Fake VISA Agency!! Who protect us ??

[natway09 5,038]

Any self respecting agency gives you a quote & you pay after the work is complete.

[DJ54 888]

OP what were you trying to accomplish originally? You say after we got extension ... is we in general or in this case 2...

[ThaiVisaCentre 122]

We hear about situations like this quite a bit lately.

When engaging with an agent you should make sure to check the following things
 

• Public reviews (not ones on their website)
• Check their websites/facebook registration date
• Make sure they have a physical office
• Try to ask around if possible
• Get the agreement of services in writing if making a deposit

If they have a google page you can check to see if the business is responding to reviews as well (this would mean they at least verified their address).

If the business has been around for less than a year, or does not have an exact address you should be extremely cautious.

Edited November 27, 2020 by ThaiVisaCentre

[flexomike 448]

11 hours ago, Ventenio said:

5000 is probably slightly above my "man, i got ripped off" meter..

 

I have bought 1200 baht things that broke in a day

we have all spent 10k+ on food that might not have been the best

maybe 30k+ on massages that were average

maybe 10k+ on trips and 100k+ on gf's...

 

i mean, this is Thailand, money just evaporates.....

 

on the flip side, i bought some used stuff for a few hundred baht where in the UK it sells for about 200 pounds.  I found three items like that......

 

when i was a teacher i got about 100k for days I didn't have to teach (two months off over the course of a few years).....i'm sure other teachers have made millions only counting vacations.  

 

so yea, you lost 5000......but your living in a place for 5000 instead of 40000 back home.

 

BUT NEVER DO IT AGAIN.  

who would pay 30k for a massage - 555

 

[from the home of CC 9,250]

12 hours ago, Jingthing said:

This is only my opinion as someone that has never used a visa agency and doesn't intend to.

There are two sorts of visa agency services.

 

There is the "hand holding" type that assist people in doing fully legit applications where the applicants actually can meet their own financial requirements and can prove it. They might be a convenience to busy people, people intimidated by dealing directly with immigration offices, or people that don't speak English or Thai. In such cases the applicants would be submitting the same documents as people doing it themselves, their own actual money in their own bank account if required, actual income flows if required, etc., etc. 

 

The other type, the type we are usually discussing when the topic of visa agents come up are the legal "grey" area type. They are assisting people that don't, can't, or won't actually meet the financial requirements, etc. They use certain "methods" that we don't usually discuss here to avoid actually needing to legitimately meet the requirements as an in person or hand hold applicant would. 

 

If the O.P. was intending to use that agent for the "grey" area type, if I was him, I would forget about the 5,000 as money well spent on a lesson to never deal with that particular agency again. 

 

Complaining to authorities if the intention was to skirt actually meeting requirements seems to me as totally nuts. Calling attention to you as much as the agency, if not more. Totally not worth the risk over 5,000 in my opinion which by the way, wouldn't necessarily be returned even if you did complain to authorities.

 

In the case this was for a totally legit service (hand holding type) that would depend I suppose on their policy on refunds and whether that was told to you, any contract you might have signed, etc.

 

agree with you on the two types of 'service', you've summed it up nicely. This case sounds like a straight rip off.  But IMO the 'hand holders' are also willing to assume the role of the middle men for foreigner bribes to immigration. It just depends on what service you are willing to pay for but they're one in the same..

[ExpatOilWorker 5,024]

11 hours ago, Ventenio said:

5000 is probably slightly above my "man, i got ripped off" meter..

 

I have bought 1200 baht things that broke in a day

we have all spent 10k+ on food that might not have been the best

maybe 30k+ on massages that were average

maybe 10k+ on trips and 100k+ on gf's...

 

i mean, this is Thailand, money just evaporates.....

 

on the flip side, i bought some used stuff for a few hundred baht where in the UK it sells for about 200 pounds.  I found three items like that......

 

when i was a teacher i got about 100k for days I didn't have to teach (two months off over the course of a few years).....i'm sure other teachers have made millions only counting vacations.  

 

so yea, you lost 5000......but your living in a place for 5000 instead of 40000 back home.

 

BUT NEVER DO IT AGAIN.  

 

I spend 69K on tickets with THAI Airways.......all down the drain.

 

[digger70 2,240]

18 hours ago, ecosouq said:

I had an experience with a fake visa agency .

The only one that can protect you is Yourself .  Don't use an agency.

If you got everything in order ,Money /Papers  you save yourself a lot of trouble and money .

