Who is lying? What to do if you deposit 80,000 baht in the bank but they tell you after it was only 40,000....

[Just1Voice]

Usually on the 3rd of every month, I get my VA an SS checks deposited to my private account, then go to the bank an have them transferred to another open account.  This month I went as usual, but due to health reasons, I was having trouble filling out the forms.  A "nice" female bank worker offered to help me.  When I went to the teller, she withdrew the money from the private account, as proper, then did the deposit.  Only one problem.

 

When she handed me back the two bank books, there was no deposit in the open account.  I immediately brought this to the teller's attention.  She showed me the deposit slip.  It was made out to an account other than mine.  I pointed this out, and she immediately made out a new deposit slip and corrected things. Then I asked her who the first account belonged to.  She said she didn't know.  As a 9 year customer of this bank, I know the managers, asst. mgrs and others quite well.  I requested the slips and took them to the manager and explained the situation.  She was very helpful and quickly found out who the account belonged to - the "friendly bank employee" who filled out the forms for me.  The manager called her into the office with us, shut the door, confronted her with the evidence and fired her on the spot, telling her she would never work in another bank in Thailand for the rest of her life. 

 

The young woman broke down in tears, apologizing and wa'ing profusely, which did no good at all.  I was pissed, and let her know it.  The manager, a woman by the way, finally spoke up and told the young lady to get her stuff, clock out and get out of her bank.  She then apologized to me, saying she knew I was a long time customer who was well liked by all the employees, but this girl was relatively new and didn't really know me.  She asked me if I wanted to press police charges, and I told her that would only bring bad attention to a good bank, and that firing the girl was good enough.  

 

 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Is this a new scam......don't people check their accounts after deposits are made.....?

Always insist on a counting machine or open, visible manual counting, to check money when large deposits are made......

 

Agree, I and my family go one further, after the cash has been counted by the machine and then put on the top of the counter we always count it again. You can find things on the web about mistakes by these machines. 

[klauskunkel]

If you deposit cash at the bank teller, don't you fill out a deposit slip, a copy of which gets returned to you together with the updated bankbook?

 

[spidermike007]

I always complete the deposit slip myself. And watch them count the money. Then I confirm when the receipt is handed back to me. That system does not leave alot of room for error, one would think. 

[janclaes47]

1 minute ago, spidermike007 said:

I always complete the deposit slip myself. And watch them count the money. Then I confirm when the receipt is handed back to me. That system does not leave alot of room for error, one would think. 

 

Most banks I know don't give you a copy of the deposit slip, they give you a copy of a withdrawal slip, because the book get updated.

 

Many people don't check the book, because they assume it is correct, but later you don't have any proof.

 

 

[goldenbrwn1]

Banks do make mistakes, as in when bank staff are involved.Not two years ago I made a cash deposit onto one of those top up credit cards to use for a one off purchase. I handed over £5000 in cash in Barclays Bank in the Uk. The cashier put the transfer through but no receipt came out, he said he has to put it through again as it didn't go through .On the second time it went through and gave a receipt .  The next morning I received an email to say my card had been credited with £5000.....3 min later I received another email to say my card had been credited  with another £5000! Obviously I called them immediately to tell them of their mistake.......? Always insist on a receipt when handing over cash. ?

[Baerboxer]

5 hours ago, seajae said:

didnt the man check the amount on the deposit receipt or even watch her count it, you never simply ignore everything when depositing money especially in Thailand.

 

 

Very true mate. I deposited some money in a K bank account. The teller gave me a correct receipt but on checking the bank book she had debited rather than credited it! Better to spot there and then rather than having to go back and spend large amounts of time resolving.

 

In the UK a bank teller once credited a large amount into my book but somehow actually paid the money into her own account. I found out several days later when I tried to make a withdrawl. According to the manager it was an innocent mistake as the teller had been doing her own banking before serving me. As it was a Saturday and she was a Saturday only part-timer they said they'd sort it the following week and then credit me - seriously! When I mentioned my next stop would be the fraud squad at Police HQ they suddenly sorted it there and then. 

 

Always be vigilant - especially with banks.

[Baerboxer]

30 minutes ago, goldenbrwn1 said:

Banks do make mistakes, as in when bank staff are involved.Not two years ago I made a cash deposit onto one of those top up credit cards to use for a one off purchase. I handed over £5000 in cash in Barclays Bank in the Uk. The cashier put the transfer through but no receipt came out, he said he has to put it through again as it didn't go through .On the second time it went through and gave a receipt .  The next morning I received an email to say my card had been credited with £5000.....3 min later I received another email to say my card had been credited  with another £5000! Obviously I called them immediately to tell them of their mistake.......? Always insist on a receipt when handing over cash. ?

 

I had some money credited to an offshore account. I had no idea where it came from but as it was a large amount I rang my manager. Again, a human error posting to the wrong account.

 

Happens a lot. If you don't tell them btw, it is considered theft in some countries.

