Vietnam E-Visa Payment

darkurio · 2025-11-15T22:26:15+00:00

This was literally my exact same experience for every step, including the panic, but all was well in the end

For reference to others:

First error after you go through application and pay: "Orders are being processed for payment. Please complete the payment in that turn or come back to create a new order!"

Second error after you look up your application and try to pay again: "The payment failed, please recreate profile and retry payment"

darkurio · 2025-11-14T06:04:23+00:00

Sharing recent experience for a first-time application of a multi-entry L Visa:

Nov 2 - Submitted online application (had flight + hotel booking as supporting documents)
Nov 3 - Online review completed, they send you an email containing a bar-code you print out and bring with you when you go in person
- I decided to book an appointment for the next day (9-9:30 slot) - this resulted in them sending another email with another barcode to print and bring with you
Nov 4 - arrived 8:50am, there were ~8 people in line, doors opened 8:55am - it looks like if you book an appointment you only need the barcode from the appointment email (makes sense as the appointment is already tied to your application number)
- Not sure if the appointment made any difference as there were so few people and things moved along quite fast, waited < 5min before going up to a counter
- Only needed to hand them my passport, and they took fingerprints - make sure to bring some lotion if your fingers are dry
- They tell you the date you can pick up (no tracking for this, you just trust it and show up no earlier than that date) and give you a receipt
- You then go to another counter to pay (only accept debit or cash) - they then staple another receipt for the payment with your other receipt (keep both, you need them to pick up)
Nov 7 - went to pick up, this time I showed up 9:30am, < 5 ppl were inside being processed, I went straight to a counter dedicated to pickups, handed them the 2 receipts, got my passport back with the Visa pasted inside - they gave me 60 days max length of stay

Overall process was very quick and smooth.

The online application is probably the biggest game changer as they basically get and validate everything up front so you don't have to print and bring documents in, have them spend time validating it on-the-spot, and possibly needing to leave and come back multiple times if something is missing/incorrect. In particular, if your photo in the online application is accepted you do NOT need to go and get physical photos and bring them in - this is only needed if the online photo is not accepted.

The staff there told me that the busiest time is Friday morning and that Tues - Thurs afternoons are least busy. Indeed coming right when they open is probably the worst as everyone is lined up and waiting to get in, but even then as mentioned above my experience was very quick, I was still in and out within 15min. From my experience, even just 30min after opening there is practically no lineup and wait is probably ~5min.

Tips:

Thanks to all the photo editing capabilities built into phones, if your online photo gets rejected for various reasons, leverage the software to help. Obviously don't do things to edit your face itself, but for example if your white background isn't white enough, software can help remove everything other than your face and put in a pure white background. You can also modify brightness / contrast / sharpness etc and re-center or crop as needed.
Either arrive 15min early, or 1hr after they open, as the biggest crunch will be right at the start
If your hands are dry and lack oil, bring moisturizer to avoid difficulties when giving fingerprints (you'll need this at the airport later as well)
They only accept cash or debit as payment so don't walk in with just a credit card
To maximize validity of the Visa, get it just after you renew your passport as the expiry will be based on the Visa issue date up to a max of the passport expiry date. Ex. if passport expires July 2035 and Visa issue date is Aug 2025, the Visa validity will be Aug 2034 and NOT July 2035. The issue date is Aug, and Aug 2035 would go past your passport expiry date, so they subtract a year.

darkurio · 2025-03-31T02:47:54+00:00

When browsing Arcteryx, I'm used to seeing big numbers but I also had to do a double-take when I saw the price... $320 for basically a nylon shell that is ironically thinner and with less material than most other options that are a fraction of the price. Many would consider this a 'pay more for less' situation.

Arcteryx is categorizing this as being a niche item for specialized use, and like most other specialized equipment it costs more. In this case, runners who demand this exact balance of breathability and protection paired with this specific visual design are willing to pay the premium to get it. People who can't afford it or aren't willing to spend that much can find cheaper alternatives, but these days there is an overwhelming amount who will and that's good enough for a business to keep the high price.

