Man 'forced to sleep with rats' after Scottish bank cancels credit card during Thailand trip

[Dionigi]

8 hours ago, graemeaylward said:

That's a good old Scottish name! ????


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

probably came of an armada ship same as lots of other spanish sounding names. Looks like it was recent though.

[hobobo]

8 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Who goes travelling for two months with ONE card as the only source of funds ? thats asking for trouble, and no friends or relatives to assist ? 

 

Guess he never heard of GoFundMe either?

[rwill]

No way!  I saw that video TAT had produced.  Some young beautiful woman will allow him to stay at her home until the problem is sorted.

[AlexRich]

I’ve had my card blocked whilst travelling, I was lucky to have a back up card. As soon as you try to withdraw cash overseas the security kicks in, especially places like Bangkok and Bali. It is not easy to get it unblocked. Nightmare ... I feel for the guy.

 

I’ve not slept with rats, just the odd pig due to beer goggles.

[Tanlic]

The Thai police were asked to help and they said "Rat will be the day"

[CharlieH]

Off topic posts removed.

[Bastos60]

8 hours ago, MeePeeMai said:

I guess the IO who stamped him in didn’t ask to see his 20k in cash. 

 

And this is the reason they want to see the cash, not plastic. 

I have never been asked to show any cash. 

But providing evidence of having credit/debit cards available with providing their expiration dates would be a way to avoid these kinds of stupid mistakes.

He should have called and requested a new credit/debit card well in advance if his current card was about the expire.  Seems like common sense to me. 

With my bank it costs me about 15 Euro to have them send me a new card earlier but that is money well spent if it helps avoiding to sleep with rats.

 

[oldrunner]

Sounds like a lot of ratshit to me. Too many loose ends and this man not terribly smart. Hustling into any foreign country with only your credit card? Who does that but an idiot. Hope he didn't get too many roach or rat bites.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Krataiboy said:

The best argument so far against a cashless society.

Governments love electrons, because they can be monitored. Australia is well on the way to being cashless, some stores don't even carry cash anymore. It'll take a while for that to happen here.

[plahgat]

Similar happened to me many years ago when I was on Koh Samui, my ATM card suddenly was locked by my Swedish Bank, as a "precaution" !?

I only had about 800 baht left in my pocket and a month or so left of my holidays!

I stupidly had used up all my Travelers Cheques, so I had only the ATM card left, but was naive enough to trust it for the reminder of my trip.

 

I contacted my bank and they only said that they will send my new card to my home and not to Thailand!

I contacted my sister at home via E-mail and after 3 days card had arrived at my home in Sweden, so I told her to send it to my GuestHouse in Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui.

Luckily I knew the owners of my GH well, so they let my stay on and let me pay for the room later.

 

I waited a week and asked at reception everyday if my card had arrived, but no letter!?

Time went on and after 10 days I started to get really worried, so I walked up to the Post Office on main Rd, to inquiry, but they only said come back later!

Two days later I went to PO again and by chance I took a glance in the Poste Restante Box, and to my great relief there was a letter for me and it included the new ATM card!

I had my sister E-mail me the pincode and went to try it at Krung Sri ATM and it worked!

I then immediately withdrew some money, and opened an NRBAccount at the Krung Sri Ayudhaya Bank with an attached ATM-card that I have used ever since when in Thailand.

 

Plahgat

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Years back I was using my credit union in Melbourne as my main bank along with a credit card from mainstream bank.

 

I went to the credit union office (same building (a week before departing for holiday here in Thailand) and they wrote down a plan (as per one of their services) for them to make several payments on my credit card. They didn't make the payments and my card was blocked. I called them many times, every time the operator said 'all tellers are busy, please wait'. I mentioned I was calling from Thailand but 'not allowed to jump you on the waiting queue even if your calling from abroad', and credit union staff not allowed to call back. 

I called a colleague from my office, he went straight away to the credit union manager 'can't help, can only talk to member' and cannot make a pre-arranged time for me to call them. 

 

I cut my holiday short and went home. Credit union manager refused to talk to me 'no need'. 