 Do your Extensions yourself . There's nothing to it .Fill in the form get your papers together and picture ,,,,, Done.

[ecosouq 3]

3 hours ago, natway09 said:

Any self respecting agency gives you a quote & you pay after the work is complete.

 

i paid 5000 before any work , i did not sign any paper even

17 hours ago, alianware said:

How do you know this agency ? Where is the office ? You were in their office before ? 

search engine ..i mentioned in my post but deleted , i am not aware of this policy . 

thanks 

[2530Ubon 1,163]

2 hours ago, digger70 said:

The only one that can protect you is Yourself .  Don't use an agency.

If you got everything in order ,Money /Papers  you save yourself a lot of trouble and money .

 Do your Extensions yourself . There's nothing to it .Fill in the form get your papers together and picture ,,,,, Done.

Fully agree with this. Agents should only be used if you don't have the money or other viable means. If you can do it yourself, that's always the best way

[fishtank 3,997]

Stay legal or take a chance with a dodgy agent.

Your choice.

[DrJack54 7,024]

2 hours ago, fishtank said:

Stay legal or take a chance with a dodgy agent.

Your choice.

Or avoid a dodgy agent and deal with well know one and you will have zero issues. 

[orchis 1,373]

Let me get this right.
You retained the services of an 'agent' with a required deposit of 5000 thb.
There was an extension of the amnesty, so the services were no longer required, you informed the 'agent' and you complain about not getting the deposit back?

[NilSS 491]

5 hours ago, digger70 said:

The only one that can protect you is Yourself .  Don't use an agency.

If you got everything in order ,Money /Papers  you save yourself a lot of trouble and money .

 Do your Extensions yourself . There's nothing to it .Fill in the form get your papers together and picture ,,,,, Done.

 

I honestly don't really understand people using agents. I get the 'busy people' excuse but I'm a busy person. Anything that can be done (legally) by an agent can be done by yourself. I speak from a great deal of experience, gaining Entry Clearance to the UK for my family decades ago, then Leave to Remain, then going through the citizenship process for them, then back to Thailand and all the visa hassles here, now going through the Thai citizenship process myself....... Never once did I even consider using an agent or a lawyer, it's all there in black and white for you to read yourself, it's just a case of assembling the documents, submitting them, and telling the truth.

 

Thai people are a often a snakeoil salesman's wet dream. When I visited the Trendy building years ago to renew my British passport, and the following year with my wife to renew hers, walking through the entrance from the car park and you're swamped by agents, all of them trying to get my wife to walk into their office so they could 'help' her with her UK visa (she's British for FS!). Makes my urine boil. You want to tell them to phack off, but Thai civics and all that. I wish the building management would do something about that.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2020 by NilSS

[overherebc 18,668]

23 hours ago, Jingthing said:

This is only my opinion as someone that has never used a visa agency and doesn't intend to.

There are two sorts of visa agency services.

 

There is the "hand holding" type that assist people in doing fully legit applications where the applicants actually can meet their own financial requirements and can prove it. They might be a convenience to busy people, people intimidated by dealing directly with immigration offices, or people that don't speak English or Thai. In such cases the applicants would be submitting the same documents as people doing it themselves, their own actual money in their own bank account if required, actual income flows if required, etc., etc. 

 

The other type, the type we are usually discussing when the topic of visa agents come up are the legal "grey" area type. They are assisting people that don't, can't, or won't actually meet the financial requirements, etc. They use certain "methods" that we don't usually discuss here to avoid actually needing to legitimately meet the requirements as an in person or hand hold applicant would. 

 

If the O.P. was intending to use that agent for the "grey" area type, if I was him, I would forget about the 5,000 as money well spent on a lesson to never deal with that particular agency again. 

 

Complaining to authorities if the intention was to skirt actually meeting requirements seems to me as totally nuts. Calling attention to you as much as the agency, if not more. Totally not worth the risk over 5,000 in my opinion which by the way, wouldn't necessarily be returned even if you did complain to authorities.

 

In the case this was for a totally legit service (hand holding type) that would depend I suppose on their policy on refunds and whether that was told to you, any contract you might have signed, etc.

 

There is the third type of agency that take the money and issue you a fake visa, and 'no' I haven't used one. 

[Jingthing 69,567]

35 minutes ago, overherebc said:

There is the third type of agency that take the money and issue you a fake visa, and 'no' I haven't used one. 

True dat. They are the worst! Very bad for expats to be sporting fake stamps!