Bank of China BKK - good experience

[mike2011]

I had planned to settle in Thailand for some time before the changes in the overall situation took place. In preparation for applying for Visa extension I transferred adequate funds from my account with the Bank of China in Manila to my USD account with a large Thai bank. At least I thought that I had done this. The whole affair turned into a bizarre experience.

In March I went to Manila where I filled out the requisite forms with all details. I was surprised that they had no special international transfer form but used the standard ones. Nevertheless, I had all details - minus the corresponding bank / City Bank NYC in this case - but all other details were present and I showed these in original print-outs and the account-card to the bank staff. All should have gone through within 2-3 days I was told. I was also promised to get a confirmation over the phone.

Actually, nothing worked. I received information that there was a problem and nothing could be done. The money had come back. I again provided all details but to no avail. Being tied up with numerous obligations connected with the planned move it took me three weeks to get back to the Bank in Manila. By that time, the Thai Bank had allegedly refused to receive my money which made no sense as I had often transferred funds to them.

In Manila it became quickly obvious that the international department was unable to handle the transfer. I was told that the Bank of China Manila needed 'specific details.' This was of course pure nonsense. I asked the staff to be specific in their request as specific details dont make sense. In the end, I emailed my Thai bank who gave me the standard information but even that did not suffice. Finally, I got the Thai bank in contact with the Bank of China Manila and they coached the staff through the process. Pretty unbelievable.

At Manila the BoC staff handed me some paperwork showing the tracking of my initial transfer. These people were not even able to correctly identify the Thai Bank and had inserted some madeup Bank in the forms. Worse, 300 USD had disappeared. I was not informed and I m not sure why I was not told. Perhaps people hoped I would not notice. When confronted the staff pledged ignorance. Informing them about their responsibility for the funds, blame was put on the THai Bank and other corresponding banks for charging such fees. The corresponding bank was , by the way, Bank of China!There was not a single other bank involved. It was a simple attempt at distracting my attention away from their branch. Anyhow, the BoC Manila staff promised to investigate the matter and it would take only a few days until I would learn more. They staff knew that I was leaving before that time for Bangkok. For the past 3.5 months I did not receive that promised email and my renewed inquiry was ignored by BoC Manila.

Thanks to the intervention of the Thai Bank the money got to Bangkok and I received a confirmation from BKK promptly and (!!!) outside the regular work hours.

When I got to BKK I went to the Thai bank and inquired about their fees. Some confusion set in as they could not understand my inquiry. I was told something like 15 USD and when I inquired about the 300 USD miscommunication occurred. We finally figured out that we were talking about different transfers. Or better: I referred to a transfer that had never occurred and thus no fees had been charged. Thus, it was clear that BoC Manila had misinformed me.

The only other two options I had left were BoC New York City = far away and BoC Bangkok down the street. So I went there and on a hot April morning I arrived sweating as I had received multiple false directions. Anyhow the staff was very polite and it took them only an instant to understand my inquiry and pull up the relevant paper work. It turned out that the USD 300 had evaporated in an exchange of my USD to Thai bath and after the refusal of the Thai baht by the Thai bank back into USD. Again, my inquiries about fees created confusion and misunderstanding. Once more the false information by BoC Manila had had its impact.

The problem was that BoC of Manila had omitted that I had a USD account with the Thai bank. Following established procedure the BoC BKK had automatically done the conversion. I provided abundant material like official copies of emails from the Thai bank to BoC Manila to BoC BKK and they seemed to understand what had happened. A manager spoke to me and assured me that he would look into the matter but that for the moment not much could be done. Time was needed.

I left Thailand for some work related travel and on my return at the end of June I visited BoC BKK. I was surprised that everybody was fully aware and I did not need to explain my visit. After waiting for perhaps five minutes I was called into a meeting room where a manager discussed the matter. He fully acknowledged that I had not made any mistake and that the problems and loss money had been caused by BoC Manila. Moreover, the BoC BKK was assuming 50% - 150 USD of the loss and would transfer the sum to BoC Manila to a ledger account for me to collected the money. I was also informed that BoC Manila refused any responsibility dispite the conclusive evidence. BoC BKK had contacted the BoC Manila and had been unable to come to a positive result. Furthermore, I was told that BoC BKK would once more pursue the matter and it seems the affair goes to BoC Bejing, the company HQ.

In all those years I have been dealing with banks I never ever had such an experience. BoC BKK not only promised to do something stating that they want to take care of their customers but they actually did so. Moreover, they did not play a legalistic game refusing responsibility. Although I had never implied that they were at fault in any way, the bank assumed 50% of the conversion losses without being obliged to do so! For me this is unheard of.

Overall, I am deeply disappointed by the deceptive conduct of BoC Manila and their incompetence. On the other, I can only applaud and recommend the ethical standards of BoC BKK and their commitment to their customers. They spent work hours and funds on me although I was never their client and there was not a single cent to be made for them.

In about 6 weeks I will be back in Manila and the saga will continue. I am afraid there will be further twist and turns in the stories these people make up. I wonder how their manager will keep a straight face in view of the BoC BKK transfer crediting me with 150 USD compensation. Could there be a more damning testimony to his and his staff's utter lack of professionalism?

Since 2008 my trust in bankers had suffered but it was a pleasure to meet honest bankers at the BoC BKK. I can only recommend them.

Edited July 14, 2014 by mike2011

[MeowBundit]

Sorry, my mental health really suffered after looking at this text.

Question 1. Do you open account at BOC Thailand? How much deposit/interest/etc?

Question 2. What kind of documents provided? Your visa/permit/etc?

Thank you

[wdr]

I also use a China bank for all my banking issues, it's the ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) in Suratthani - no problems at all. ICBC issued also an ATM card I use in many different countries and not only ICBC ATM's. I try to avoid all Thai Bank Fraudsters to save on their fees.

[mike2011]

Sorry, my mental health really suffered after looking at this text.

Question 1. Do you open account at BOC Thailand? How much deposit/interest/etc?

Question 2. What kind of documents provided? Your visa/permit/etc?

Thank you

Sorry about your mental health. The story was and is extremely bizarre and more like a bad joke in a soap opera.

1) I never had an account with Bank of China (BKK) but one with Bank of China (Manila). BoC BKK was used for the transfer because of the incompetence of BoC Manila.

2) If you want to deal with them, just pay them a visit. They are on Sathorn Rd. next to Chongnunsi BTS (wrong spelling) and opposite the BRT terminus. It is the corner building. I can thoroughly recommend them as concerns their integrity, customer care, and ethical standards. I should add that I had assumed that ethical standards had disappeared from the banking sector. BoC BKK showed me that it hasn't. Does anyone else knows a bank that compensates damages caused by another bank abroad to a customer who has not even an account with that bank? Difficult to imagine. So these guys are first class.

WDR - I was surprised how widespread BoC is now - my mistake they were never on my radar screen.

One additional thought: When I transferred my money out of Thailand my Thai bank charged me the usual fees PLUS 0.25% of the amount. That was a rather heavy bill and all went through City NYC. Could it be that BoC transfers between their various international branches is cheaper?

Edited July 16, 2014 by mike2011