[mogandave]

 
I had some money credited to an offshore account. I had no idea where it came from...

Hey thanks, that was mine...

[thhMan]

So, its harder to count 1000 THB notes than 500 THB notes?

Where do they come up with this BS ?

 

Ive seen those machines in action... they are damn quick...

[cyberfarang]

4 hours ago, halloween said:

How can this be simple error? If it was, it would have shown up at the end of day till check. If the till checked OK, the obvious explanation is the teller nicked it, and her dodgy actions add to that suspicion..

Not if the teller bagged the money and did not put it through the system.

[mogandave]

Not if the teller bagged the money and did not put it through the system.

Actually easier for the teller to put it the the drawer and have a friend pick it up and the window and carry it out.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, klauskunkel said:

If you deposit cash at the bank teller, don't you fill out a deposit slip, a copy of which gets returned to you together with the updated bankbook?

 

, Yes, should be.

[humqdpf]

11 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

One reason why I keep the minimum here, some Banks cannot be trusted. When buying a house 5 years ago I transferred a lot of money at 50 baht to the pound, they hung onto the transfer for a couple of days before putting it into my account until the rate went down to 49, leaving me 40k lighter. No amount of complaining did any good at all. On a prior occasion they reversed the process giving me the lower rate when they received the money different to the higher rate they day it went into the account. I no longer use that Bank, or swift to do the transfers.

I cannot speak for every country but the banks in the UK are just as bad if in a somewhat different way. For instance, many (all?) UK/EU banks are known to give you such a terrible rate on transfer of funds into foreign currency that it can cost you thousands - for instance, Barclays recently wanted to charge me about $3,000 above the mid-point to make a $60,000 transfer to an American bank account.

 

To see how they do it and make huge profits, see the following link to an article in the Guardian newspaper online:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/apr/08/leaked-santander-international-money-transfers-transferwise

 

By the way, as the Guardian points out, you can always go with an online transfer company called TransferWise - you have to do a little setup with them re money laundering and so forth but it is worth it. TransferWise only charged me about $250 (including all fees) instead of Barclay's $3,000 and the amount was transferred at the "mid point". However, Barclays had to be hounded to actually allow the funds to be transferred into TransferWise's account in London (Barclays kept telling me that I made an error until I was able to produce a screenshot that showed the transfer was confirmed and then miraculously the money transferred to TransferWise!)

 

The sad truth is that NO BANK CAN BE TRUSTED! NO BANK ANYWHERE!

Once you know that, you can act accordingly!

[natway09]

When will you guys stop Thai bashing  ??????

Been banking for business & personal here for 25 years & never been 1 Bht out.

The big 5 are more solid here than most banks in the world.

As an aside,,, if any of you have large amounts of monies with Royal Bank of Scotland you

may want to move it (just a personal observation)

[Beats56]

I took most of my money out of my thai bank. I don't trust the current state of the government. I use my yearly extention with funds I receive back home for the year. 

 

[masuk]

5 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Is this a new scam......don't people check their accounts after deposits are made.....?

Always insist on a counting machine or open, visible manual counting, to check money when large deposits are made......

"put into a draw"??     Doesn't make sense.   

[wvavin]

Oh.....investors would feel very nervous over such issue. Well, they should know everything is risky in this country.

[ICECOOL]

 

5 hours ago, neverere said:

I had a similar incident years ago at Kasikorn Bank, in Bangkok. Thankfully the missing amount was much less. They had actually already credited my wife's bank account, but then changed the deposit amount after. Meeting with the bank manager was a waste of time, he merely wanted to project his perceived superiority. Closure of the account followed rapidly, as I did not want to leave my, or my wife's funds, in a crooked institution, Went across the road and opened an account at Bangkok Bank, who have been great for the 17 years since.    

This apparently K bank again. They target people depositing on behalf of others. Saw copies of deposit slips and there are 2 amounts listed on the slip. 

[natway09]

I reckon she is telling porkies

[Tilacme]

This works both ways.  My niece works as a cashier in a bank and an Arab came in and deposited 7,000 baht and then claimed it was 14,000.  The bank cameras didn't show any deception but he kept coming in every day for a week trying to blackmail her into giving him the difference out of her own pocket, to make it go away.  I dare say that if she capitulated then things could have gotten a lot worse.  As it was she told him to f off and eventually he did.

[shaurene]

I have had an SCB account for 20yrs + never had a problem. Times i have done international transfer from my babk in New Zealand it has been deposited in my account the very next day. I always have it transfered in Baht so no exchange problems.

[captspectre]

6 hours ago, nev said:

And another reason to not put to much into banks here in Thailand.

What was the proposed amount they want for the new 10 year visa 5,000.000 baht.

I do have the amount but I will not deposit it into a thai bank in this life time! never know when you may have to unass this place!

 

[whaleboneman]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Agree, I check everything carefully. My Thai adult son also, and he's had nasty comments from the bank staff.

