The
British Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand It seems that every time
I renew my passport I live and learn a little bit about how to approach the task. About
three years ago I arrived at the embassy building on Wireless Road and they were
closed because of a holiday. Oh well… I should have called ahead. 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 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 cost and inconvenience to myself! So THIS time around Marko
'ducks in a row' Newman 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. 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. 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 promised
to send someone out to see me. About ten minutes passed. I called again and she
answered the phone and told me that someone was coming. Eventually two people
from the visa department came and the man said that there was nobody there. I
insisted that somebody COULD help me with my simple request to drop off these
forms. 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. He had done much the same research as I had and had even printed off
the published hours of office from the internet website! Eventually the
Thai head of security told myself and my new friend to seal all our forms, money
and passports in envelopes and said he would drop them off into the office on
Monday for us. So the moral of this tale is - when in Thailand and you
need assistance from your British embassy then ask a local to help you! 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 the embassy's service. My email is mark.newman@gmail.com Personally,
I have never had a problem at the Brisith Embassy and most people I know have
had little in terms of problems there. Is Mark's experience the exception or the
rule?
Let us know... | 
