bank scam or not - you decide

[capello]

o.k. this is a long one because i have to put in so much detail but it could affect many of us so here goes

i set up an online bank transfer from my halifax bank in the u.k. to my siam commercial bank here in pattaya

i have done this before to my company account with no probs but i wanted to use my personal account in future, the cost to the halfax is 9.25 to transfer any amount

i thought it wise to do a test run in case i put in the wrong details or something else stupid so just transferred 100.00 pounds sterling to see how it went, i had done this before with my other account with no probs

when i checked my balance the amount i received seemed a bit low, 100 quid times 48 is 4,800 baht minus 2-300 commision but i only had 4200

i went to the bank and asked the girl to put it on the screen so i could see the commission which was 320 baht, that should have left me about 4,500ish

when i queried this she said this is the correct amount on 95 quid received, i explained it was 100 and she showed me 95 had gone into my account

i went home and checked the halifax online plus i rang them and they confirmed 100 quid sent and 9.25 for their fee so 109.25 deducted from account

i go back to SCB to see manager and he rings bangkok, eventually i speak to some guy who says SCB don't have the facilities to receive inter transfers so it goes through standard chartered bank, maybe they have a fee

now i am not happy with this as you would expect some sort of notification as to what the fee is and how much, none of this is evident

i ask him for the phone number for standard chartered which he does not have, i ask why the fee if it exists is not in thai baht and he says he dpes not know

however he will send to me by email the standard chartered invoice proving SCB ONLY RECEIVED 95 POUND, I LEAVE IT AT THAT AND GO HOME TO CHECK MY EMAIL

what i receive is a knocked up letter, on SCB headed paper, not signed purporting to explain what happened, and you guessed it at the bottom a little entry saying fee 5 pound

now he swore he had no idea what or why anything was deducted, have any of you guys had any similar experience and what is your opinion of whats gone down, cheers

[worgeordie]

I have had same problems with SCB up here in Chiang Mai,they never
provide any paperwork ,to support exchange rate ,amount that was
sent and from who,!!, so best just to use Bangkok Bank or Thai Farmers,
they supply all required paperwork no problem.
regards Worgeordie

[Marmite the Dog]

SCB are thieves, unsurprisingly.

[rickpattaya]

Never had a problem with SCB transfers.

[capello]

neither have i, this one is to an account i have not used before, don't know if thats a factor

just been on their web site and done an email to complain, yes, you guessed it, cannot send at this time, convenient eh

[aging one]

I use Standard Chartered for my credit card. They have been great with me. Call their help line and ask what is going on? If its any hope every year they waive the fee for my credit card.

[capello]

what number do you use, might be interesting if they confirm 100 was transferred

[aging one]

I use their 4 digit hot line, but it wont work unless you enter your card number. let me try to google some stuff for you. I just cant see it. cheers and sorry mate but its automated until you finally after 6 button pushes and a wait do get to speak with a human who will tell your their name.

[aging one]

maybe?

Standard Chartered Bank - Online banking

Again best of luck, and be happy your loss is so small through your due diligence.

[capello]

cheers for your help, my problem is i want to bring over 5000 GBP and this was a trial run to see if it worked o.k. now i am a bit stuck

its not the amount, its the fact someone can just take a slice with no comebacks

[Albert Shagnastier]

Banks fuck you.

What you no understandy brother?

[david44]

I used use SCB and their online but as others not often down for maintainace spent a fortune calling them over an enquiry (500 baht hotel telephone bill etc) Also easySCB shows a monkey logo not very rassuring tho an old Thai told me its the best "connected after TMB" I use Kasikorn online much smoother Int transfer paid only around $10 at a very competitve rate.For many of us inertai and a branch where you can park in the sahad and they speak English is worth a few extra baht .Ive banked in Finalnd Denmark Ireland Oz USA France Hungary Spain,Portugal and the worst sharks for fees anywhere UK After KK small Aeon has freeATM use whileCIti is best connected but only 2 branches Silom and Suk I think the other one

[Butterfly]

not a scam, you idiot, more like your misunderstanding of how banks transfer money

for international transfer in different countries, you need corresponding banks and they have agreement with each other. Sometimes they have to go through other banks to "clear" the transfer and there are fee involved, usually a small fixed fee.

