Government Savings Bank...What Century Are They Living In ?

[trainman34014]

Off to Britain on May, so we are presently going through all the procedures required to jump through the many hoops required to get the Mrs a Visa. Even though she's been four times before the Thai agency dealing with these matters in Bangkok for the British Government insists that the same procedures have to be followed each and every time as if it is a first Visa request.

Anyway; part of the required documents is her original bank statement for at least six months transactions, preferably in English. She has three banks, Bangkok Bank, KTB and GSB, so off we go to each bank to get what's required. First two banks no problem although it always seems to take at least a half hour to do what we can do in England in five minutes. Then we get to GSB to find the number she gets from the queue machine means that we will be there for more than an hour as there is only one person dealing with bank book updates and statements. There are many other staff on duty but can't deal with such a simple matter and at least 50% of them are doing little or nothing. After one hour five minutes of waiting she gets to the desk to make her request and the bloke says ''If you want it in English it will take one week because we can't do it here ''. Ok says she, just give it to me in Thai then, whereupon she gets sent away from the counter to wait another 15 minutes only to get called back and he's not given her the original but a copy of some computer read out which is no good. She had explained previously that it had to be an original with the bank stamp on it etc and the bloke then says he doesn't understand. At this point the Mrs was getting a little vexed and said to him ''How come i can go to Bangkok Bank and KTB and get this done in 20 minutes or so but you can't give me what i want ? '' The Pillock then replies ''Well, if they can do it for you like that why don't you go back there and do it ? '' She replied with the obvious response ''How can i get Bangkok Bank to give me a statement for monies that i have in THIS BANK ? '' The reply was ''I don't know '' ! At this point the Mrs tells him to talk to another teller and find out what to do or she will do so herself. Of course, the prat didn't want to lose face so he went and spoke to someone in a back room, avoiding the Managers office and returned all smiles saying he knew what to do and sends her off to wait again. Another half hour later she gets the required document and then asks for her passbook to be updated (another requirement for BKK ). ''Can't do that here '' says he, ''you will have to go back to your main branch in town''. At this moment two hours and four minutes have passed since we arrived and it's time to leave before both of us explode.

It's hard to believe that a bank run by any Government could be so inefficient, outdated, and employ such gormless idiots as this lot does. Tomorrow we are going back to voice our complaints to the manager of the branch and the Mrs is writing right now to the Director General of the bank. And last but not least; while we are there she will be closing her account and moving her money to another bank.

Rant over......just another day in sunny Thailand !

[Mapguy]

That was painful! Hope you are feeling better, OP, for venting.

Seems like you might have been dealing with the wrong branch of the wrong bank. (Bangkok Bnk can, in fact, do the same thing is somewhat like 5 minutes, but I'd say 15 would be more accurate.

Good luck with the letters of complaint, but the more peaceful path in the future would be to switch banks.

Sometimes, mai phen rai is best for relieving stress! (and switching banks!)

About the UK, I believe that you can apply for a longer-term visa in some circumstances, but that it is somewhat pricey. Take a look, anyway. The UK visa business is quite dense so good luck! ANyway, if you are British and you are legally married, what's the problem?

Edited March 5, 2015 by Mapguy

[scooterboy]

Yes, agreed - very painful. Thankfully, my bank is very helpful with any transactions and waiting time is mostly minimal. Oh - yes, it's GSB, too!

I will say, that their bank statement in English is definitely an old-fashioned procedure. Even my bank manager is apalled at having to make a written request to get the document, all the way from Bangkok. After all, it's a pretty standard English text that could easily be printed at the branch where the original account is. It's apparently one of the "Paper for paper's sake" rules in this country - along with the BIB, Immigration, Transport Office and the rest of them.....

Yay, fell another tree while you're here ....

[iainiain101]

Have you ever owned Premium Bonds in the UK?

Until recently you would receive reminders to top up to the tax free maximum allowance, but no statement of your current holding. If you went to a post office or called them, all they could do was send you a list of all your certificates, which could be a long list if you reinvest the 'prizes', which you would then have to add up yourself.

The new UK system is not much better, and they cannot supply a 'bank statement' in English, let alone any other language.

I personally am more impressed by the Thai GSB than the UK Premium Bonds.

[Farma]

A couple of years ago my wife bought a building off an old couple who had an account with our local GSB.

She used a cashiers cheque from her KTB branch for the transaction.

On arrival at GSB the GSB staff were unaware of what a cashiers cheque was and refused to accept it. The KTB branch manager explained to the GSB staff what a cashiers cheque was but the GSB staff still wouldn't accept the cheque. The KTB manager shaking her head in disbelief asked my wife to go back to her branch and swap the cheque for cash.

Roll on to an hour or so later and my wife and the sellers were travelling back to GSB with a couple of million baht in a brown paper bag to complete the transaction.

[junglechef]

My experience yesterday at a Bangkok Bank branch trying to receive money from a Western Union transfer.

It was obvious from the beginning they had no intention of assisting me and they didn't. I was the only customer and they asked me to take a que # and take a seat and then never called me. After waiting 10 min I went up to the counter to see if I could pay a phone bill while I was waiting and she proceeded to begin the process for the WU transaction. Every reason, very slowly, came out why she couldn't do it. As I explained how each one could be solved another hurdle appeared. I won't go into all the details but for example she was adamant, after showing me on her screen of the WU requirements, that "resident" meant "kon Thai".

I have found this behavior before, usually when the boss was out, as was the situation here. One often can tell just from their expression when approaching. Also her asking me what I want as I entered the building, necessitating me yelling a response if I replied, was one obvious trying to get the upper hand first. This was these girls big chance to wield great power over the evil white man (yes I believe it was race inspired).

No use fighting it as it's either a no win situation or at least not worth the hassle. As another poster commented it often is just the case of a particular situation, either bank branch or the person your dealing with and one can easily accomplish the same thing with ease, as I have, by just going moving on.

As interesting the whole physcological and sociological angle is the frustration is sure is a waste of time and effort but as long as they are allowed to get away with it.

They even gave me with a smirk, in their last act of defiance when I decided I had enough, the managers cell # who would be undoubtably more interested in being their friend then doing their job, and told me if I wanted to complain to call.

[Ozziepat]

Note to the "Thailand Can Do No Wrong" mob that apparently have a lemming-like compulsion to "refute" every criticism:

"They do it too, and even worse." is not a valid refutation - or any other kind of constructive argument framework. Try harder.

That is all. Return to your pointless monitoring.