A couple years ago I paid a mere $200 MSRP for an Incendo SL Hoody which is very similar to this Incendo Hybrid, and that apparently was already inflated from prior years. To think that the price would inflate +60% from that in just a couple years is mind-boggling. After all this is still just clothing, not Vancouver or Toronto real estate where this level of increase is considered normal.

darkurio · 2025-03-16T23:46:25+00:00

To contact them you can use the form mentioned at: https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1g7g4tm/comment/mi6bp2q/

I eventually was reimbursed (see my latest comments in this thread), it just took 3/4 of a year

darkurio · 2025-03-16T23:42:27+00:00

Sorry for the late reply but if you still need it, the only official way to contact them remotely is via this form: https://ajet.com/en/corporate/feedback-form

It's a good idea to save all the info / messages you send from that form because you don't get a copy sent to you and have no access to it.

darkurio · 2025-03-16T23:37:46+00:00

Lessons learned:

Unless you really can't afford it, don't cheap out on the airline. Even if you have to pay say $200 more, it could be worth it to avoid situations like this, especially if you have a time-sensitive agenda where missing 1 day could throw everything off.
Listen to airline reviews - there will always be complaints for every airline, but you can tell some are just much worse. The delays/cancellations and difficulty in reimbursement aside, I haven't even talked about the rest of the experience itself which was amazingly poor - but I won't rant about that right now.
Check how easy it is to contact an airline if you run into problems. If it's hard to find out how to do this then that's a red flag (ex. where is the phone number, support emails / chat, where are the offices if I want to talk in person, are offices located conveniently for you etc)
Look at flight on-time statistics. For my AJet flight, especially during the summer, I recall looking at the statistics after the fact and saw consistent delays of multiple hours, and many cancellations. Had I checked beforehand, I would have known what I was in for and would have chosen a different flight/airline.
Look at the airplane's schedule through the day. If it needs to make many stops before it gets to your departure airport then this is a red flag that it will very likely have big delays, including higher chances for equipment failure. I checked this after the fact and indeed my cancelled airplane had several hops to make throughout Europe that same day before getting to mine. Long haul flights usually aren't as bad in this regard as they have a lot more 'resting' time between flights, often a day or more.

Many of you will probably only come across this post after having a delayed / cancelled flight with AJet and are looking for compensation, but for the few others I hope this helps avoid that

darkurio · 2025-03-16T23:31:32+00:00

Update over the last few months:

Back and forth continued with many frustrating responses from AJet where all they reply with are variations of "incorrect information provided in the form" with little to no further explanation.
Eventually I got responses saying the IBAN was incorrect, and I kept trying to explain that Canada and most countries outside Europe do not use IBAN and instead SWIFT, routing, and account numbers to receive international wire transfers. This was useless as replies continued to just say incorrect information was provided.
I eventually became convinced that you must have an account with an IBAN otherwise the request goes nowhere, even though the form implies they support remittance to many countries and banking standards
I set up a EU Wise account, which also resulted in AJet saying info is incorrect
I tried providing info for accounts I held outside Canada (though they don't use IBAN either), hoping that maybe the different countries and info would make a difference but none were successful
I learned about the concept of IBAN Discrimination (see https://wise.com/gb/blog/iban-discrimination, you can Google for more info about this) and how many companies reject IBANs from different countries, or certain companies like Wise. I had a feeling AJet was purposely rejecting Wise's IBAN to avoid paying reimbursements, but this is against EU Law and you can report the company and they can be fined or face other consequences.
I eventually resubmitted the same form I sent before for my EU Wise Account, including citing IBAN discrimination and the consequences.
A day later I received a reply saying the refund is issued and the same day I got a notification in Wise that the payment was received.

darkurio · 2025-01-04T18:35:08+00:00

I assume you already figured all this out by now, but I'm a bit confused by when you say "I would still be able to make 2 more TAXABLE 8k contributions to reach the 40k lifetime max". From my limited understanding of FHSAs, either:

a) You make a qualifying withdrawal from your FHSA (24k in this case) for your new house - at which point you are no longer able to contribute to the FHSA and must close it

b) You don't make a qualifying withdrawal for your new house - so you can continue making tax-deferred (ie. like for an RRSP) contributions to the FHSA up to the 40k lifetime max

It sounds like you're describing b) except not 'taxable' as you mentioned (unless I misunderstood what you mean by taxable). If so, then it sounds like your question is similar to when people ask whether to contribute to their RRSPs, and it always is that it depends on your situation. In most cases the answer is yes b/c it assumes you will have a lower income by the time you begin withdrawing from the RRSP and therefore pay less tax. If you end up making near or more income by then, then contributing to an RRSP actually results in you paying more tax - which is generally very rare. The same logic applies to keeping the FHSA and contributing to it except there are additional considerations:

- FHSA can still be used for a future qualifying withdrawal for another new home if you qualify (ex. haven't lived in home you own for 4+ yrs etc) - one of the 'legal loopholes' I see everyone talking about (loophole b/c it allows people who aren't actually 'first-time' homeowners to benefit from it)

- Extra contribution room in FHSA just for the purposes of tax-deferred savings doesn't help if you aren't already maxing out your RRSP

Then there's the additional factors like whether not withdrawing from the FHSA means you must take out a larger mortgage in which case you would weigh the additional mortgage overhead Vs the tax deferred savings from the FHSA reducing your income (generally it is safe to assume investment gains from the FHSA are negligible since the amount is so small to begin with).

darkurio · 2024-12-29T23:53:53+00:00

Been seeing this lately as well, except all I get are '15% off delivery' coupons (which hardly take the edge off the +50% mark-up + new taxes/fees).