 

It was a lesson, I quickly got one more credit card and moved to another credit union which had a good reputation for 'can do' in whatever circumstances. 

What was the name of the credit union? You can say it here, as Australian corporates can't sue for defamation.

I use Australian Unity, formerly BigSky. They are always helpful and understand my situation.

[ICELANDMAN]

2 hours ago, Estrada said:

I have had 2 Thai Citibank credit Cards for 25 years. In the early days they used to ask me to inform them if I was going to visit another country. If I made an abnormally high monetary purchase they would ring me on my mobile phone immediately to check in case of fraud. These days they use a host of data that their computers use to track you and ascertain whether you can be in two locations at once, for instance. For online purchases they send a random pin number to your mobile phone so I don't understand your complaint about them not understanding on-line purchases. The security is there. These days I don't need to inform them if I go to another country, because their computers track us using location from daily purchases, air tickets (which show destination) and so on. I have had had only one fraudulent purchase on my account in 25 years for which they refunded the money. The same happened to a friend recently and they contacted him because they thought it was suspicious that at age 65 he was taking out an online subscription to E-Gaming.

Welcome big brother

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

What was the name of the credit union? You can say it here, as Australian corporates can't sue for defamation.

I use Australian Unity, formerly BigSky. They are always helpful and understand my situation.

 It wasn't either of the credit unions you mentioned.  It was a credit union specific to a big company but managed totally by members, with about 10 employees (employees of the CU, not the actual company). 

 

This incident was many years back and after a number of incidents at a general meeting it was proposed to disband the credit union and everybody joined other credit unions. 

[Sheryl]

15 minutes ago, Bastos60 said:

He should have called and requested a new credit/debit card well in advance if his current card was about the expire.  Seems like common sense to me. ...

 

 

It wasn't about to expire. Expiration was 2021.

[sambum]

Alberto Perez says he had to sleep on the streets after his credit card was cancelled.

 

A man has claimed he has been forced to sleep in abandoned buildings with rats and cockroaches on holiday in Thailand after his debit card was cancelled in error by a Scottish bank.

 

Credit Card or debit Card?

 

I have had new debit cards issued to me by RBS for no apparent reason (e.g. nowhere near expiry date), but the old card remained valid until the new card is used, and only then does it becomes invalid. Not sure about credit cards, but one would think that the same criteria applies.

 

However, if what he says is correct, he has my sympathy trying to contact the correct department to resolve a credit card issue is a nightmare. Getting passed "from  pillar to post" is normal rather than the exception - it has happened to me 2 or 3 times, but to be fair, they did eventually reimburse me each time for the cost of the telephone calls. 

 

 

[Vermaric]

9 hours ago, soalbundy said:

He's from Barcelona.

I remember him from Faulty Towers.

[TTL2]

9 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

Always a good idea to have more than one source of cash.

 

 

This is in fact a very reliable advise and warning.
Never rely on single source.
Many people have this so called habit and pride of something have been cultured within them. From life practise to extremist pride of being assured by some power.
I find their cultured being silly about putting the faith in believing from one single source, which previously keep on destroying them (commoners) again and again.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T PUT YOUR EGGS IN ONE SINGLE BASKET!

[Andre0720]

Strange. I had this happen to me also. Bank card cancelled because the bank issued a new one.

One phone call, and my card was reactivated for one month, and needed re-activation every month.

The technology is there....

[TTL2]

3 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

Strange. I had this happen to me also. Bank card cancelled because the bank issued a new one.

One phone call, and my card was reactivated for one month, and needed re-activation every month.

The technology is there....

It is a way the monetary body or that corporate banking controlling their fiat from freely flowing outward to another country.
Many have not have the knowledge how fiat control work. The money doesn't belong to you in reality. It belong to the country that you are born or citizenised.

Putting it this way, you are from where you are from. And they ain't gonna let you go easily. The origin country don't wanna lose their fiat value, they don't want their talent people ran away and most of all they are trying to protect you and themselves. 

[raccos21]

He should sue the bank for services like this. Most of the banks are charging all kinda fees nowadays and legally stealing from people, most times without people even realizing it. The truth is that the banks are in bed with the government and although the government tells the banks to treat people fairly they continue to steal people money another type of scams. Poor guy.