 

One time I was with him, he deposited cash and didn't receive a stamped signed deposit receipt, bank teller girl insisted the bank does not issue such documents. I countered by showing the signed stamped deposit slip I has just received from the next teller just 3 minutes beforehand for a different transaction.

 

Son insisted on talking to the manager. Several tellers tried to divert my son's request with comments like 'never mind it will be OK next time'. I have the bank HO number for internet banking on speed dial, I called and they quickly transferred me to the appropriate dept., and I told the HO bank guy what was happening, and he tried the same line 'never mind...'  etc.,  I insisted on speaking to a senior person and a lady came on the line, she listened carefully, perfect English and asked me to put the teller on the line.

 

Teller was told to put son's phone on speaker phone and she was obviously getting an ear full. Then teller was told to bring the manager to the phone and was told to keep the phone where it is so the customer (my Thai son) can hear the conversation.

 

Manager then sat at the desk and quickly made a copy of the deposit slip and in fear gave it to my son, then told the teller to collect her bag etc., and leave the office. Teller never seen again (at that branch). During all of this my son was using his smartphone to take photos of the staff involved.

 

I told the HO lady that son had photos, she instantly gave me her personal mobile number and said 'yes please, please send me the photos' and she sent a thank you response to my son.

 

For the next several months, every time my son or myself went into that branch the tellers quickly called the manager who came and personally sat at the tellers desk and sheepishly did the transaction.

 

My lawyer and accountant (my ex MBA student) operates a now quite large business consultancy, most of her customers are new / recent / old off shore companies, and she continuously gets new customers from good recommendations, she can tell you dozens of negative / shocking stories about unethical incidents at Thai banks.

 

On a couple of occasions she had personally taken new start up clients to a Thai bank and after 5 minutes of lack of focused service, lots of bullshxx ('it's now Bank of Thailand policy that all new accounts must have an ATM card', which is not true), insistence that customer has to sign blank forms etc., she has quickly grabbed all the forms and ripped them up and taken the client to another bank. She's a very professional and polite lady but she take no bullshxx.

 

Her advice with cash deposits is to complete the deposit slip yourself and ensure the deposit amount is written in numbers and characters, and read it to the teller when you give the teller the deposit slip and the cash.  

 

On a personal basis she does the same thing for her own deposits and also tells the teller to keep all the cash on the desk until it's all agreed by both the teller and herself. 

Ease onto the bong.

[NoshowJones]

7 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

One reason why I keep the minimum here, some Banks cannot be trusted. When buying a house 5 years ago I transferred a lot of money at 50 baht to the pound, they hung onto the transfer for a couple of days before putting it into my account until the rate went down to 49, leaving me 40k lighter. No amount of complaining did any good at all. On a prior occasion they reversed the process giving me the lower rate when they received the money different to the higher rate they day it went into the account. I no longer use that Bank, or swift to do the transfers.

It is a pity you are not allowed to name the bank.

[Kabula]

No problem....

 

Count it first and put a paper clip on all 10, 1000 THB notes, 100's and 20's.  Lay all bundles out,  including everything under 10, for the bank camera to see or photo/video it yourself.

 

Watch them count it twice. 

 

Have them update the bank book, secure the deposit slip and check everything  for accuracy.

 

 I never had a problem with Kasikorn Bank in 12 years making deposits. 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, natway09 said:

When will you guys stop Thai bashing  ??????

Been banking for business & personal here for 25 years & never been 1 Bht out.

The big 5 are more solid here than most banks in the world.

As an aside,,, if any of you have large amounts of monies with Royal Bank of Scotland you

may want to move it (just a personal observation)

 

Source?

[TKDfella]

Actually my bad experience similar to this was in England and ever since that time when I deposited cash I count it out on the counter first. I rarely deposit cash now but if I do I still follow that procedure.

[NoshowJones]

6 hours ago, rkidlad said:

I got called 'a bitter farang' because I said I didn't trust banks (that's all banks by the way). It was just assumed I meant only Thai banks. I just told a couple of newbies to be careful when depositing money. You don't speak Thai and it's probable the teller won't speak English. Under this dynamic the tellers can get nervous and make mistakes. They also make mistakes, because in my personal experience, they aren't trained all that well. So......just be careful. It ain't personal it's business, as they say. 

 

I usually use the cash deposit machines as it's quicker and easier. But I always check and never take anything for granted. 

I deposited 10.000 Bt into my account last week, a very simple  transaction you would think, twice the teller had to approach who I believe was 

a superior, it must have taken her five full mins just for me to deposit that 10.000 Bt.

[Boedog]

I had an issue where l transferred $6,000AUD from Australia to Bangkok bank, transfer completed from my end but recipient didnt received, followed up with my bank and they investigated and confirmed the Bangkok bank had received the funds, it took 3 months and multiple emails and phone calls to get money put back in account, no apologises no nothing.