- Left – I didn’t
- 30th & 31st March 2015
- Miles rode – None
After two days of riding I decided to have a couple of lazy days. The first day I got up late and had the first coffee of the day at about 11.30. As usual I found a coffee shop with wifi to see what’s been going on in the world over night, not a lot! Occasionally I check my bank balance to check my transactions are correct. To my horror there were 8 transactions I didn’t recognise, all cash withdrawals I didn’t make in Vietnam totalling £550. Life goes on as usual when traveling and I have to check and sort out stuff as everyone at home does. The problem is trying to get solutions when you’re on the other side of the world, it can be a nightmare!
I called my bank with all the details prepared regarding which transactions were correct and which were not, it took about 4 hours and eventually they said my card had been cloned in Vietanm so they had to cancel it. They agreed to a full refund and reimbursed my mobile cost of the phone call, £45, not bad considering the VOIP call was free.
I now have to get my credit card sent to a secure location here in Thailand and wait for delivery. DHL offer a great service.
After I concluded days and days of correspondence with RAC Carnet department to get my ‘carnet de passages’ (temporary motorbike importation document required in many countries around the world) renewed. The process is time consuming and very expensive.
So, that took all day and many cups of coffee.
The following day I checked my bank account and all fraudulent transactions had been credited along with the reimbursement for the phone call. I’m not a great fan of large corporations or banks but they have been very efficient. Later that day Mum mailed me saying my new credit card had arrived with her. Now that’s good service, even though they refused to post it directly to me in Thailand. Mum will send it to me.
Later that day I visited the Tsunami Museum, I can’t imagine how horrifying it must have been.