[TTL2]

4 minutes ago, raccos21 said:

He should sue the bank for services like this. Most of the banks are charging all kinda fees nowadays and legally stealing from people, most times without people even realizing it. The truth is that the banks are in bed with the government and although the government tells the banks to treat people fairly they continue to steal people money another type of scams. Poor guy.

Suing cost money and now he is sleeping with rats and learning to do Thai kitchen from scratch. Nobody is gonna go through that trouble unless they are earning US$50 per minute and prove it so.

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, Youlike said:

Yes and that's because we even can't trust our own banks anymore these days.

 

I've had the same, my bank had blocked my creditcard for certain countries for safety reasons without telling me.

Same happened to me with Barclays Bank of England.

When your credit/debit card is about to expire the bank automatically notifies the card centre, they produce one and send it to your address... except Thailand is on their blacklist & will not post it here.

Trouble is everything works within the system as far a producing a new card but NO ONE tells you it cannot be sent to you... which is crazy!

I sat here waiting for it to be delivered, after a couple of weeks I called them, they said one had been made, but would cancel it and produce another in case it had gone astray.

This happened 3 times until my bank gave me a contact number within the card centre office.

They said yes Mr ******** we've made your new cards but cannot send them to you as you live in Thailand.

 

 

[sambum]

9 hours ago, overherebc said:

I know nothing Mr Fawlty

Possible he never checked the expiry date on his card before leaving UK

From the article in "The Scotsman newspaper:-

"Mr Perez said that the credit card he has with him has an expiry date of April 2021 and that he had visited his branch in Edinburgh to check his banking facilities were in order before his trip." 

[ancharee]

9 hours ago, graemeaylward said:

That's a good old Scottish name! ????


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

Albert Macperez

[Tropposurfer]

9 hours ago, Youlike said:

Yes and that's because we even can't trust our own banks anymore these days.

 

I've had the same, my bank had blocked my creditcard for certain countries for safety reasons without telling me.

Rule one when O/S travelling: Tell your bank your going there. Did you do that?

[kevin612]

Well, I bring two credit cards and cash. He’s old enough to understand what is back up plan.

[PumpkinEater]

Now days you MUST call your bank and tell the security department where you will be using your card and for how long. THEY WILL BLOCK YOUR CARD for "your protection".

Cheers!

[sambum]

6 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Same happened to me with Barclays Bank of England.

When your credit/debit card is about to expire the bank automatically notifies the card centre, they produce one and send it to your address... except Thailand is on their blacklist & will not post it here.

Trouble is everything works within the system as far a producing a new card but NO ONE tells you it cannot be sent to you... which is crazy!

I sat here waiting for it to be delivered, after a couple of weeks I called them, they said one had been made, but would cancel it and produce another in case it had gone astray.

This happened 3 times until my bank gave me a contact number within the card centre office.

They said yes Mr ******** we've made your new cards but cannot send them to you as you live in Thailand.

 

 

I have had the same experience. The safest way is to get a friend to bring it out for you - which I agree, is not always possible. The other way is to get it "couriered" out to you - which is  expensive, or get a friend to pick it up from your UK address, and post it to your address in Thailand, but that option would have to be a last resort - the Thai postal system is not as trustworthy or as reliable as Royal Mail! (Plus if you're only on a 2/3 weeks holiday you would probably be back home by the time your card arrived here!)

[TTL2]

9 hours ago, overherebc said:

Hope he has his return ticket already paid. Do I see a 'go fund me' lurking in the background?

Do I see a 'go fund me' lurking in the background?
Seem like all of these GO FUND ME became a trend after crowdfunding like Indiegogo or Kickstarter got tonnes of mooney loopings.

[puipuitom]

The Dutch Rabo-bank did with me about the same. I had a temporary extra credit line, but.. a very awake employee withdraw that. So, when I wanted to pay my hotel in Guangdong - China... pity, nothing. Happily a Thai lady behind me in the line offered to pay my hotel invoice, as we both would go with the same plane to Bangkok back, as my hotel was close to her office. It's 20 years ago, we are still friends...