Unpaid Phone Bills

[usa44thai]

I have an account with TOT for my WIFI using a phone line. A snake crawled up the power pole outside my condo and set off an explosion that melted about 100 phone and cable lines. Power was restored within an hour, Sophon cable the same evening, but TOT never showed up. It was during the Christmas holidays, and I had no Internet or voiceoverIP phone for aroung three weeks. After dozens of phone call and two trips to the Pattaya office, a TOT crew came out and resored service--but not to me. Another stab at phone calls to TOT. The repair man hooked me up to the wrong box!

I was disgusted enough to get behind in my bill. I am leaving the country for several months and wanted to have my WIFI shut off--there are much better alternatives now. TOT knew my service had been off, but told me because I did not come back to the office again after my service was restored and file a form, I was due no credit for the time it was off.

Further, the manager of the Pattaya office showed me her computer screen that because my bill was in arrears, she had notified immigration and told me if I did not pay the bill in full (around Bt 3000) I would be stopped by airport immigration and not be permitted to leave the country.

Not wanting to take the risk, her threat convinced me to pay in full, even for the time I had no service.

Please tell me if you have had a similar experience. Several expats agree that TOT service is the pits.

[phl]

have had similar experiences many times, the excuses and reasons are all worthless, because they will never ever credit you for the time it was off, its simply not thai way of doing business.

in their opinion, it is not their fault, but the fault of snake in this case, so they should not have to loose any money.

about the threat of immigration, hate to tell you but she bluffed you and succeeded.

firstly you can not be stopped for such a matter, they allowed you to "ring up" bills that high

secondly as advised by my lawyer, they would first need to file a police report, then contact immigration.

HOWEVER, police will not even accept such police report.

I was also told by True, that foreigner do not get black listed by telco company's in Thailand(not sure how true this is) but from personal experience from 5 years ago, i refused to return true box and pay some money(do not recall now the amounts) and was able to connect to true months later with no problems at all

so i guess it must be true.

[arthurwait]

My experience is appaling.

[carra]

a few months ago I popped into the TOT office on Suksawat Road to pay my TOT phone and internet bill, I arrived about 6pm and the office closes at 7pm, I got out my credit card to pay and they refused to take my card, it seems that they have a cut off time where they turn off the credit card system so she asked me to pay cash. I didnt have enough cash on me so i was leaving to go to an atm when the staff member decided to call me a host of names in Thai to the waiting customers.

Clearly she thought I don't speak any Thai so I told her I do and asked to speak with a manager, one duly came and called the call center to get an English speaker on the line (My thai is not brilliant but I know enough to know when i am being bad mouthed). I explained the situation, explained why I was in the office so they turned the credit machine back on again, but I had to reiterate that the credit card issue was not really an issue, the issue was the bad mouthing by the staff. So anyway to cut a long story short I was given two months free line rental, not a lot I know but they acknowledged their staff shortcomings, even more so after a thai customer there backed me up to the other staff in the office who had not overheard the staff members comments.

I expect all the usual nonsense from the thaier than thai apologists that seem to inhabit this website with their usual crap about the customer must have started it, and how i must have been rude first etc etc etc but I will pre-empt you by stating clearly I was polite at all times before and after the name calling, so do the forum a favour and don't try and create something that was not there.

There are good and bad in that office, I saw both sides on that day and I thank the other customer that came forward to verify what I said had happened.

As for the OP, I think taking the matter higher than the branch will get you some satisfaction, I doubt very much immigration will stop you over this matter, has she just wrote a note on the file to say immigration have been informed? I know you have paid it now but i would not let it rest there.

[kblaze]

my roommate ditched his DTAC bill, and they continued to charge for a couple months after he left. he never paid the balance ( i think somewhere around 3k )

No blacklist, he still comes and goes in Thailand as he pleases.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I didnt have enough cash on me so i was leaving to go to an atm when the staff member decided to call me a host of names in Thai to the waiting customers.

Not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience this kind of thing is very very rare here, much more so than back home.

[carra]

I didnt have enough cash on me so i was leaving to go to an atm when the staff member decided to call me a host of names in Thai to the waiting customers.

Not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience this kind of thing is very very rare here, much more so than back home.

I never had it back home, I have no idea where you are from but where I am from it is rare. I had never heard it hear until this happened but this one made no effort to hide what she was doing or saying, quite what she hoped to achieve is beyond me.

