HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

ATM unanswered questions

Rules for some and rules for others

Unbelievable conduct

Democracy means doing things yourself

Where are the answers?

ATM unanswered questions

Editor;
The letter titled “ATM Rip-off” leaves a few unanswered questions:

Why does the writer think that the bank should have believed him, when he walked in and said that money had been stolen from his account? If the bank was to believe him, everyone would be in the bank every day, making the same claim.

How does anyone “steal a number”? If the writer means that he allowed someone to look over his shoulder, view his number, and then later steal his card, both of those things are his own fault. Similarly if he wrote the number, with other identifying information, on a piece of paper, and then allowed that to be viewed or stolen, together with his card.

One slightly possible explanation: If he used his ATM card as a debit card at a Point of Sale computer terminal, he would have had to key in his Personal Identification Number (PIN). I suppose it may have been possible that someone at the store was able to go inside the computer and retrieve his PIN. But even then, wouldn’t they also need his ATM card in order to make a withdrawal? A PIN number by itself is not sufficient. If this kind of theft were really possible, it would be happening to everyone, and the whole Point of Sale debit system would collapse.

But just as a precaution, one should never use an ATM card as a debit card. There are ATM’s everywhere in Thailand; walk to the ATM yourself, withdraw the money, then go back and hand cash to the clerk.

I have been in Thailand for almost ten years. On the two occasions when I have had irregularities with the use of my ATM card (both involving a debit to my account when I had not in fact received cash from the ATM), I went to the banks involved. They noted my complaints and restored my correct account balance a few days later. In the second of those instances, I had proceeded to try to make a withdrawal after the ATM had given me a strange message of some sort. I learned that if that ever happens, NOT to proceed any further.

I highly doubt that the ATM told the writer that “Your PIN has been stolen”. I think that if someone had gained access to his number, and if he had reported that fact to the bank, the bank would have blocked access using that PIN for everyone, including the account holder, and told him to get a new PIN.
Greg Daruda
Bangkok

Rules for some and rules for others

Editor,
Those motorbike drivers and their passengers with out helmets being pullover and charged by police in Sukhumvit Road near Lotus must have felt extremely cheated and disillusioned last week when a police officer in uniform, riding a grey Honda motorbike, drove merrily by with his female pillion passenger holding her helmet snugly in front of her waist.

Rules for some and rules for others, especially those with cash in their pockets! So whose job is it to ensure everyone is treated equally, the police or their chief?

Signed,
Not Fair

Unbelievable conduct

Editor;

What idiot decided that it would be a good idea to have a seven day squirt gun fight instead of the usual three day insanity? I have lost count of the number of motorbike accidents caused by what amounts to assault by overzealous barflies between the Jomtien Complex and Jomtien Beach Road.

I do not believe that it was ever in the spirit of the Songkran holiday to cause bodily injury or property damage on such a scale.

I would urge anyone who suffered such damage to file suit against the Mayor of Pattaya, the CEO of Chonburi, and the PM for what amounts to reckless endangerment (knowingly creating a hazardous environment while employing insufficient safeguards to protect the populace against property loss or physical harm).

It is inconceivable that any responsible public official would condone assaulting a moving vehicle with a stream or bucket of water capable of causing the operator to lose control. A few million baht out of the wallets of our local officials might cause them to wise up.
John Wesley Harden
Jomtien

Democracy means doing things yourself

Editor;

Owners are forever discussing lack of openness and transparency if a developer is in charge of a condo. Nothing seems to get done. No opposition is tolerated. Owners are neglected, ignored, used and abused. After the dismissal of a duly elected committee, lawlessness can go on for years.

As is usually the way of things after much deterioration and the need for renovation a committee is finally selected by a surrogate manager and a discussion is finally held about what needs to be done. A discussion ostensibly for renovation but the real purpose of such a gathering is obtaining more money. No financial (until someone insists on one) or audits are mentioned. The discussion turns toward increasing maintenance fees and the borrowing of money. Work approved by the select committee will finally be taken to a general convocation for a stamp of approval. All this amid atmosphere of intimidation and ignorance.

In the absence of knowledge and help there is not much owners can do to remedy their situation. If they call in the police all they get is tea and sympathy. If they call in a lawyer they can expect to spend much money and time in court.

If owners were handed a booklet of condo laws and regulations when they buy a condo much of this secrecy, greed and corruption might be avoided. (These booklets are in very short supply, for some reason they are not available in bookstores).

There is nothing like knowing your rights on those rights. Evidently no government agency is coming to your rescue. There are some things you must do for yourself. That is called democracy at work!
Condo owner

Where are the answers?

Dear Pattaya Mail,

While I have been a regular reader of the Pattaya Mail newspaper for many years I have often wondered about the lack of follow up. Often we read articles on water shortages, crime, road conditions, health hazards, and K. Suchada Tupchai’s occasional words on the bad influence westerners in the Pattaya area have on local Thais. We constantly read letters from many concerned readers on various issues impacting the complete community (not just the foreigners), some with ideas for resolution. This being said, where are the results? Where are the follow-ups? What are you doing to research and present the answers to your readers?

Where are the questions you ask on our behalf at the city government meetings? Where are your follow-ups (investigative) with the banks in our area whose ATM’s have non-functioning cameras? Where are your photographers who should be taking pictures of the trucks illegally siphoning water from our already depleted local reservoirs? Where is the research into the incredible strangle-hold the baht-bus consortium has on public transport (why aren’t there any significant number of metered taxis?)? Where is the information on how the city and provincial governments have historically failed to control how road work/repair is conducted (materials, labor, safety, embezzlement, etc.).

Where is the ADSL infrastructure for the greater metropolitan area? I live in the Eastern Sukhumvit area and even offered to pay TOT to upgrade the POP so I could get ADSL at home, they refused. Do you have any idea how much revenue they are losing by not expanding that capability outside the central Pattaya area? I can’t get dial-up higher than 28.8 through my phone line that’s 15 year old technology!

Why is Pattaya not building professional office space and building infrastructure to support it to lessen the dependency on fickle tourism? Last but not least, who is addressing the complete lack of planning for general infrastructure (water, power, sewage) against the incredible growth the Eastern Seaboard is experiencing (and will continue to experience through the opening of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport)?

If we are already suffering water shortages, with suspected power brown-outs coming, how do they plan to support a 50% to 100% increase in the residential population? Cloud seeding to generate rainfall only addresses farmland drought, not city supply/demand, and control/conservation. So exactly how are my tax dollars being spent?

You have an excellent paper, and one of a very few professional print news operations with a truly localized/regional focus in Thailand. None of the Thai newspapers have that. You are only missing one thing to make it complete... follow-ups on your reader’s commentary and your own reporting of issues.

Best wishes for continued success from a 90% satisfied reader.

Sincerely,
N. Williams

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