Cooling-Off-Period / Bank / Insurance ?

[moonseeker]

Good evening

A friend's mother, 50 yrs. old, (Thai), was just had at a bank when she opened an account to "invest her" savings into one of the these insurance schemes: "Pay 50 K every 2 years for 8 years and once you reach 80, you will get 400 K. back" This is simplified and not the real plan. I also don't mention the specific bank.

The same happened to a 76 yr. old Farang friend of mine, who had a transfer of 1. 8 Mio and ended up signing a similar insurance contract, with first withdrawals possible after 12 years. This one we were able to cancel with 2 weeks of letters, mails & calls to bank and insurance.

Now the question: Does anybody know the law applying? Is there a period within which such pressure sales to "very naive" people can be cancelled?

Thank you for any advise. Unfortunately I was not aware of this happening, or I would have stopped it obviously, before it happened. Good night & THX. MS>

[JESSVANPELT]

There are no consumer safety or protection laws in Thailand , your only bet is legal recourse

[henry15]

There are no consumer safety or protection laws in Thailand , your only bet is legal recourse

You wrong there are.

[RayHaas]

There are consumer protection laws in place in Thailand and the cooling off period is 7 days after signing. Should that not work just visit the consumer protection office. They will mediate between you and the company you signed with.

[Suradit69]

There are no consumer safety or protection laws in Thailand , your only bet is legal recourse

Nonsense. If there were no laws, how could you expect to have legal recourse?

...the Consumer Protections Act of 1979, which created a number of rules about the advertising of, and the sale and purchase of, goods and services in Thailand. The Act also created a so-called ‘consumer protection board’ to accept complaints from consumers about the sale and purchase of goods and services.

Generally, the Consumer Protections Act provides certain rights to ‘consumers,’ which are defined as "person who buy or obtains services from a businessman or person invited by a businessman to purchase goods or obtain services…" Therefore, in order to qualify for protection under the Act, a person must be a ‘consumer’ and must have purchased, or at least have been offered for purchase, goods or services. Once falling under this definition, the Act provides broad protections, and indeed Section 4 of the Act specially states that a consumer is entitled to the following:

1. The right to receive correct and sufficient information and description as to the quality of goods or services;

2. The right to enjoy freedom in the choice of goods or services;

3. The right to expect safety in the use of goods or service;

4. The right to a fair contract, and

5. The right to have injury considered and compensated under law.

Because the Act protects consumers from incorrect ‘information,’ it naturally deals with advertisements for goods and services, which by their very nature are intended to deliver information on a product, whether it be a good or a service. Indeed, section 22 of the Act states that "an advertisement may not contain a statement which is unfair to consumers or which may cause adverse effect to the society as a whole" and then goes on the specify that an advertisement is unfair or causes adverse affect to society if it is (1) exaggerated or false; or (2) causes misunderstanding in the essential elements of the goods. The Act specifies other ways an advertisement can be harmful, but for the purposes of this short brief, the above two points are the most relevant.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Suradit69

[davemos]

Hi all I had a problem with what I thought was a term deposit . Long story short it was a insurance policy .I found out after a year that my funds nwould be tied up for 10 years . i complained to nthe Bank of Thailand explaining that i had asked for a term deposit and instead got a policy . They are the regulatory authority for banks in Thailand.ireceived a full refund and they were most helpful. I did sign papers but they were not translated for me . .Took a few months but full refund .

[moonseeker]

Thank you all. We managed to cancel the policy with some careful reminders of the powers of the internet. Thanks a lot for the feedback. A good lesson learned for the mother. Have a good day. MS>