Poor experience from farang at Phuket immigration

[xylophone]

I have always had a good experience with the farangs who help out at Phuket immigration, but today was very different.

I had a new passport and wanted to transfer the information from the old one to the new one, and had filled out the necessary form (although I had omitted to copy the visas etc from the old passport) and wanted some help with this.

Downstairs there was a farang "tourist police helper" (best explanation I can give------Scandinavian guy, solidly built of about 6'2" in height and whose name began with an "O" ) so I approached him for some help. I explained that I wanted to transfer all the old stuff to the new passport and that I wanted to do it today. He was extremely brusque with his responses and also to a friend who had accompanied me, at one time telling him to basically "shut up" because he was dealing with me.

He then went on to tell me that I should do it all at one time when the extension expired next month, however I explained that I wanted to do this now, because in my experience, undertaking a couple of changes at the same time had not gone smoothly in the past. He went on to somewhat "chastise" me for my wish to do this now and didn't listen to the fact that I wanted to do it today. In fact he accused me of not listening to him.

I did ask him to check the paperwork that I had and he picked out the letter from my embassy asking the Thai authorities to transfer the necessary items to my new passport and he said that this was not necessary and why did I have it? I explained that I had seen on various posts that some immigration officers asked for this, therefore I had it, and he again explained that I did not need it, that I should take it out of the paperwork.

After listening to his "rude" interchange, I still decided that I would get the passport info transferred there and then, so went upstairs to effect this.

The farang upstairs (Christopher) was extremely pleasant and helpful and passed me on to a Thai immigration officer and his lady assistant and they were also very helpful. Then when I was in front of the Thai immigration official who was about to effect the transfer, he asked me where the letter from the embassy was, as that he couldn't find it, and I explained to him that it was at the bottom of the paperwork, and he duly found it and stamped it.

After more than two hours I had my new passport complete with new information stamped in it and was on my way.

Had I listened to the initial farang then I would have been in trouble trying to get my new passport stamped. He gave me the wrong information and was extremely rude in doing so.

As I have said, in the past I have had great service from these guys, however this man was an absolute a**hole and I sincerely hope I do not come across him again, because he does not give anything in the way of good customer service, or good advice for that matter, because he obviously does not know what the Thai immigration authorities in the floor above him need in order to effect the transfer I required.

Whilst I can understand that such a job can be very demanding, there is absolutely no need to be rude and brusque when one is dealing with the general public, and if one is affected by this sort of work, then one shouldn't undertake it – – courtesy costs absolutely nothing.

[nabbie]

I did transfer from the old passport to the new one last month without extension request at Phuket Immigration. It was quite straightforward; the form is necessary attaching the copies of both passports plus visa sticker. Thai officer upstairs nearing the exit door was pending that for me in the afternoon and I collected it next day. So it can be advantage to meet the real Thai officer instead of the volunteer.

[Happy Grumpy]

Thailand: Be wary of any information anybody gives you, Thai, and especially farangs in a uniform.

[Mrjlh]

Maybe you should have gone to his supervisor "after" you got the transaction completed and polietly point out he was giving wrong information along with an attitude. Seeing you got what you needed they couldn't do anything about it now could they? And your complaint would have been registered.

[xylophone]

Maybe you should have gone to his supervisor "after" you got the transaction completed and polietly point out he was giving wrong information along with an attitude. Seeing you got what you needed they couldn't do anything about it now could they? And your complaint would have been registered.

You make a good point, and that was my intention after the passport business was completed upstairs, this despite my friend suggesting that I would be wasting my time because this a**hole wouldn't listen to me anyway (in just the same way as he didn't earlier). I actually thought that by doing so I could save another farang the embarrassment of being given incorrect information.

However I had no idea where to find a supervisor, or indeed who was his supervisor, and there were quite a few people milling around inside of the small office, and again I thought I would be wasting my time, so I gave the idea away.

As I have said previously, the help I have received from these guys in the past has been good, so let's just hope that this was an aberration, although judging by this person's manner, I would suggest that his behaviour is part of his personality trait.

[merijn]

Maybe you should have gone to his supervisor "after" you got the transaction completed and polietly point out he was giving wrong information along with an attitude. Seeing you got what you needed they couldn't do anything about it now could they? And your complaint would have been registered.

You make a good point, and that was my intention after the passport business was completed upstairs, this despite my friend suggesting that I would be wasting my time because this a**hole wouldn't listen to me anyway (in just the same way as he didn't earlier). I actually thought that by doing so I could save another farang the embarrassment of being given incorrect information.

However I had no idea where to find a supervisor, or indeed who was his supervisor, and there were quite a few people milling around inside of the small office, and again I thought I would be wasting my time, so I gave the idea away.

As I have said previously, the help I have received from these guys in the past has been good, so let's just hope that this was an aberration, although judging by this person's manner, I would suggest that his behaviour is part of his personality trait.

