Fastest, safest, most trackable way to send an important docment from Ao Nang/Krabi to the U.S.

[buddhaland]

I won't bore you with my horror stories getting mail here from the states. But now I have the need to get an IMPORTANT document to Social Security - if it doesn't get there soon - or not at all (wouldn't be the first time). I will be good and truly screwed out of a big chunk of my monthly Social Security retirement income. I had one of those new Social Security debit cards when I was first here. An ATM ate it, and the bank destroyed it (they claim) before the bank opened the next day, when I was hoping to retrieve it. I requested to get a new one mailed here by regular snail mail (they refuse to do it any other way to out-of-country addresses), and it still has not made an appearance here, almost a month and a half later. So I had SS void that card, and send another to my attorney in Seattle. With the details I provided him, he emptied the card out and put the money into his account. Tomorrow, he will be attempting a bank-to-bank transfer. I do hope that works. But as to this other issue - I am entitled to nearly two hundred more dollars per month than they have been sending me - they sent me the paperwork to fill out to correct this - and if it gets to Baltimore by March 2, the additional amount will already be on my March 3 payment.

Lest you think I am overly skittish about these types of issues: I went to Bankok Bank this morning, where I recently opened an account. I opened this account as I had been told by everyone from other expats to Social Security themselves that Bankok Bank is the only bank in all of Thailand that can and does perform this service frequently. SS sent me the required form - I was to fill out parts one and two - the third part was for Bankok Bank to fill out and return to Bankok Bank in New York City. In effect, they had done all of the work for the bank employees here except sign it for them. They even provided the mailing address the form was to be sent in NYC by the branch here.

Well, everyone - included the bank manager - claimed they new nothing of either the form or Direct Deposit, saying things like "cannot do........cannot guarantee......never see this form...me not authorized (this from the manager..very sorry." I wasted an entire morning and got absolutely nowhere. I am going to call Social Security right now (you have to call their only Southeast Asian office - in Manila.) - If that doesn,t work I will wait till 1 AM and call SS in the States, as well as Bankok Bank in NYC.

LOS - should mean Land of the Surreal........;o) For those of you old enough to get the reference, I also like "The Thailight Zone"!

So I wound up asking two questions. Sorry. But to recap - I can't get my money direct deposited into my account at Bankok Bank in Ao Nang. And I am hoping to get some reliable suggestions BASED ON YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) on how I can get this one last critical document to the U.S. using whatever resources are available in LOS ;o).

Thanks in advance for any help y'all can provide.!

[CharlieH]

Send it EMS from Thai Post Office, fully trackable online from door to door, Dependant on where in the US will be there in 3 - 5 days.

[ubonjoe]

First go back to the bank and have them call the Bangkok Bank office that handles direct deposit at this number 022301323. I had a problem here in Ubon and called that number on my phone and had the lady at the bank talk to them which resulted in them faxing a form.

Also have a look at this webpage and perhaps change the language to Thai and print it out. http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUSA/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUSA.aspx

I assume the SSA sent you a SF1199A form.

You should find the Manila office helpful.

As far as sending your document to the states about the only choice you have in Krabi. is International Express Mail. You will be able to track it and get proof of delivery from the USPS.

[RandomSand]

Ideally it would get there for on the morning of Friday the 28th and for that I'd use DHL who quote 2 day export out of Thailand paired with 2 day import into the US. Sunday is not a working day for postal services. "Send Mon/Tues -- Receive Friday" = Sure/Maybe.

That said I got DHL from the UK faster than their quote times... Sent from UK Tues 12pm and received Thur 10am Pattaya. Incredibly fast service from DHL (39 hrs). ** DHL in Thailand are really good **

[ubonjoe]

But DHL does not provide service from or to Krabi. Neither does Fedex.

[chuckd]

Take the number UbonJoe gave you, go to your local Bangkok Bank manager and put him in touch with the Bangkok Bank office at that number.

They will sort out the manager and you will get your proper account opened. The only way I know it has worked in the past is that BKK Bank handles the paper work in house and delivers it to the US Embassy for Social Security processing. You should not receive anything from your Branch other than a passbook so there is no need to mail anything to either the US or the Philippines.

You will not receive a local ATM card and will have to appear at a BKK Bank branch personally each month to receive your funds. You must take your passport and passbook with you each and every time you go.

If you must mail anything to the US, my suggestion is to use Thai Postal Service EMS. It will take about four days to get there and is trackable at this web site:

http://track.thailandpost.com/trackinternet/Default.aspx

SSA will make the deposit retroactive to the effective date when they do get around to paying you. Good luck with getting it done for your March payment.

Edit in: I forgot to mention but be sure and tell the BKK Bank manager you want to sign up for their SMS service. They will send an SMS to your cell phone when your deposit arrives and is posted to your account. He will likely have to discuss this with the Bangkok office when he talks to them.

[seajae]

mate, 2 visa cards dissapeared in the mail coming into Thailand, postal staff are notorious for taking anything especially cards of any kind, the postal worker at my local PO told me this so I tend to believe it after the first 2 cards never arrived. The third was sent inside a larger envelope(padded) and had to be signed for, it arived after 3 weeks, this is the only way any sort of card will actually get to you. To send to the US you will need to use registered post so it has to be signed for, again EMS is your best bet as it is quick and reliable.