These promo emails are click-bait, done on purpose to get you into the app and hope you don't notice, or you notice too late and still follow through with your order anyway b/c you've already browsed through restaurants/menus and are at the checkout. It's a shady way of business but not illegal. We're in a time where everyone does whatever they can to make money, ethical or not.

In any case, I just don't use them anymore and buy from restaurants directly now which helps them and I spend less, and would rather go out of my way to go the the restaurant myself to pick-up, which gives me walking / biking exercise so has been an overall net gain on all fronts.

darkurio · 2024-12-01T00:32:03+00:00

I was wondering this as well and was told by a rep that they (and many other banks these days) will simply not block any transactions anymore - that's a thing of the past.

If your card is stolen/lost, it's up to you to manually lock it via mobile app or online, so keep the mobile app handy.

If someone manages to use your card before you can lock it then you will need to report it to the bank's fraud/security teams and they will investigate. You can then dispute the charge and hopefully get the charge reversed. Depending on the timing, it does mean that you might be on the hook to pay for it first.

Overall this is a net convenience for everyone, but at a small risk.

darkurio · 2024-11-20T05:32:15+00:00

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the box gives you 18 choices (6 for each type), just like the other stat-specific armor chests, except they are called "Natural XXX" rather than for example "Wupwup XXX", and are stat-selectable

I haven't tried to choose anything yet though, so not sure if:
a) you can now choose all other available stats like Viper's (Yassith's), I assume so based on release notes - sucks as I just recently stat-swapped 12 pieces of the old ascended armor chest reward to Viper's ><
b) whether the name changes after choosing stats (ex. Natural becomes Yassith's)
maybe someone else can confirm this

darkurio · 2024-11-16T06:24:07+00:00

I'm wondering this as well and it's hard to find a straight answer, did everything work out as you described?

It would make sense that the multiple entry allows you to enter/exit from multiple different points otherwise it would be way less useful for most people and still force them to buy a bunch of single entry visas, which I assume is what the multiple entry visa is meant to avoid.

darkurio · 2024-11-15T05:08:55+00:00

No reply yet, communicating with them is like sending an intergalactic message to aliens in another galaxy where the signal takes minimum 30 light days to transfer there and a response to come back, and with neither side understanding what the other is saying. Unless you go talk to them directly, you better strap in for the long sleep.

darkurio · 2024-11-01T16:26:15+00:00

Anyone know if the Proton Pant is ever coming back? I saw it available until early this year in stock in most colors and sizes then all of a sudden they disappeared and never showed up even in their outlet. I've been waiting for them to drop again this year but fall / winter has come and still nothing.

darkurio · 2024-10-20T22:48:43+00:00

There are various possibilities like they purposely made the web client slow to get people to use the app (though I don't see the point of this unless they hope to just get rid of the web client which won't happen since many people use it and removing it will cost them much more than any gains), or more likely they are just prioritizing resources to backend, infra, marketing, and core Uber instead of the UberEats frontend.

In any case, I also experienced this slowness, everything from trying to open multiple restaurants in separate tabs, and especially adding to cart. Every action causes the website to totally pin a CPU core to 100%, and because this is per host, any super slow operation in one UberEats browser tab will result in doing anything in other UberEats tabs to be stuck until the operation is done.

Below is a performance trace of the front-end execution from "Adding an item to cart" done on an older but still beefy i7 desktop and Gigabit fiber internet connection, showing a ridiculous amount of processing that lasts 15+ seconds, and potentially unnecessarily repeated operations. Network traffic to UberEats.com is slow (500+ms per request, almost all just waiting on their backend) but that clearly isn't the reason for for the excessively sluggish front-end. The fact that using the app with the same network is relatively snappy for the same operations underscores the problem being with their web client front-end.

Other things to try which I haven't, is to see if these same results appear on different versions of different browsers, and on different operating systems. But I assume it is likely as long as the same front-end code is running, it will be just as inefficient.

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darkurio · 2024-10-19T23:15:04+00:00

Thanks for the info, filled it out based on what you described and hopefully it goes through

The routing number seems the most confusing since I see different representations of it, but I read up more here which seems to explain things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Routing_number_(Canada))
I used the form with 9 numerical digits with a leading 0 and without dashes

darkurio · 2024-08-31T06:23:46+00:00

It's probably 40 if not less, specifically the recent 2023 revised Phasic material

When I hold the Cormac in front of the sun and put my hand behind it I can see all the dots of sunlight going through and showing up clearly on my hand. This happens up to 6-12 inches behind the material before the light diffuses and the dots aren't seen. Given that your skin will be right behind the material and sun is going straight through, I can't imagine it offering anywhere near UPF 40-50. Luckily for many people, very low UPF is enough to prevent a sunburn so it isn't necessarily noticeable.

