Drawing money from an ATM.

[Robee]

Drawing money from a ATM in HUA HIN , do thay work or do you
have to look for a good one thats working ok .

Also can we put some of the best of the ATM, on the new bar map of Hua Hin.

Robee

[Big Boy]

I've never been specific in which machine I've chosen in the past - they've all worked fine for me.

I'm not sure there is a 'best ATM' - they all give the same type of money.

[chelsea]

I had trouble in Ao Nang, Phuket and Hua Hin with not being able to draw at some of the Thai Banks ATM's with my Australian ATM Card. It would only work in certain banks. If you have problems, just keep trying the different banks, once you find one that works, use it all the time.

[Robee]

Thanks for the info guys, nice to now that the ATM in Hua Hin are pretty good
and you do not have many problems with them , and most are working ok
so that is good news.

Thanks

Robee

[STEVE G]

With respect to the location of ATMs:

if you look at the bar map, at the southern end of Poolsuk rd. on the corner where the city beach hotel is marked, and on the opposite side of the road, you will find a fair selection of ATMs, at least one of these will normally accept a UK bank card.

[lomuamart]

One thing I'd add to the above and I've posted on this before, is that very occasionally all the ATMs here can't check my account details back in the UK. It's some communication problem with the computers. Only ever lasts a day, but it's sure to happen when you've got no cash. If you've got a debit/credit card, you should be able to get money from a bank/exchange booth with your passport as a last resort.

[billseymour]

I had a similar experience a month ago, when my ATM card would not allow me to withdraw money from my US bank account. It had always worked flawlessly in the past, although I hadn't used it much for a year or so.

Anyway, I spoke to my customer account manager in California, who is also a personal friend, and he told me this. The extent of ATM card fraud in Thailand has reached such severe proportions that the bank is suspending the ATM service periodically for one or two days "for security reasons." And that I can expect this practice to continue. The good news is that the suspension is only for one or two days, and all legitimate ATM cards will be functional again after each suspension.

[troopie]

I have to report that I have had more than one bad experience with Thai Military Bank ATMs. They have almost never allowed me access to my old Citibank bank account in Japan, so maybe they should be on the black list!

[pommy]

I was in HH last month and had no problem using my UK card in ATM. You also get a much better rate in HH than if you change your money in the UK.

[Guess]

I have to report that I have had more than one bad experience with Thai Military Bank ATMs. They have almost never allowed me access to my old Citibank bank account in Japan, so maybe they should be on the black list!

It is nothing to do with the banks directly. They make money from issuing cash for a small feee and taking their share of exchange rates.

The world's banking system (I am sure that I have written this before) is connected together by networks operated ny large FIs (financial institutions).

These are notably Vis, Amex, Master Card (Maestro) and JCB.

The usually use privately owned networks. Every transaction goes through many different computer nodes before the ATM allows you to draw cash.

You can not blame the dispensing bank for the failure. It could be one of a thousand reasons.

What I do blame the banks for is there economy of messaging. "Please refer to you bank" may actually mean that the bridge from Thailand to Singapore is at full capacity and your bank knows FA about your request.

The reasxon that you are more likely to get a failure here when drawing from a Western Bank is twofold:
1. There are many more nodes that have to process the transaction.
2. The local infrastrucure is not maintained to the standards that you are familiar with in the West.

It is good advice to check that the badge on your card is supported by the machine you are using. In the event of failure then use a different bank after 30 minutes or so. If no banks get through then the problem is probably with local infrastructure.

[PeteC]

Sometimes I give out a big sigh Guess. In 36 years now, nothing has really changed, except to go backwards perhaps. I'm going to start singing "Humpty Dumpty" soon and perhaps 60 million people will join the chorus. Never fear,tomorrow will be a better day?! Pete

[caller]

I've had that "refer to bank" message a few times. One night I tried a few ATM's all with the same message, so I contacted my "phonebank" in the UK who confirmed my funds were all in order. They suggested the tills might simply be empty?

Went out again, tried another bank, I think it was the last resort, and got some cash.

[Guess]

Problem is that they are still using very old protocols designed in the sixties when economy of data, both storage and communicated, were paramount. If the transaction times out or the response is negative quite often the dispensing bank displays the message "refer to your bank". It is a bit like the "refer to drawer" on cheques that have bounced.

The thing is that because the methods are tried and tested and in most cases work OK, the institutions do not see the need for change. Change is expensive.

There is a move to Internet browser based technology being employed but I think it will never get off the ground. By the time the stuffy institutions have realised it is a non starter (do people really want to be in a queue behind a lady who wishes to test every possible transaction while all they want to do is draw out some beer vouchers). Also there is more intelligent far sighted research into cashless transactions where the user only requires a mobile device which will incorporate a telephone, camera, fingerprint reader, retinal reader, MP4 player and Internet browser. We are only a few years from that technology being available. When the institution accepts that security can not easily be breached then the device will be all that one requires to carry. The ATM will just service technophobes and people who have been careless enough to lose the device.

Further in the future, my gusess is about twenty to thirty years, the device will be embedded somewhere in your body.