Just wanna write this to get it off my chest as a kind of therapy.

I was just ripped off!  (My opinion)

Last night I brought in a chunk of money to buy some properties here in Thailand. I transferred the money from my bank in USA to my Bangkok Bank Limited Account as I've done many times in the past.  But this time.. the rate of exchange WAS BLATANTLY FALSE. (my opinion)

Let's just say that money which arrived in Thailand less than ten hours ago by wire got an exchange rate of under 32 Baht per $US.  Now tell me.. is that possibly right? Is that the market rate, or was I cheated? 

I mean really.. if i took the money in $US to super rich, I could get 32.11 Baht per $US today.... EFFING BASTARDS at Bangkok Bank Limited.

I'm fuming and have called the bank and they couldn't find a manager to talk to me. They said they will "call me back". Right...

To be continued.....

That round figure looks a bit strange for a large transaction... it should at least have been 32.09

Normally, the bank would call you telling exchange rate before convert......or wait until your notification.

Thanks for concurring....

In this day and age, no business or institution can be trusted.. Sad state of world affairs...

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I need to do the same thing soon, when my condo is to be paid. Transfer large chunk from Thai bank to Europe, then back to Thai bank, just to get some paper that says its for buying a condo.

From what I see on Bloomberg tonight, if it was south of 31.70, you got screwed royally... if it was north of that but south of your observed 32.11, then you were screwed in the ordinary course of Thai business...

I wonder if the bank in question gets away with it more often than the others simply because they are more open to lending to farang for real estate (so more funds flow to them from outside for the down payments). But you would know that, and maybe that's exactly why you had to do the business with this bank.

Let's rob them.

not exactly surprising for BKK Bank to be into a little corruption

yamahacrasher... Can you do that? Transfer money from here then back again to get ForEx certificate? Interesting.

banks in thailand are all sh*t, provide terrible customer service, charge outrageous fees, and are not open to competition so what can we expect. its the way some people want it.

having said that, agree with another: 32 exactly looks odd. never seen a round number like that. anyway, it should be easy enough to trace. take your paperwork to silom, don a bulletproof vest, bring some wire cutters and head in to see someone in charge.

i got so pissed of at BB years ago I demanded to withdraw all the money in my savings account with them something around 200,000 cash. they told me not today. I had to wait a couple days for paperwork to clear with silom branch. i threw a hissy fit and loudly said i was not leaving or moving from the counter until i got my own money out of their bank. it took 2.5 hours, 4 telephone calls to silom, and even then it was not completed until close of business that day. they had rules, they explained.

stupid rules like when you deposit a check at another branch out of town they charge you money to cash it and move the money into bangkok. i love those kind of charges.

bastards :-)

Folks--Is this standard operationg procedure in Thailand ? It seems like those who live in Thailand as expats seem to minimize this sort of thing (except Stickman) ?

At least here in the USA, with all it's dysfunction, you have recourse and will usually get some sort of compensation or have the situation remedied.

I couldn't deal with this kind of dishonesty

The problem is that the banks have your money hostage - and they take whatever they want off the top. And what can you do about it - since your money has to pass through their hands?!

If it makes you feel any better, you're not the first person to be screwed by a bank - and you won't be the last. Nonetheless, you should at least put up a fight because if you don't, they certainly won't rectify the transaction.

Try telling them that you plan to bring in much more money in the future but that if they don't give you a better rate, you'll have no choice but to find another, fairer bank. (Unfortunately they probably know that such a thing does not exist!)

I have never had a problem with Bangkok Bank from the UK, the rate has ALWAYS been the TT Rate as published on their website.

You can get the rates here

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/Web%20Services/Rates/pages/FX_Rates.aspx

You can also check historic rates for the day/time the money arrived.

The TT rate is what you get, less a maximum bank charge of 500 baht, which is very reasonable.

Did you instruct your HOME BANK to make the transfer in Dollars?

If not they would have used their own rate which is invariably worse than the rate IN Thailand at BBL.

They didn't call me back.

I called them back.

The underling didn't give me a manager to speak with.

He just explained that the dollar is trending down against the baht.

He apologized, but gave no remedy.

I stated my disappointment and am just going to deal with it.

The End.

They didn't call me back.

I called them back.

The underling didn't give me a manager to speak with.

He just explained that the dollar is trending down against the baht.

He apologized, but gave no remedy.

I stated my disappointment and am just going to deal with it.

The End.

I just smuggled cash in on me, my wife, and even my baby!

Took it to Super Rich and then sprinted to my awaiting helicopter.