jimmybkk

Just posted a small parcel overseas from the postal services counter in Big C North Pattaya (Central Festival Centre, or whatever it's called now) on the upper floor near Black Canyon.

As usual it was a young female with bad attitude manning the booth who would clearly rather be playing with her Facebook account than dealing with me. I gave her my parcel and said how much registered airmail to Singapore. She said, after weighing it, "200 Baht" which surprised me a little because it's never usually a round number to send anything anywhere, and so as i was fishing in my pockets for change she flashed a calculator at me that said 242. I thought it sounded a more likely number and also sounded reaonable and so paid her the correct money. She said "Thank you..." in a way that suggested the transaction was over and I should move on. I said "What about the number?" referring to the tracking number because I was sending it registered. She grabbed a receipt from under the counter in the vicinity of the cash register and gave it to me before turning her back and attempting to place my parcel in one of those banding machines (which in itself surprised me because my parcel was small, well wrapped and not at all firm. Sure enough the banding machine just crushed my parcel...)

Usually I would have just walked away at that point, happy with the price I'd paid and happy that what i was sending was pretty much unbreakable, but because of the way she casually gave me the receipt I decided I'd better check it really was my receipt and she hadn't given me the wrong one with the wrong tracking number by mistake.

When i checked it the date was correct, the destination was correct and the time was correct, so all appeared OK except that amongst the different amounts that appeared on the receipt, nowhere did the number 242 appear. It's not the easiest of receipts to understand so for some reason I thought I'd ask her to explain how it works. As soon as I said (politely) "I'm sorry, could you explain how it is 242 Baht...?" she immediately said "Oh sorry!", opened the cash register and gave me 100 Baht back.

My concern now is that as soon as I walked away my parcel got dumped in the "For my sweetheart Somchai..." bag and not in the "For overseas parcels..." bag.

Does anyone know of a shop or individual in the Pattaya area that can repair a stud welding machine. Any suggestions and/or contact details would me much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I have an overseas friend who is looking for a reputable manufacturer of rubber bands. He is looking to place a bulk order with company logo printed on the packaging etc. Being based overseas he is wary of choosing a manufacturer at random via the Internet. If anyone can recommend a company that they have done business with in the past I'd be grateful.

Maybe this has been covered in a previous post, if so I apologize, but it seems that if you buy a new pick-up or SUV, or any vehicle where the spare wheel is stored under the chassis rather than in the boot, you are almost certain to have it stolen. Almost everyone i know who has bought a new vehicle in this category has been a victim. I'm told by a Thai friend who works for Toyota that the thieves get quite good money for the spare wheels (i think she said they resell for around 2,000 Baht per piece).

From what I can gather the thieves target trucks/SUV's that are still on the red plate. Mine came with an optional  spare wheel lock which apparently was no deterrent whatsoever - I'm guessing a pair of bolt cutters took care of it in no time. When I took my truck back to the dealer recently to have a minor ding repaired the guy at the dealership confirmed it is a regular occurrence. He also told me that I could make a claim to my insurance company and they would pay half the cost of a new one, which I think meant I would have to pay around 1,800 or 2,000 Baht. I couldn't see the point as my truck is still on the red plate so if I get a brand new spare now the chances are it would go the same way as the last one.

It's amazing how many people are driving round totally oblivious to the fact that their spare has been stolen - then again, unless you're suffering from OCD why would you check on a regular basis? I pity anyone who discovers the theft when they get a flat at 3AM in the middle of nowhere without a Thai speaker in the car.

My suggestion to anyone who's about to buy a new pick-up/SUV or to anyone who has just bought one and hasn't yet been robbed of the spare would be to go to one of the places on Sukhumvit and buy a 2nd hand spare for around 800 or 1,000 Baht. Keep using this at least until your truck goes from the red to the white plate, or maybe even until it starts looking a bit older. This is about the best solution I can come up with - anyone got any better ideas?