PromptPay

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Jun

Re: PromptPay

Post by Jun »

Dodger wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:08 amI've never been anywhere in Thailand where they didn't accept cash - and I doubt we'll ever see that day.
Some of the Starbucks in Bangkok already don't accept cash and I've been in a couple of other places that also don't take cash.

I can't imagine the bars will join them any time soon.
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Gaybutton
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Gaybutton »

Dodger wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:08 am I can't recall ever seeing an "app" that was developed in Thailand that functioned reliably on a continuous basis as intended.
I can. As far as I know, the banking apps - all of them - have worked flawlessly right from the beginning. There have been improvements, but as far as I know never any serious problems or anyone losing any money. The money loss problems were at ATMs, but I believe now those problems are a thing of the past. It has been quite a long time since I've seen any news in that regard.

Your attitude about PromptPay reminds me of myself, when mobile phones started coming out. I couldn't imagine a need for it and I was negative about it because I didn't like the idea of being so easily accessible. Now, of course, I don't know how we ever managed to live without them.

I like all the new technology. I'm not going to assume or be afraid that something might go wrong. If it does, I'll worry about it when it happens.

"If they're going to find us guilty, then let's at least commit the crime."
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Re: PromptPay

Post by richsilver »

Dodger wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:08 am I can't recall ever seeing an "app" that was developed in Thailand that functioned reliably on a continuous basis as intended.

I'm admittedly one of those guys who's behind times when it comes to using a smartphone for anything other than making phone calls and occasionally GPS.
If you only use your phone to make calls and GPS, how would you know that Thailand apps don't function reliably?
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Rocket »

Today at Sizzler in the MBK mall they only took my cash after I showed them I had no credit card.
Jun

Re: PromptPay

Post by Jun »

Gaybutton wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 3:12 pm Your attitude about PromptPay reminds me of myself, when mobile phones started coming out. I couldn't imagine a need for it and I was negative about it because I didn't like the idea of being so easily accessible. Now, of course, I don't know how we ever managed to live without them.

I like all the new technology. I'm not going to assume or be afraid that something might go wrong. If it does, I'll worry about it when it happens.
Thai software and web applications are usually terrible. However, the Kasikorn banking app is at an acceptable level.

I was also reluctant to adopt mobile phones. I didn't get one until the day after I sold my first house and no longer had a landline. I didn't get a smartphone until several years after launch.
Now:
My landline is unplugged, as the Android user interface for nuisance call blocking is way better than the crappy landline phones
Now I wouldn't be without a smartphone. I use it for dating, navigation, finance, note taking, photographing anything I want to remember, shopping, booking taxis, listening to podcasts and translation.
Take, for example, getting around Bangkok. I just open google maps, ask for directions where I want to go and it tells me which bus to take.

I don't particularly like some of the side effects of technology, such as closure of gogo bars. But that's happening whether or not I have a mobile phone.
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Rocket »

But doesn’t the small screen bother you? We went from 20” computer monitors, maybe larger, to smart phones.
I use my iPad, with a 10.5 screen for most everything, except for calls or google maps. I know the phone is easy to carry around and is indispensable for everyone today. I’m still adjusting to it.
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Gaybutton »

Rocket wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 4:43 pm But doesn’t the small screen bother you?
For me at first it did, but I have become accustomed to it. What I still find annoying is trying to write anything on the tiny "keyboard", if it can be called a keyboard. I am constantly hitting the wrong letter, have to back off, try again - and all too often I have to repeat that process. I can't use the keyboard at all if I forgot my reading glasses.

With most smartphones now, you can simply speak into it and it will write what you say, most of the time correctly, but I am so used to using a keyboard that I get tongue-tied when doing that. Maybe with practice I'll get better at it, but to tell the truth most of the time I have already keyed in whatever I am trying to write before I even remember that I could just speak into the phone. Obviously my career never included dictating to a stenographer . . .
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Dodger »

richsilver wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 3:53 pm If you only use your phone to make calls and GPS, how would you know that Thailand apps don't function reliably?
Mostly by listening to people complain who do use them.

Jai and I were sitting on the ocean yesterday watching the annual fishing tournament in Bang Saray. The beach was loaded with outside visitors who flocked to the shoreline to get good seats. Out of a hundred people sitting on beach blankets on either side of us we counted 4 people who weren't staring straight down at the screens on their smartphones as if they were frozen in a trance.

I imagine some may have been interested in a weather forecast - where looking up at the sky to observe the weather for themselves may have been an inconvenience. Others may have been cruising their favorite social media sites, locating their exact locations on GPS, locating a store nearby that offered a promotion for that new pair of sandals they wanted, doing a Google translate to figure out what the announcer was saying on the loudspeaker, or taking selfies so they could prove to their friends that they were actually at the tournament. Who knows?

At least when they return to their homes they can catch a U-tube video of the fishing tournament on their smartphones to see what it was actually like... :o
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Gaybutton »

Dodger wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 6:54 pm
richsilver wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 3:53 pm If you only use your phone to make calls and GPS, how would you know that Thailand apps don't function reliably?
Mostly by listening to people complain who do use them.
Then why not also listen to people who use certain apps frequently and say they are reliable?
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Re: PromptPay

Post by Dodger »

Gaybutton wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:48 pm Then why not also listen to people who use certain apps frequently and say they are reliable?
I know that many of the apps people use work just fine. I also know that many people appreciate the conveniences that these constantly evolving apps provide, which in most people's words, makes life easier for them. Can't argue with that.

The only difference with me, and I find it a bit challenging explaining this, is that I don't have any compelling reason to make my Life any easier or more "convenient" than it already is.

This wasn't always the case. When I was still working I relied heavily on a slew of apps just to be able to perform my work, but fortunately, those days are over and I've earned the right to enjoy Life, even with all its little "inconveniences", on my own terms.

If Starbucks refuses to accept cash - they just lost a customer.
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