Have you noticed that Thai web sites don't work?

[wilcopops]

Have you ever noticed that many Thai built web sites - even those of major companies like banks, government departments and supermarkets don't work properly?

I've noticed over the years that especially trying to contact a customer service or follow a link from the home page and the thing simply doesn't work

....or.........

the link or even the site is out of date and hasn't beed touched for a couple of years.

they also seem impossibly slow to download.

i have a few ideas why.

One being that these who make these sites don't actually know their job......they pile on so many images, links "teasers" and switches that they completely lose track of how much work the site has to do just to open.

i also think that some sites make it deliberately difficult for customers to get in touch....I mean who wants to hear from an unhappy customer?

I've noticed too that often an EL option is offered, but in reality it either isn't there or is only partially operative, poorly translated and frequently sends the customer back to the Thai version of the next page.

back in Europe in the summer, i was delighted with the websites, govt and otherwise that I used....they were fast, well laid out and simple to use. Enquiries received prompt attention and problems reported got solved.

Wouldn't it be nice if Thailand took a leaf out of the rest of the world;'s book now and again, rather than insisting on taking a parochial outlook to everything they attempt to do?

Edited September 15, 2014 by wilcopops

[seajae]

so true, impossible to get an answer to any emails you send to thai businesses, they simply ignore them. When you try to lodge complaints or queries from a website they continually delete it or keep requiring more information that cant be supplied or they switch it all to thai so if you cannot read thai you are unable to do anything at all.

This is not just small companies but big ones such as Fujifilm(thai branch), Samsung(thai branch) etc, they simply will not follow through with anything at all, I put it down to a face thing, if they dont answer then they are right and your wrong.

[kkerry]

Hmmm, considering all the problems you have with so many things in Thailand, e.g. hospitals, doctors, tigers, airlines etc. etc. etc. and your superior attitude to anyone who doesn't agree with you then maybe some of the sites concerned have you blocked to prevent their customer service staff being harassed... just a thought...

Edited September 15, 2014 by kkerry

[kannot]

Hmmm, considering all the problems you have with so many things in Thailand, e.g. hospitals, doctors, tigers, airlines etc. etc. etc. and your superior attitude to anyone who doesn't agree with you then maybe some of the sites concerned have you blocked to prevent their customer service staff being harassed... just a thought...

or another thought maybe you are just a cretin? ( no offence)

Edited September 15, 2014 by kannot

[FritsSikkink]

If you live in a country you could start to learn the language. No problems with translated pages then.

[JLCrab]

Many Thai websites work OK with Internet Explorer but don't play nice with others like Firefox or Chrome

[Beetlejuice]

i rarely have any problems regarding Thailand based websites, more or less run at the same pace as any other sites, sometimes bad, sometimes OK and at other times very good.

Perhaps the OP needs to scan his computer for viruses or spyware or it`s not set up properly?

[geronimo]

Again this all stems from the ed system here. Hopefully the current authorities will address this, they seem to be moving through the issues in terms of importance so I am sure Education is to follow shortly. Wait a few generations and all will be better.

[Turkleton]

We all know that usually Thai Websites are not nominated for some kind of an award with their, often childish design and bling bling.

Well, there are exceptions, but not many.

But what I personally hate the most, is that they tend to convert text into an image, so it's impossible to use a translator.

[Loptr]

All one has to do for an example of Thai web development skills is to go to either of the major newspaper sites... Both are horrendous...

[Briggsy]

I have noticed this on many occasions. The OP is spot on.

p.s. I can read and write Thai and the Thal language version of the site is very likely to have the same problems although the English language version may have fewer working features, less info or as the OP correctly points out, simply not exist despite there being a link.

The solution as with all things here and everywhere else is Quality Control. If businesses, govt. depts. etc. checked their own websites properly and then put insisted their IT dept rectify the failings, things would improve. However having worked in businesses here and with govt. depts. all managers are obsessed with how much budget they can control, how much they can siphon off in various ways and how to stop their superiors from viewing them badly.

[wilcopops]

i rarely have any problems regarding Thailand based websites, more or less run at the same pace as any other sites, sometimes bad, sometimes OK and at other times very good.

Perhaps the OP needs to scan his computer for viruses or spyware or it`s not set up properly?

Do you seriously think I only use one computer? Not only do I use various machines no also use various OSs....perhaps if your experience is limited to only one machine that is why your perspective is so limited?

[namdocmai]

I emailed Bayer Thailand for manuals in english for there chemicals, no reply at all which is dangerous i think.

Also Impact Muang Thong Thani likes to change their links all the time. I bookmarked their agenda so i can see what's going on there but every time i have to find the new link..

Well i think they just don't understand the importance of internet yet. Also many employees in TH can't read english or refuse to do it so they might just as well delete all english emails.

[seajae]

the stupid part is when you email them about buying their goods and they still dont answer, I wanted a 20,000 baht camera but the people selling it never answered me so I ended up going elsewhere, really, how stupid can people be when they put up websites then dont even answer customers queries, especially sales requests. You really do have to wonder at the mental capacity of some of these people, crerate a website then never utilize it to make sales

[Issangeorge]

The OP is right on Thai Web Pages do not work that well, and getting an answer from an email sent to a Thai company is about the same odds of winning the Thai lottery, I think greater I have won small amounts on the Thai lottery, but unless there was a Farang involved I have not got a reply to a Thai email, even from Japanese owned companies.