I use the Bangkok bank but the smaller offices know/do nothing so everything virtually has to go through Bankok, all the info above form the other posters is pretty spot on, hope you can sort it.

[wym]

If it's that important to you go stay in Bangkok until you get it sorted so you can use DHL or FedEx.

Funny you're blaming Thailand, trying to get your pension direct deposited to a Thai bank.

And your tone of panic about the situation seems to imply you don't have a reserve fund for situations like this. If that's the case you probably shouldn't be in Thailand, much less living on a relatively remote island location.

I would say you could only afford to do that if you could also afford to let your money accumulate in a US bank account and then just transfer it over once every six months or so.

[Dr. Burrito]

I checked on the UPS site and they showed pickup in 81000 postal code (should be Krabi) was okay, so you might check their website

dr b

[buddhaland]

Thanks so much to all of you who replied to my post.

Just some clarification to Chuckd - the two things they gave me at Bankok Bank when I opened the account was a passbook and an ATM card. So I assume I will be able to use that rather than making trips to the bank branch every time I need cash. And I did set up the sms messaging - it is on the menu of services on their ATMs - good advice! I have indeed found the Soc. Security office to be helpful, when I have been able to get through to them. BTW - the Ao Nang branch I have been dealing with is, I assume, a small satellite branch. Do you reckon I might have better luck at a big branch in Krabi?

Again, thanks to chuckd and the rest of you for so much helpful advice. Not all in agreement with each other - but then, each person's experience is different...

[buddhaland]

A few remarks to Wym - it seems there is always at least one poster here who, instead of offering useful advice, just uses this forum to make snide, judgemental comments. I am a TESOL-certified English teacher, and all of this has happened in my first couple of months in Thailand, taking up all of my time and efforts, never mind job-hunting. And I have had several personal calamities, several ruptured discs which have already cost me a significant amount of money for several trips to Phuket for x-rays, an MRI, blood work, not to mention many other travel and lodging expenses. And I broke a tooth, which because of the way it broke needed a specialist to extract what was left of it. Nobody's business, really - and I was probably too panicked to think of mentioning these things. But since you are such an expert on both me and things Thai, let me remind you that neither Krabi nor Ao Nang is remote - nor is either an island. And I am completely stumped by your "blaming Thailand" remark. Oh well......

But thanks for playing - I did get so much well-intentioned and very helpful information that it's no problem, really, putting up with the occasional creep......(sorry - I do tend to get a bit snarky when I am panicking!)

[h90]

But DHL does not provide service from or to Krabi. Neither does Fedex.

Usually these have partners somewhere. Kind of "shipping shops", maybe in Krabi, or in Nakhon. But surely in Phuket. All not so far away from each other.....Alternative EMS should be also OK.

[chuckd]

Thanks so much to all of you who replied to my post.

Just some clarification to Chuckd - the two things they gave me at Bankok Bank when I opened the account was a passbook and an ATM card. So I assume I will be able to use that rather than making trips to the bank branch every time I need cash. And I did set up the sms messaging - it is on the menu of services on their ATMs - good advice! I have indeed found the Soc. Security office to be helpful, when I have been able to get through to them. BTW - the Ao Nang branch I have been dealing with is, I assume, a small satellite branch. Do you reckon I might have better luck at a big branch in Krabi?

Again, thanks to chuckd and the rest of you for so much helpful advice. Not all in agreement with each other - but then, each person's experience is different...

Social Security approved deposit accounts in Thailand are strictly controlled by agreement with the US government. Bangkok Bank is the only bank which has been authorized by the US for SSA deposits.

One of the requirements is that each US citizen must personally appear when they withdraw funds. The reason being to insure they are still among the living.

The SSA deposit accounts are not like the normal accounts in that you get no ATM card and you cannot update your passbook. My experience is only bank tellers can update your passbook.

I would be very surprised if you are not required to open one of their SSA accounts but perhaps things have changed.

On your post question, I can only recommend you use EMS from Thailand postal service for your documents. I have used this service for years and have never had a problem. As I recall my cost to send documents to the US in years past was around 800 baht. Express courier service being considerably more costly.

Good luck and ignore the naysayers.

[wym]

A few remarks to Wym - it seems there is always at least one poster here who, instead of offering useful advice, just uses this forum to make snide, judgemental comments. I am a TESOL-certified English teacher, and all of this has happened in my first couple of months in Thailand, taking up all of my time and efforts, never mind job-hunting. And I have had several personal calamities, several ruptured discs which have already cost me a significant amount of money for several trips to Phuket for x-rays, an MRI, blood work, not to mention many other travel and lodging expenses. And I broke a tooth, which because of the way it broke needed a specialist to extract what was left of it. Nobody's business, really - and I was probably too panicked to think of mentioning these things. But since you are such an expert on both me and things Thai, let me remind you that neither Krabi nor Ao Nang is remote - nor is either an island. And I am completely stumped by your "blaming Thailand" remark. Oh well......

But thanks for playing - I did get so much well-intentioned and very helpful information that it's no problem, really, putting up with the occasional creep......(sorry - I do tend to get a bit snarky when I am panicking!)

Sorry for your troubles, and my errors, may both be reduced in the near future.

Best of luck with your SS project hope it all works out.