[phl]

I didnt have enough cash on me so i was leaving to go to an atm when the staff member decided to call me a host of names in Thai to the waiting customers.

Not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience this kind of thing is very very rare here, much more so than back home.

I agree, its like winning a lotto to get credit for bad customer service especially in Thailand, unless you are some super duper customer

I pay over 5000 baht per month for Sophon(many connections) and do not get even 1 day credit when its down or does not work

Not considering myself super duper customer, but considering each connection is only 300 baht, i should be little more special

[carra]

I didnt have enough cash on me so i was leaving to go to an atm when the staff member decided to call me a host of names in Thai to the waiting customers.

Not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience this kind of thing is very very rare here, much more so than back home.

I agree, its like winning a lotto to get credit for bad customer service especially in Thailand, unless you are some super duper customer

I pay over 5000 baht per month for Sophon(many connections) and do not get even 1 day credit when its down or does not work

Not considering myself super duper customer, but considering each connection is only 300 baht, i should be little more special

i don't consider myself special at all, I guess once another customer backed me up then they had no deniability anymore, added to me asking to cancel the line and internet to my new condo that I was moving to (I was actually settling the bill for the old condo before moving), I also don't just accept apologies from other people, I make a point of saying its not enough. I thank them for their apology and ask what they intend to do to keep me as a customer, in this matter they gave two months, if they had not then i would have changed companies, simple. I also recently had an issue with American Express here where they made a mistake, the normal apology phone call came along and i said its not enough so they gave me 500 miles on my ROP, ask and you will get, if they say no then I can happily cancel the service, they won't be bothered and neither will I but they won't get another Baht out of me.

If you do all this in a pleasant manner they know it is not based on anger, i thank them for their help, I thank them for their apology, i then ask how they intend to compensate me to keep me as a customer as I feel only this will make them accountable rather than just someone making a call and saying sorry. Now I believe them as they have gone that extra few yards for me as a customer that has been wronged, and when i say wronged I don't mean being cut off for my payment being late, or something that is my fault, I mean for being abused by a staff member for no reason at all other than not knowing their credit card facility cuts a few hours before the office closes, and thanking her and going to find an atm to make payment.

Cue the abuse, I am amazed that people think there is ANY logic in saying something does not happen just because it has never happened to them, it happens and it happens for no other reason than someone might be in a bad mood, someone might not like foreigners, someone tries to be funny at the expense of others, and I was lucky in this situation that a customer backed me up on this.

Its a small thing, nothing major, but it adds to the service from TOT which is what the op is about and that is why it is mentioned in this thread, believe me, don't believe me, either way I won't lose any sleep tonight

also i think if you read the post you quote, he is saying the bad service is rare, not the compensation,

[BigJohnnyBKK]

also i think if you read the post you quote, he is saying the bad service is rare, not the compensation,

Yes that is what I was saying, not wrt bad service in general but actually getting abusive language from a CS rep without cause.

But the compensation is even rarer, in fact first I've heard of anyone having success with a Thai company. I guess ICT is so competitive, and more likely to have modern (read: western) trained management that have heard of the concept that treating your customers well is good business.

[Heng]

There's nothing they can do unless you own property. If you do own property and there is a court order to seize it, the Legal Executuon Dept. will sell it to the highest bidder, using the proceeds to pay your debts and will return what's left to you. You can still negotiate up to the point where it goes to auction for the 2nd or 3rd time. IMO it's one of the few systems here more efficient than 'back home' where you have plenty of folks who just wait for debts to be written off (passed on to the shareholders) and then just start over.

:-)

[carra]

also i think if you read the post you quote, he is saying the bad service is rare, not the compensation,

Yes that is what I was saying, not wrt bad service in general but actually getting abusive language from a CS rep without cause.

But the compensation is even rarer, in fact first I've heard of anyone having success with a Thai company. I guess ICT is so competitive, and more likely to have modern (read: western) trained management that have heard of the concept that treating your customers well is good business.

i was amazed, it wasn't extreme abuse full of 4 letter words, however she called me a stupid farang, said it to the customers sat waiting for their number to be called just after i had turned to walk towards the door to go to an atm, they look embarrassed, i turned and told her in thai that I speak Thai and asked her to repeat what she said, she looked sheepish and I asked to speak with the manager, At first the manager thought the issue was the fact i could not pay with credit card, I had to keep reiterating this was not the issue, it was the comment from her staff that i was not happy about, All this was done at a desk away from the customers, then the customer came over and told the manager what had been said about me as I was walking away. I they then called the call centre and I explained again in English to someone there, after this it was the call centre that handled it and contacted me over the next few days.

