actual merchant account number with Western Union. She said it may be impossible to get that number because the customer service rep. from American Express (or any other major company) would not have access to that number. Another problem she said was that by making the transfer that way there would not be provision for me to include my account number with American Express, therefore making it extremely difficult for my account to be credited with the payment. I thanked her for her help and left.

When I got home and contacted Amex they told me that they could not provide me with that merchant number and that without my account number being included with the transfer that even after faxing the receipt, it may not be 100% possible to confirm the payment and get my account credited.

I ended up going to Kasikorn Bank and paying the 1400 THB fee to transfer direct to Amex bank account. Got there in about 12 hours time.

That's not encouraging, but it is informative. Thanks for the reply.

There once was this slow but effective way to transfer money referred to as "put a check in the mail". Unfortunately many companies don't want to receive payments that way, and the wonderful high-tech alternatives for transferring money don't always work.

[NancyL]

This is a good example of why it's a bad idea to sever banking relationships in your home country.

I'm from the U.S and yes, I hear U.S citizens talk about how they've given up on their U.S. bank because of minimum monthly fees, inactivity charges, clueless customer service reps, etc. The answer, at least for U.S citizens, is a credit union. Hubby and I joined one decades ago and almost forgot about it after we left the employer served by the credit union. We had account balances of less than $200, with no activity, but still received statements and no charges. When it came time to retire to Thailand, we realized we still needed a U.S. bank account and credit card issued by a U.S. bank. Our primary bank was one of the top 10 U.S. banks, one run by evil bloodsucking vampires who didn't care that we'd run millions thru the bank when when ran our business. They had huge fees for simple accounts for retirees.

I called the almost-forgotten credit union and was welcomed with open arms and and a Visa card! Their on-line banking is great. Their customer service department consists of 6 women, all of whom remember us and say "how are things in Thailand?" when we call. Yes, they do have fees, but they aren't excessive. I'm so glad we hadn't closed our accounts with them years ago.

To answer the OP's question -- how would I get money out of Thailand? I'd wire transfer it from our Bangkok Bank account to our U.S. credit union account.