[Brit_Doggie]

Dont have any issues with thai sites on ie8 have contacted banks and complained to tops on several occasions with speedy replies the only site i have slow issues with is bigc brochure which i put down to massive content.

[WhizBang]

Most Thai web sites I have been to, are far too heavy with fluff (ie: images, flash etc.)

Many sites I have visited do not understand that maybe, non thai speakers/readers may visit.

[dBrown]

Why would Thai websites need an English version, after all they are the hub of the Universe, isn't it ?

[katana]

The Thairath website is a case in point and used to be very good. They then appear to have got in a new web designer who gave it a makeover a while back and it's now broke with overlapping links, poor layout, difficulty in navigation etc. Wish they'd go back to the old design.

[Bench499d]

Dont have any issues with thai sites on ie8 have contacted banks and complained to tops on several occasions with speedy replies the only site i have slow issues with is bigc brochure which i put down to massive content.

IE8...maybe this is part of the problem. If the sites are designed by a guy with Windows XP and IE 8 on his computer, then the site is never going to be compliant with modern web standards. IE 8 was released in 2009. In the west people are developing fluid designs that work on Windows, Apple and mobile browsers and for this reason tend not to be flash or image intensive. There are also European regulations regarding things like cookies and accessibility which have to be adhered to.

[AyG]

The design aesthetic of Thai websites seems very much to be driven by the design for print publications such as the free handouts given in supermarkets. Often the same graphics are used for both. This, when coupled with technical incompetence, inherently leads to poor web design.

[NCC1701A]

have you tried to pay your AIS cellphone bill using the SCB website? Takes about three tries but eventually it works...

80% of the time the billpay function is "unavailable".

[wilcopops]

Why would Thai websites need an English version, after all they are the hub of the Universe, isn't it ?

This depends on the web site......if they ae looking for international business in ANY country other than Thailand the international language of business is English.

if they are looking for expat customers in Thailand then English is the logical language to use as most foreigners in Thailand use English as their lingua franca whatever their native tongue.....and trying to adapt a web site to several hundred languages would of course not be practical.

[RecklessRon]

IMHO: Often Thai web sites are set up in Thai and then, as an after thought, those pages are converted to English. Links like Help and Customer service point to Thai language pages and are 'temporarily' disabled pending the addition of English language version, which often are never created. Email addresses that were meant to go to Thai only staff rarely get changed and those people often just ignore, or delete, email that comes in languages they cannot read (so as not to fall out of favour with their boss by suggesting an English reading person needs to be hired and/or for fear they will be replaced with a bilingual person).

[Yme]

The OP raises a valid point. Not just about functionality, but also content.

Next year the AEC comes into effect and the official language is English. The businesses and the government have had plenty of time to prepare and still haven't.

This was fairly recent:

However, it is not just Thailand’s SMEs who need to get their act together in preparedness for AEC.

A quick check of Thailand government departments and agencies shows that very few have fully functioning websites with content duplicated in English, the official language of the AEC.

This includes the Royal Thai Police (RTP), including its Tourist Police Division, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Foreign Trade.

Even Mr Pisanwanich’s own Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) websites contain limited information in English for those wishing to do business in Thailand to access.

Source: Seven Years not Enough Time For Thailand SMEs (and Government) to Ready for AEC

Emails not being responded to though could be either a technology matter, or a human / cultural problem

[jacky54]

Thai airways has not improve over the years. Tried to do a web check in last time I flew with them, just did not work in any browser

[wilcopops]

I've had tons of non-replies from web sites.......... In fact I'm totally surprised when they do!

All Airlines in Thailand seem to be incapable of making their sites function, which is particularly frustrating when you are trying to pay a large sum for a ticket.

another trend is contact emails that no longer exist.

Ever tried booking a cabin on a national park????

Edited September 16, 2014 by wilcopops

[marcusd]

so true, impossible to get an answer to any emails you send to thai businesses, they simply ignore them. When you try to lodge complaints or queries from a website they continually delete it or keep requiring more information that cant be supplied or they switch it all to thai so if you cannot read thai you are unable to do anything at all.

This is not just small companies but big ones such as Fujifilm(thai branch), Samsung(thai branch) etc, they simply will not follow through with anything at all, I put it down to a face thing, if they dont answer then they are right and your wrong.

Have you ever tried just VISITING their offices and Not VISITING their websites? websites are not people and of course not personal either.

[wilcopops]

so true, impossible to get an answer to any emails you send to thai businesses, they simply ignore them. When you try to lodge complaints or queries from a website they continually delete it or keep requiring more information that cant be supplied or they switch it all to thai so if you cannot read thai you are unable to do anything at all.

This is not just small companies but big ones such as Fujifilm(thai branch), Samsung(thai branch) etc, they simply will not follow through with anything at all, I put it down to a face thing, if they dont answer then they are right and your wrong.

Have you ever tried just VISITING their offices and Not VISITING their websites? websites are not people and of course not personal either.

That sounds l;ike a massively impractical suggestion..........why do you think that virtually every business in the world has a web site? So you can give up and visit their offices?

I'd like to see you actually FIND some of these places, too....you could always look for the location on the web site map link......just a minute.........I think I've found a snag.....

[wilcopops]

Went to a car audio shop yesterday.....they kindly sent me their co-ordinates for the sat-nav.....unfortunately it was for their old shop half a kilometre away.....