As i say I have no idea why she said it, i don't know what her problem was, if she had misheard something i had said then i would have expected them to tell me that she thought I had said something so I don't think this was even an issue. it seemed simply because I didn't know they turn off their credit card machines early so this makes me a stupid farang and she felt that this also need pointing out to the customers waiting for their numbers to be called.

If i had gone in there like Billy Big <deleted> and started ranting and raving then I would have accepted what she said and much more to be honest, but i don't deal with things that way.

It is a shame as I was in there a few days earlier arranging for the internet and phone at my new condo and there was no problems at all so I really do not know what this womans issue was, it was the first time I had ever dealt with her

[Heng]

One way to deal with annoying folks like that is to actively give feedback to headquarters. There is a long line of Somchais and Somyings just itchin' to put the smaller people who work for them in there place.

:-)

[phl]

I didnt have enough cash on me so i was leaving to go to an atm when the staff member decided to call me a host of names in Thai to the waiting customers.

Not saying I don't believe you, but in my experience this kind of thing is very very rare here, much more so than back home.

I agree, its like winning a lotto to get credit for bad customer service especially in Thailand, unless you are some super duper customer

I pay over 5000 baht per month for Sophon(many connections) and do not get even 1 day credit when its down or does not work

Not considering myself super duper customer, but considering each connection is only 300 baht, i should be little more special

i don't consider myself special at all, I guess once another customer backed me up then they had no deniability anymore, added to me asking to cancel the line and internet to my new condo that I was moving to (I was actually settling the bill for the old condo before moving), I also don't just accept apologies from other people, I make a point of saying its not enough. I thank them for their apology and ask what they intend to do to keep me as a customer, in this matter they gave two months, if they had not then i would have changed companies, simple. I also recently had an issue with American Express here where they made a mistake, the normal apology phone call came along and i said its not enough so they gave me 500 miles on my ROP, ask and you will get, if they say no then I can happily cancel the service, they won't be bothered and neither will I but they won't get another Baht out of me.

If you do all this in a pleasant manner they know it is not based on anger, i thank them for their help, I thank them for their apology, i then ask how they intend to compensate me to keep me as a customer as I feel only this will make them accountable rather than just someone making a call and saying sorry. Now I believe them as they have gone that extra few yards for me as a customer that has been wronged, and when i say wronged I don't mean being cut off for my payment being late, or something that is my fault, I mean for being abused by a staff member for no reason at all other than not knowing their credit card facility cuts a few hours before the office closes, and thanking her and going to find an atm to make payment.

Cue the abuse, I am amazed that people think there is ANY logic in saying something does not happen just because it has never happened to them, it happens and it happens for no other reason than someone might be in a bad mood, someone might not like foreigners, someone tries to be funny at the expense of others, and I was lucky in this situation that a customer backed me up on this.

Its a small thing, nothing major, but it adds to the service from TOT which is what the op is about and that is why it is mentioned in this thread, believe me, don't believe me, either way I won't lose any sleep tonight

also i think if you read the post you quote, he is saying the bad service is rare, not the compensation,

I am not interested in picking a fight with you, but do find it very interesting a number of things you have posted.

Things like you speak Thai and well enough to hear whats been said about you, well enough to turn back and question what she said yet not well enough

to speak with a manager? so they had to call call center to have someone translate? Is your Thai that bad that they had to call call center?

Your attitude also comes across as newbie fresh of the boat, because all the concepts you are writing about simply do not exist here, which i learned in the

past 10 years. I have had much more serious cases than being called a stupid farang and gone very high up the chain ONLY to have an apology and that

was all.

Staff and call center especially could not care less you changing company's, unless you were a corporate customer.

Furthemore, call center's from what i know are not even part of the company but are outsourced and handle 3-4 company's at a time.

By the way, Amex is not a Thai company, do you have Amex from a Thai bank? so you have work permit and been here for that long working to get one? in which case it takes me back to your language skills being rather poor to communicate but good enough to understand and question?

