Bank of America wire transfer not reachable by phone

Doesn't sound like you actually setup a fund transfer link between your BoA account and your Bangkok Bank account. Because when setting up such a link you do not transfer any funds during that process...during that process you are basically just entering the other bank's info and then the system initiates two trial deposit amounts from 1 to 99 cents...once you receive/know those amounts you then use those amounts to verify the transfer link you initiated on your BoA account. Sounds like you initiated some type of one time transfer which didn't need a transfer link already setup; maybe did a wire transfer, and got hit with a higher fee.

In transferring $900 through the Bangkok Bank NY branch they would have slice off $5 as it flowed through them, $895 would have arrived at your local/in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch who would have then converted the money using their TT Buying Rate, then substracted 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) and then posted the remaining amount to your account. When its posted you then get the SMS with info as to how much was rec'd, the exchange rate, the local conversion fee, and how much finally posted to your account. For such a transfer you would have incurred approx $11.45 in fees, with $895 arriving your bank and be converted to baht/posted to your account. Oh yea, there will be that $3 three business day Sending bank/BoA fee but that is a separate fee charged to your BoA account and not subtracted from the $900 you send out.

Sounds like you just forced a one time transfer and there were other fees/a higher fee...maybe even an intermediary bank fee. You first need to setup the transfer link---be sure to use the Bangkok Bank NY routing number; not their SWIFT code and treat Bangkok Bank NY as a "domestic" bank (not international) during the setup....and for your account number its your in-Thailand branch account number. Remember, treat it purely as a "domestic" transfer and you must setup your funds transfer link first which is going to take a few days since the ACH trial deposits must flow and then you need to do the verification.