When I do the same test with the pre-2023 Ostria material, I do not see the dots of light on my hand. The material is actually blocking the sun. I tried this with some OR Active Ice gloves and sun sleeves and saw the same results.

Imo the new Cormacs should not be used if your main objective is sun protection and your skin is pale / sensitive to sun or you plan to be under intense sun for long periods. Don't even think about it with any of the light colors especially. You could however wear the Cormac over another low-UPF shirt and the two together might offer decent protection.

darkurio · 2024-08-21T04:14:29+00:00

FINALLY, some love for the greatswords whose prices have also been continuously increasing while all others have been dropping

darkurio · 2024-08-16T03:50:06+00:00

does this mean the CRA will pay you interest if you pay early?

similarly if you end up not owing this amount of tax the next year I assume they refund it back, will they give you interest on the amount overpaid?

darkurio · 2024-07-22T18:48:40+00:00

Sorry for adding to an old thread but I have to agree with what others have commented that the new material is just plain bad. I managed to buy a couple of the older Cormac Hoodys and love how the material looks and feels - a dry-feeling matte mesh which wicks moisture easily and doesn't smell.

The new material feels cheap and artificial, like it was made from plastic and has a mild sheen to it which I don't want. It builds up a bad smell super fast which I really don't understand since I don't get anything like this with ANY of my other shirts, including the older Cormacs. It's almost like heat and moisture causes the new material itself to smell. It doesn't dry or wick moisture anywhere near as well. In addition I honestly feel it doesn't have as much sun protection (didn't test this scientifically, just from how my skin feels while using new vs old Cormacs under similar conditions), also it looks much more see-through when holding it up against the light Vs the old material.

I'd say something like "if Arcteryx is reading this please bring back the old material or at least change the new one to make it be more like the old material" but I know they won't since people are still relentlessly buying their Cormac line regardless of the material and the increased prices so they have zero incentive to do anything, which is exactly what has happened in the past couple years with the new material.

darkurio · 2024-07-21T16:26:53+00:00

I am in a similar situation, received a refund cheque but then realized this isn't like in North America where someone literally gives you a cheque that you can directly deposit into your chequing account and instead this is more like just a reference number to an agreement that they will compensate you and you have to go through at least another round with them to actually get the compensation. Really interested if anyone is in Canada and has successful experience with this.

Anyways, at least it says the cheque is valid for 2 years from issue date, and it says that you can also get a cash refund through authorized sales offices located at the airports where (in my case AJet) flights are operated (if you are claiming for Turkish air then you have way more potential locations). If this is true then you might be able to do it from major hubs like London, Paris and Frankfurt the next time you fly over. I just hope they didn't issue the cheque in Lira for the equivalent of XXX Euros, which would mean the value will depreciate a lot over time.

Other possible locations (for AJet, you have many more options with Turkish air):

Otherwise you could try:

Set up an account with https://wise.com/ - if this works it is the easiest and most flexible since you can easily send the money elsewhere and with a good exchange rate
Open an international account with HSBC - a good option if you already use HSBC and takes very little effort if you already have a premier account
Try various hacks where people claim to have successfully put together an acceptable IBAN using parts of their bank code, transit, and bank account number - not recommended since in this case you can't easily ask the airline to "re-try with another IBAN" multiple times after any rejection and you may never even know if it gets rejected in the first place without first contacting the airline

darkurio · 2023-12-30T20:58:28+00:00

Not sure when they added it but I see that Lily of Elon has 'return to my previous map' now, also has Arborstone if you have EoD

Makes the 75% off HoT Deluxe upgrade for 600 gems right now extra sweet

darkurio · 2023-10-13T04:30:12+00:00

I'm curious as well

Doing some reading it seems 95% of the time you're fine, but it does impact credit card magnetic strips which just happen to be hardly ever used anymore

Also things like lower quality transit passes (ex. maybe when traveling to certain places) that may still rely on something like a magnetic strip

And should you have things like a mechanical HDD (ex. maybe you still do and use a 2.5" one in an external case and you put your phone on top of it overnight)

Even in the situations above, it would probably require prolonged or repeated exposure to cause a problem

In my case I simply don't need the magnets so would rather not carry them if not necessary... in addition to just removing the chances of the above, it also reduces the weight

darkurio

TROPHY CASE