I hope that you send a complaint letter to them with your experience and date and time. ( I send you a PM with their email address or use the pinned topic for the address)

I'm convinced that the supervisor will take action towards this volunteer.

[Gonsalviz]

I had a Swedish guy there feeding me information that I knew could not be correct. After a few minutes a Thai guy came along and cleared it all up in about 15 seconds.

[phuketrichard]

i experienced the same thing,

wanted to transfer from cancelled passport to new one;

the old guy upstairs said do it when my extension came up (4 months later) i said I want do it now,

showed him my application form filled out, taken off of the immigration website, to do so and he said its no good, i handed all the pages to the thai immigration and he took everything an told me comeback the next day.

for 75% of the people that go to immigration the farang Volunteers are worthless

But the other 25% would be lost without them

[xylophone]

Maybe you should have gone to his supervisor "after" you got the transaction completed and polietly point out he was giving wrong information along with an attitude. Seeing you got what you needed they couldn't do anything about it now could they? And your complaint would have been registered.

You make a good point, and that was my intention after the passport business was completed upstairs, this despite my friend suggesting that I would be wasting my time because this a**hole wouldn't listen to me anyway (in just the same way as he didn't earlier). I actually thought that by doing so I could save another farang the embarrassment of being given incorrect information.

However I had no idea where to find a supervisor, or indeed who was his supervisor, and there were quite a few people milling around inside of the small office, and again I thought I would be wasting my time, so I gave the idea away.

As I have said previously, the help I have received from these guys in the past has been good, so let's just hope that this was an aberration, although judging by this person's manner, I would suggest that his behaviour is part of his personality trait.

I hope that you send a complaint letter to them with your experience and date and time. ( I send you a PM with their email address or use the pinned topic for the address)

I'm convinced that the supervisor will take action towards this volunteer.

I got the PM thank you Merijn, however I'm a bit reluctant to send an e-mail or letter because to make it carry any weight I would have to use my name and address or e-mail address, and I really don't want to risk my details being used in any way which might be detrimental to me or any future dealings I may have with immigration.

I could list the event as it happened with time and dates etc, on a PM to you and you could use my ThaiVisa pseudonym, if indeed that would work?

[FBlue72]

This reminds me of a problem I might have with a new passport. Back over to the visa forum.

[falkan]

Do you really expect to get correct information from someone +70 years of age?

[Pakaty]

Sounds like the same jerk that gave me some misinformation the last time I was there. He could use a poke in the nose. I think it was intentional on his part and not a misunderstanding due to the knowing smile he gave me when he left at 3 PM and I was still sitting there waiting for someone to call my name.

[starkey_rich]

Thailand: Be wary of any information anybody gives you, Thai, and especially farangs in a uniform.

Just beware of any farang wearing a uniform here.It seems to go to some of their heads

[Howitzer]

Oh crap can't bash the thais now can we. Oh yeah he's a farang that has been thai-ized! Yeah that'll do.

[Phuketscooter]

Maybe you should have gone to his supervisor "after" you got the transaction completed and polietly point out he was giving wrong information along with an attitude. Seeing you got what you needed they couldn't do anything about it now could they? And your complaint would have been registered.

You make a good point, and that was my intention after the passport business was completed upstairs, this despite my friend suggesting that I would be wasting my time because this a**hole wouldn't listen to me anyway (in just the same way as he didn't earlier). I actually thought that by doing so I could save another farang the embarrassment of being given incorrect information.

However I had no idea where to find a supervisor, or indeed who was his supervisor, and there were quite a few people milling around inside of the small office, and again I thought I would be wasting my time, so I gave the idea away.

As I have said previously, the help I have received from these guys in the past has been good, so let's just hope that this was an aberration, although judging by this person's manner, I would suggest that his behaviour is part of his personality trait.

I hope that you send a complaint letter to them with your experience and date and time. ( I send you a PM with their email address or use the pinned topic for the address)

I'm convinced that the supervisor will take action towards this volunteer.

[xylophone]

In the end I did send a written complaint with the help of "merijn" and I sent it as a letter signed as a nine-year resident of Patong.

If it does help these guys give a better service than I'm all for it because as I have said a few times, I have always had great service from them, but this guy was just the pits.

[grumpyoldman]

Yea, well, buy the guy a bottle of the infamous fruit plonk,shake hands, water under the bridge. Next time he'll know you as opposed to "Mr. Nobody" and all will be smooth.

[stevenl]

In the end I did send a written complaint with the help of "merijn" and I sent it as a letter signed as a nine-year resident of Patong.

If it does help these guys give a better service than I'm all for it because as I have said a few times, I have always had great service from them, but this guy was just the pits.

Well done. Complaining on here does nothing to improve the quality of service, only informing them of something amiss can.