Rip offs (again) - and insult to injury

[lomuamart]

I decided to go out last night and got a motorcycle taxi to the town centre.
The fare is 20 Baht. I only had a 50 as the lowest denominaton and told the man to give me 30 change. Guess what, he had a 20 note, but no 10 B coin??? I explained again that I wanted 30 b change. Guess what, he then decided that the fare was 30. Unfortunately, there were no people around, or I'd have caused a fuss. He was taking his full face helmet off, so I just told him to piss off. Take the 30 baht you stinking pile of worthless crap
Anyway, I know I should have the correct money, but it wasn't like I was offering him a 100 or a 1,000.
Another "licenced bandit" who rode away into the distance thinking what a git the farang was.
Me, I lost 10B, but wasn't in the mood to argue over it.
The insult to injury is that my wife thinks I'm wrong. "Why didn't I ask her for 20 before I went out?" The answer's obvious.
So, I'm sitting here, having a glass of Chang and trying to calm down. It's not the 10B that gets me, it's the lack of support from my wife!!!!!
Rant over and a word of caution to those who are not so well versed in Thailand. They will rip you off at any and every opportunity now (it never used to be like that in HH) and you can never expect any support from your "nearest and dearist" when it comes to inter-racial topics.
C'est la vie.

[Bamboo Grove]

Heh, when I moved to Hua Hin in early 2002 I used the motorbike taxis quite often. Opposite from where I live there was a lady driver whom we used reguarly. She would always tell me what the trips cost for Thais so that I wouldn't be ripped off. Once I took a bike from the market to my home (about 1 km) and I know at that time the cost was 10 B. So a gave the guy a 10 Baht coin and went in. Soon he came after me and put the coin on the floor and said (in Thai) "Keep your bloody money." and off he went. My missus saw the incident and asked me what had happened and I explained this to her.
Almost immediately she went to where I had taken the taxi and asked the drivers who'd just take a farang to Angnam. The guy told it was him and my missus asked his reasons for his behaviour. He said that he always charges farangs 20 baht for short trips. My missus got very angry and told him what she thought about him and his behaviour. The guy got red but said nothing and none of the other drivers defended him but kept their silence. After giving him an earful she gave him twenty baht and said "I hope you'll stop your ridiculous behaviour, you're spoiling the reputation of the Thais."

[Jaime]

They will rip you off at any and every opportunity now (it never used to be like that in HH) and you can never expect any support from your "nearest and dearist" when it comes to inter-racial topics.

That is unless your missus has lived abroad for a significant length of time - then they get as frustrated as the farangs do at such rip-off practices!

Bamboo Grove's post sort of illustrates the way Mrs Jaime approaches such things.

[Harry]

He was taking his full face helmet off, so I just told him to piss off. Take the 30 baht you stinking pile of worthless crap

I would always question the wisdom of those who tell the natives to piss off, call them a stinking pile of worthless crap or something similar. At the very least you are just gonna get stressed arguing the toss with them and at worst you'll only encourage him/ her to call on some mates and give you a good kicking or something worse.

It's one of those lessons that you ought quickly learn if you're gonna hang around the LoS for any length of time, the natives will rip off the farang given the opportunity, even the seemingly nice ones. Just accept the fact when it does happen and be better prepared for them the next time. I ensure that I allways travel with some shrapnel in my pocket for just such an eventuality.

[PeteC]

I think it's more common everywhere this time of year for this sort of thing to happen. In high season when fares stand in line waiting for cycles, there usually isn't a lot of fuss between the Thai fare and the preceived farang fare, at least on this side of the ditch. Pete

[Randy Cornhole]

Last year i had a small accident and had a scab on my leg. After a nights drinking it started to rain. Not wishing to get my leg wet on the bike my girlfriend went to get me a tuk tuk, back she came and said it was 60bht and he would be right there. Round the corner he came and said 80bht, I said that he had told my girlfriend 60bht. No he said you ferrang its 80bht. Fine i said you can go back to your spot again and wait for someone else. I tied a plastic bag round my leg and made it home OK on the bike. If he hadn't been such a greedy c**t he would have been 60bht richer. He was so he wasn't. Up to him!!!

[Harry]

^ That's the way to deal with em', I've done the same countless times before & will continue to do it. I don't hold out any hope that they will change their practices cos there are so many tourists around who'll just pay up, why quibble over a measly 20B, it's nothing. But it's more about the principle than the money for me.

[mozzy]

I had a similar thing happen to me in Bangkok. The taximeter drivers just wont put the meter on, they always want to take you without it. I have had to "vote with my feet" on a couple of occasions as I was unable to budge the drivers on using their meters. They always say "I show you some nice sights", wrong, I just want to get where Im going. Vote with your feet guys, its the only way.