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The British Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.
Just how bad can these clowns get?
It seems that every time I renew my passport I live and learn a little bit
about how to approach the task with this crew of rude and uncooperative
imbeciles working against me.
About three years ago I arrived at the embassy building on Wireless road
and they were closed because of some barely heard of Thai holiday. Oh well
- I should have called ahead to find out if the British staff would be
celebrating obscure Thai holidays on the day I planned to visit. I didn't
and I was caught out! I wouldn't make that mistake again.
The last time I renewed my passport (14 months ago) I specifically told
the charming (but empty headed) lady at the counter NOT to mail me my new
passport as I would be in town to collect it before traveling onwards to
another port of call.
I arrived on the day and, well... you know the rest! They had mailed it to
me and as I hadn't been at home my passport was in a post office for a few
days and my flights and trip had to be cancelled at a considerable amount
of cost and inconvenience to myself!
So THIS time around Stogie 'ducks in a row' Bear decided to make
absolutely sure that nothing was going to go wrong! I called the lady at
the Embassy on Wednesday 23rd of November to confirm that they would be
open. The lady was Thai so I didn't stop there! I went to the web site to
double check and make sure of the times of operation for the day I wanted
to visit. Sure enough it was as plain as the nose on my face... Friday 8AM
to Noon!
I downloaded the forms and checked the fees and put all my forms, passport
and cash in an envelope and set my alarm for 5AM and slept soundly!
I woke up and set off on the journey to Bangkok. I don't live in the city
and the journey is long and awkward, especially in the mornings during
periods of peak traffic. But again - just to make sure I wasn't going to
encounter any surprises - I called AGAIN and a recorded message assured me
that the office would be open from 8 till 12.
I arrived at the gates and... come on, I know that you know already what
I'm going to write! YES - it's TRUE! They were CLOSED! Absolutely amazing!
Closed for 'Staff Training' for the whole day. No mention of this on the
website and nothing on the phone calls and recorded messages telling me to
sleep in and have a nice day!
What would YOU do?
I was very frustrated at this but was determined to get something done and
NOT lose my temper whilst doing it. First of all I forced my way into the
secure area between the outside world and the interior buildings. Three
Thai security guards tried to talk me into leaving but I stood my ground
and once again I called the embassy to find out what was going on.
All I wanted to do, remember, was to drop off my filled out forms, my old
passport and the money to pay for the new one. Surely SOMEONE working at
the embassy could at least do this much for me. The same lady answered the
phone and refused to give her name but promised to send someone out to see
me. About ten minutes passed and I was still being hassled by the Thai
Security forces to step outside, but I stood my ground and explained that
the lady I spoke to would be sending someone to talk to me. I called again
and eventually she answered the phone and told me that someone was coming.
Again she refused to give me her name.
Eventually two people from the visa department came and the man started
telling me barefaced lies to try and get me to leave. First he said that
there was nobody there. But that wasn't true because they were inside
having a staff training session. He then lied and told me that the only
way to submit an application for a passport renewal was in person on the
following Monday. This again was a lie. If you have a checking account
with a Thai bank you can mail in the application. (I don't!)
He kept interrupting me and it seems as though part of his 'training' is
to try to ruffle your feathers so they have an excuse to walk out on you.
I wasn't falling for that, and insisted that somebody COULD help me with
my simple request to drop off these forms.
Eventually he and his accomplice simply walked out and I was once again
left with the growing band of agitated Thai security guards. By this time
another fellow Brit had joined me with exactly the same problem as me. He
simply wanted to drop off his forms and get back home to Pattaya. It seems
as though the ineptitude of the Embassy had caused this gentleman to waste
an entire day traveling also.
He had done much the same research as I had and had even printed off the
published hours of office from the internet website!
A Thai to the rescue!
The head Thai security honcho realized that actually there WAS something
that could be done. Actually he had done it before for Brits in distress.
So both myself and my new friend sealed all our forms, money and passports
in our envelopes and the highly decorated security guy said he would drop
them off into the office on Monday for us. I offered him a little
something for his trouble, but he flatly refused to take it.
So the moral of this tale is - when in Thailand and you need assistance
from your British embassy then ask a Thai to help you. The officious,
incompetent, rude, lying and intransient wankers from Britain won't give
you the time of day... even when it's posted on their website what those
times of day are supposed to be!
Of course, this embassy and the civil servants working therein are famous
for their colossal ineptitude and impersonal handling of routine
procedures and I know many of you reading this are thinking "Been there,
seen that!" Anyway; I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who has
had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of this collection of half
witted buffoons. Email me at [email protected] or post here with your
comments and/or experiences!
