[Central ruined my day today]

No such thing as C O D from Central. Me thimks you went to some rip off store calling themselves Central. However I always recommend Home Pro as found them always reliable

[Security Screen Doors]

Hi Did you ever find someone? I am looking for exacly the same but this is 4 years later!!!

Thanks for any info you have!

[Standard Price For Electricity And Water / Unit?]

Electricity is largely dependent on the negotiations you have with your landlord! The Electric company charges near THB4.00 per unit.. Landlords add whatever to cover their expenses etc...

Water is nominal. Perhaps max 200 per month, depends how often you water the garden or how much your dog drinks!!!

We have One huge 35,000 btu aircon running 6-8 hours a day

One smaller 19,000 running 12 hours a day

One medium aircon running( I forget the BTU rating) at night about 7 hours a day

Our bill is THB 7-8,000 per month

but we pay the lowest tariff as bill comes from electric company direct

Good luck!

[Homepro & Sharp Practice?]

You had my whole office cracking up on that one....must find out what it means.....

I learned a new Thai word today: Khi Kwai.

I'll use it every time the HomePro manager pauses in his speech about no refunds.

[Recommended Contractor For Small Kitchen Job]

Sorry to be a contrarian but Homepro gives employment and opportunities to thousands.....so what's wrong with supporting ? It should be a question of quality and price!

Go to HomePro. do not trust any independent contractoryou find or is recommended here

lol@u

there is an outdoor wood market across the canal from bkk uni rama4(road parallel to rama4 away from suk). there are lots of small contractors there. price depends on the quality of wood but will certainly be less than homepro. they have pictures and samples so u can view the quality of their work. i have used them before and been completely satisfied. also nice to support a small business rather than homepro

[New Fee From Air Asia]

well the latest check in charges by Air Asia will simply serve for me to check carefully the competition, instead of assuming they are the cheapest which they usually were.! Did this the other day and lo and behold Nok Air was much cheaper for a flight to CM and Woopee ANA was exactly the same for a flight to Osaka. Now which airline would you prefer?

[Thai Maid’s Salary]

We pay our maid 6500 per month. Lives in her own room separate from house, has her own bathroom. We give her 500/week for food and pay her Social security. We never gave her set working hours and told her to set them herself....she gets up early and loves to potter around in the garden, cleans the house etc...after we leave for the office and goes to bed at 9pm after serving dinner. During the day she rests several times. We are not too concerned about the working hours as long as the house is kept clean and although we give her Sunday off she rarely takes it. She can vacation in her province whenever she wants to but never abuses that either. She is in her late 50s.

[Thailand Tourists Demand Measures To Tackle Illegal Tour Operators And Taxi Drivers]

why should they learn english? this is Thailand for god's sake. How hard is it for a tourist to have the name of their hotel or wherever written down in thai for the taxi driver?

For the simple reason sbergin that if you are in the tourist trade anywhere in the world the one tourist language is English so you learn it! If you are a local and occasionally pick up a tourist ( such as a taxi driver) then of course its not essential but it should be encouraged not demanded. Tourists are always thrilled to bits when they can converse with a local and the smart tourist always has his basic information written in the local language.....but there will always be stupid tourists so i say tough luck.

[Urgent-beware Of Kasikornbank Transfers]

Beware if you transfer money on line through K Bank Cyberbanking to another bank ( such as Bangkok Bank)which is supposed to be instant online service and for which you pay a premium. The money it seems just disappears and does not get credited to the other party! In calling K bank they say there is a problem system wide and as its Sunday the IT staff are not available and they cannot refund the money and it will take 3 WORKING DAYS TO RESOLVE. Whether this is true or not this is quite unbeleivable and totally unacceptable. PROTEST this rediculous chaos !

[150 Baht Atm Withdrawl Fee.. Does It Matter?]

Doesn't anyone here get the point??? Its not the THB 150 charge that really matters and especially if you ARE savvy and just withdraw large sums from time to time and go to the next machine and deposit in your local bank account, if you have an account here, or in your wallet if you don't....it's the fact that the banks are so blazon about showing the charge on the ATM slip! I agree that banks are entitled to a small charge... as the overseas banks take hidden charges constantly on these transactions and never show it , why don't the banks here just incorporate it in the exchange rate and there never would have been a complaint because the charge is, in the sum total of things, so small.BUT WHY ON EARTH the Thai Bankers Association could not have made a sliding scale of charges that would not penalise the withdrawers of small amounts , is beyond me, . Just another example about decisions being made which primarily concern tourists without ADVISE FROM THE TOURIST authority or some other panel of foreign experts.

[The Real Cost Of Work Permit And Visa Renewal Every Year]

Lets be clear. I pay a guy, not a lawyer, to do it and I suppose its worth it as it saves allot of time and he does all the paperwork

and time consuming waiting etc... The fee has been the same for 5 years, and the only thing that has increased are the government charges correctly quoted above.

1. As an employee of a company you pay income tax monthly at the appropriate rate and, as a foreign employee, on the basis of a minimum salary of THB50,000 per month. Nothing untoward or unusual about having to pay tax!

2. Monthly you pay the Social Security tax of 5% maximum THB750, usually deducted from your salary. Your employer matches that.

3. The immigration charges for a yearly renewal are as mentioned above, the Dept of Labour charges also mentioned above.

4. The guy who does the leg work THB 16,000 plus VAT for the service. You COULD do this yourself or find someone cheaper. I wish i had the time to do it myself.

Thats it. When I consider that the UK and others ie EU Shengen are charging an absurd amount for just tourist visas, I think we can be happy that the government charges are what they are. As to the guy who does the leg work nobody says you have to employ a lawyer .

Good luck!