If you do a small transfer, less than 500 Euros, the fixed fee will be expensive and up to 10% of the amount, so it's perfectly normal

doing a transfer for 100 EUROS is beyond stupid, and it's asking for being ass raped for fixed bank fees

[capello]

no,no,no, you are missing the point, i tried this halifax online service about a year ago and did the same thing, transferred 100 quid to see if it worked then brought in large amounts

never had a problem and the full amount arrived every time, commision taken afterwards, but the transfer clearly shows the full amount, how can it not without an explanation

this time i decided to use my personal account, not my company account as before, i thought it wise to try it out first with a small amount again, if 100 quid goes missing it is not the end of the world, if 5 grand goes missing i am fucked

also when i spoke to the guy at transfers in BKK he assured me he had the standard chartered bank details in his hand which he would email to me, he lied

he also said he had no idea why the amount was short, he said that a few times, then he sends me a knock up letter on SCB headed paper, not standard chartered, and he slips an entry in , sending fee 5 GBP

now thats a load of bollocks to try and placate me, why would any fee be in GBP and not baht, and why no details

i have been transferring money here for 6 years and never come across this nonsense before

[keefus]

I transfer money from my Halifax account to my Kasikorn account on a regular basis (once a month) and have never had any problems.

[capello]

hi keefus, presumably your money goes through the standard chartered bank also, is it ever short or do you not check the amount received

just spoke to my mate, he brings money over regularly, never checks, if a wedge appears in his account -happy days

[capello]

hi guys, followed the advice on here and spoke to standard chartered bangkok, very helpful even though i am not a customer, not like those lying bastards at SCB

young lady there looked into and phoned me back, it appears transfers go thru london not the BKK branch

phoned london, again very helpful, lady there explained as the intermediary bank they were entitled to charge a fee, not a percentage lucky, but a fee up to 35 quid

i asked why i had not had this before and she replied that sometimes they do and sometimes not

they had asked their payments division for a proper procedure to explain this but they were not very forthcoming

it seems like its hit and miss, but if they apply it , it makes a joke of the halifax claims to only 9.25 per transfer, so anyone with a u.k. account be warned you might face a fee in the future , it also explains why sterling was deducted and not baht

[rickpattaya]

Glad you sorted that one out mate and thanks for the feedback.

[adzt1]

santander . 25 quid , unlimited amount .. takes 3 days .bank of Bangkok 400 bt to receive unlimited amount . . all available to see on ur statements. Simples !
send sterling to Thailand and get the onshore rate.

[Albert Shagnastier]

20 quid with HSBC

[Thaimato]

Good on yer for the update - it makes a (good!) change to hear the result of peoples' questions, queries and comments.

Sounds like that bank is OK - nice to hear that you actually got some positive feedback, too. Mind you, it's pretty gruesome that banks can make any charges without informing customers!

Some good comments from other members - especially the Santander bit, very reasonable.
Meself, I'm a very reluctant customer of Barclays which has got to be one of the biggest rip-off banks ever. Fuk me, a 53 quid charge for a 2,200 quid transfer. Must've wore out the bankfukka's finger or summat, plodding the info into the computer. On top of that they treat you like a fekkin criminal as soon as they know "werr - you live in Thailand!" - like you're some crud that's bound to be whitewashing your money. I used to have a debet (atm) card, but the cnuts just cut that off without even bothering to inform me. They now "don't send cards to Thailand any longer".
Too the above transfer was to Kasikorn Bank, who don't provide any details of transfer rate or charges. When I asked the assistant I just get a "mai roo" (don't know), as it's all done in Bangkok (apparently) - and anyway, filing her fingernails was obviously much more important... Doncha just luv Thailand!

The weird thing is (was!), that Barclays used to be one of the best banks around (many years ago) with a friendly and helpful service - and reasonable charges.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with the bastards - it ain't possible (or very difficult) to switch to a new GB-based bank - unless anyone knows a way to do it.

Ta

[Oink]

Barclays now charge £40 to transfer funds, regardless of the amount, so if you had used them you would only have got £60 paid in then the thai banks charges. You got away lightly!