[BigJohnnyBKK]

As i say I have no idea why she said it, i don't know what her problem was

Some women, especially those considered beautiful by Thai standards get snarky when a farang's subliminal eye contact/body language etc. make it clear she's not all that.

Or maybe she's going through some major personal problems at the moment and just took it out on you.

Or maybe she's just a bitch in general.

Personally, I just move on in that kind of situation, usually don't find it worth my while to get involved in a random conflict that doesn't involve people I care about. But that's me.

[carra]

I am not interested in picking a fight with you, but do find it very interesting a number of things you have posted.

Things like you speak Thai and well enough to hear whats been said about you, well enough to turn back and question what she said yet not well enough

to speak with a manager? so they had to call call center to have someone translate? Is your Thai that bad that they had to call call center?

Your attitude also comes across as newbie fresh of the boat, because all the concepts you are writing about simply do not exist here, which i learned in the

past 10 years. I have had much more serious cases than being called a stupid farang and gone very high up the chain ONLY to have an apology and that

was all.

Staff and call center especially could not care less you changing company's, unless you were a corporate customer.

Furthemore, call center's from what i know are not even part of the company but are outsourced and handle 3-4 company's at a time.

By the way, Amex is not a Thai company, do you have Amex from a Thai bank? so you have work permit and been here for that long working to get one? in which case it takes me back to your language skills being rather poor to communicate but good enough to understand and question?

Been here 7 years, I clearly state my thai is not great (its not non existent either) but i know enough to know what was said and it was said clearly. I spoke with a manager whilst there, however the language barrier was too great so they called the TOT call centre and I spoke to one of the English speakers there, who then took over the issue and contacted me over the next few days to deal with it. I am also a corporate customer of TOT. As far as I am aware the staff member did not deny what was said as it was never raised as an issue and I was never given an excuse, probably because there is an independent witness to this that I guess you overlooked.

My AMEX card is American Express Thailand, it is the ROP version hence why they put miles on my ROP account, sorry I would have thought logic would have kicked in here and I not need to explain it is the Thai version of the card.

yes I do have a work permit here, yes I run a business here, yes I speak a little Thai but not great, yes i have been here 7 years and have a Thai wife.

Anything else you would like? would you like to come to the TOT office on Suksawat Road so you can clarify all this, would you like to see my AMEX card, my scb card, my thanachart card and my Kasikorn cards?

There is always one that can't read without believing, as I have said just because it has not happened to you does not mean it does not happen, as for you not getting compensation well I can not comment on that.

Now i have done the decent thing and invited you along to TOT with me and you can ask all the questions you want there then i guess you will be less suspicious about a simple matter that I have no need to make up or embelish to make myself seem all exotic and cool for getting tow months free line rental from TOT or 500 air miles from AMEX

[carra]

As i say I have no idea why she said it, i don't know what her problem was

Some women, especially those considered beautiful by Thai standards get snarky when a farang's subliminal eye contact/body language etc. make it clear she's not all that.

Or maybe she's going through some major personal problems at the moment and just took it out on you.

Or maybe she's just a bitch in general.

Personally, I just move on in that kind of situation, usually don't find it worth my while to get involved in a random conflict that doesn't involve people I care about. But that's me.

And its the mai pen rai attitude that ensure it will never get better, so I comment on it, but that's me. It is not hard to be polite, I am always polite so why should I accept someone being impolite, especially someone in the service industry

[phl]

I am not interested in picking a fight with you, but do find it very interesting a number of things you have posted.

Things like you speak Thai and well enough to hear whats been said about you, well enough to turn back and question what she said yet not well enough

to speak with a manager? so they had to call call center to have someone translate? Is your Thai that bad that they had to call call center?

Your attitude also comes across as newbie fresh of the boat, because all the concepts you are writing about simply do not exist here, which i learned in the

past 10 years. I have had much more serious cases than being called a stupid farang and gone very high up the chain ONLY to have an apology and that

was all.

Staff and call center especially could not care less you changing company's, unless you were a corporate customer.

Furthemore, call center's from what i know are not even part of the company but are outsourced and handle 3-4 company's at a time.

By the way, Amex is not a Thai company, do you have Amex from a Thai bank? so you have work permit and been here for that long working to get one? in which case it takes me back to your language skills being rather poor to communicate but good enough to understand and question?

I am also a corporate customer of TOT.