Stogie
Just how bad can these clowns get?
It seems that every time I renew my passport I live and learn a little bit
about how to approach the task with this crew of rude and uncooperative
imbeciles working against me.
About three years ago I arrived at the embassy building on Wireless road
and they were closed because of some barely heard of Thai holiday. Oh well
- I should have called ahead to find out if the British staff would be
celebrating obscure Thai holidays on the day I planned to visit. I didn't
and I was caught out! I wouldn't make that mistake again.
The last time I renewed my passport (14 months ago) I specifically told
the charming (but empty headed) lady at the counter NOT to mail me my new
passport as I would be in town to collect it before traveling onwards to
another port of call.
I arrived on the day and, well... you know the rest! They had mailed it to
me and as I hadn't been at home my passport was in a post office for a few
days and my flights and trip had to be cancelled at a considerable amount
of cost and inconvenience to myself!
So THIS time around Stogie 'ducks in a row' Bear decided to make
absolutely sure that nothing was going to go wrong! I called the lady at
the Embassy on Wednesday 23rd of November to confirm that they would be
open. The lady was Thai so I didn't stop there! I went to the web site to
double check and make sure of the times of operation for the day I wanted
to visit. Sure enough it was as plain as the nose on my face... Friday 8AM
to Noon!
I downloaded the forms and checked the fees and put all my forms, passport
and cash in an envelope and set my alarm for 5AM and slept soundly!
I woke up and set off on the journey to Bangkok. I don't live in the city
and the journey is long and awkward, especially in the mornings during
periods of peak traffic. But again - just to make sure I wasn't going to
encounter any surprises - I called AGAIN and a recorded message assured me
that the office would be open from 8 till 12.
I arrived at the gates and... come on, I know that you know already what
I'm going to write! YES - it's TRUE! They were CLOSED! Absolutely amazing!
Closed for 'Staff Training' for the whole day. No mention of this on the
website and nothing on the phone calls and recorded messages telling me to
sleep in and have a nice day!
What would YOU do?
I was very frustrated at this but was determined to get something done and
NOT lose my temper whilst doing it. First of all I forced my way into the
secure area between the outside world and the interior buildings. Three
Thai security guards tried to talk me into leaving but I stood my ground
and once again I called the embassy to find out what was going on.
All I wanted to do, remember, was to drop off my filled out forms, my old
passport and the money to pay for the new one. Surely SOMEONE working at
the embassy could at least do this much for me. The same lady answered the
phone and refused to give her name but promised to send someone out to see
me. About ten minutes passed and I was still being hassled by the Thai
Security forces to step outside, but I stood my ground and explained that
the lady I spoke to would be sending someone to talk to me. I called again
and eventually she answered the phone and told me that someone was coming.
Again she refused to give me her name.
Eventually two people from the visa department came and the man started
telling me barefaced lies to try and get me to leave. First he said that
there was nobody there. But that wasn't true because they were inside
having a staff training session. He then lied and told me that the only
way to submit an application for a passport renewal was in person on the
following Monday. This again was a lie. If you have a checking account
with a Thai bank you can mail in the application. (I don't!)
He kept interrupting me and it seems as though part of his 'training' is
to try to ruffle your feathers so they have an excuse to walk out on you.
I wasn't falling for that, and insisted that somebody COULD help me with
my simple request to drop off these forms.
Eventually he and his accomplice simply walked out and I was once again
left with the growing band of agitated Thai security guards. By this time
another fellow Brit had joined me with exactly the same problem as me. He
simply wanted to drop off his forms and get back home to Pattaya. It seems
as though the ineptitude of the Embassy had caused this gentleman to waste
an entire day traveling also.
He had done much the same research as I had and had even printed off the
published hours of office from the internet website!
A Thai to the rescue!
The head Thai security honcho realized that actually there WAS something
that could be done. Actually he had done it before for Brits in distress.
So both myself and my new friend sealed all our forms, money and passports
in our envelopes and the highly decorated security guy said he would drop
them off into the office on Monday for us. I offered him a little
something for his trouble, but he flatly refused to take it.
So the moral of this tale is - when in Thailand and you need assistance
from your British embassy then ask a Thai to help you. The officious,
incompetent, rude, lying and intransient wankers from Britain won't give
you the time of day... even when it's posted on their website what those
times of day are supposed to be!
Of course, this embassy and the civil servants working therein are famous
for their colossal ineptitude and impersonal handling of routine
procedures and I know many of you reading this are thinking "Been there,
seen that!" Anyway; I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who has
had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of this collection of half
witted buffoons. Email me at [email protected] or post here with your
comments and/or experiences!
Stogie
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