There is always one that can't read without believing, as I have said just because it has not happened to you does not mean it does not happen, as for you not getting compensation well I can not comment on that.

Interesting that you did not mention the bald underlined part before

Keep up the good work

[carra]

I am not interested in picking a fight with you, but do find it very interesting a number of things you have posted.

Things like you speak Thai and well enough to hear whats been said about you, well enough to turn back and question what she said yet not well enough

to speak with a manager? so they had to call call center to have someone translate? Is your Thai that bad that they had to call call center?

Your attitude also comes across as newbie fresh of the boat, because all the concepts you are writing about simply do not exist here, which i learned in the

past 10 years. I have had much more serious cases than being called a stupid farang and gone very high up the chain ONLY to have an apology and that

was all.

Staff and call center especially could not care less you changing company's, unless you were a corporate customer.

Furthemore, call center's from what i know are not even part of the company but are outsourced and handle 3-4 company's at a time.

By the way, Amex is not a Thai company, do you have Amex from a Thai bank? so you have work permit and been here for that long working to get one? in which case it takes me back to your language skills being rather poor to communicate but good enough to understand and question?

I am also a corporate customer of TOT.

There is always one that can't read without believing, as I have said just because it has not happened to you does not mean it does not happen, as for you not getting compensation well I can not comment on that.

Interesting that you did not mention the bald underlined part before

Keep up the good work

is it relevant? It is my personal bill that i was paying and never raised the corporate side when I was in TOT as it was not an issue, the corporate bill is not in my personal name so I doubt even TOT put 2 and 2 together. I raise the corporate issue because another poster raised it, however it is not a factor in this matter,

I think some of you really need to get out more instead of trying to pick holes in peoples posts, like I have said, what credence could I possible hoping to get from telling the truth about a minor issue related to the op?

It beggars belief why people even bother to post on this forum when all they get in return is pettiness from some posters.

I extend my invitation to you also, oh before we go on I am not a corporate customer of amex so I guess i got the compo by other means??

Lets see who can cup with the biggest pile of nonsense for that one, and lets see who wants to visit TOT with me for verification, I doubt the list will be long as I guess those that dispute it are too busy sat in front of their computer in their undies with a Leo trying to play detective.

[phl]

I am not interested in picking a fight with you, but do find it very interesting a number of things you have posted.

Things like you speak Thai and well enough to hear whats been said about you, well enough to turn back and question what she said yet not well enough

to speak with a manager? so they had to call call center to have someone translate? Is your Thai that bad that they had to call call center?

Your attitude also comes across as newbie fresh of the boat, because all the concepts you are writing about simply do not exist here, which i learned in the

past 10 years. I have had much more serious cases than being called a stupid farang and gone very high up the chain ONLY to have an apology and that

was all.

Staff and call center especially could not care less you changing company's, unless you were a corporate customer.

Furthemore, call center's from what i know are not even part of the company but are outsourced and handle 3-4 company's at a time.

By the way, Amex is not a Thai company, do you have Amex from a Thai bank? so you have work permit and been here for that long working to get one? in which case it takes me back to your language skills being rather poor to communicate but good enough to understand and question?

I am also a corporate customer of TOT.

There is always one that can't read without believing, as I have said just because it has not happened to you does not mean it does not happen, as for you not getting compensation well I can not comment on that.

Interesting that you did not mention the bald underlined part before

Keep up the good work

is it relevant? It is my personal bill that i was paying and never raised the corporate side when I was in TOT as it was not an issue, the corporate bill is not in my personal name so I doubt even TOT put 2 and 2 together. I raise the corporate issue because another poster raised it, however it is not a factor in this matter,

I think some of you really need to get out more instead of trying to pick holes in peoples posts, like I have said, what credence could I possible hoping to get from telling the truth about a minor issue related to the op?

It beggars belief why people even bother to post on this forum when all they get in return is pettiness from some posters.

I extend my invitation to you also, oh before we go on I am not a corporate customer of amex so I guess i got the compo by other means??

Lets see who can cup with the biggest pile of nonsense for that one, and lets see who wants to visit TOT with me for verification, I doubt the list will be long as I guess those that dispute it are too busy sat in front of their computer in their undies with a Leo trying to play detective.

you are so annoying that i want to offer you money just to go away, becoming more clear why the staff called you whatever you understood she called you