Consumer rights department..?

[Dennini]

Do you know if there is any consumer rights department in Hua Hin municipality?

[richard]

Thai rights or farang rights?

Best of luck

[Dennini]

Thanks a lot that you found some free time to post it

[Frank Hovis]

No I don't think there is.
It is a not a devolved agency so municipalities do not have control over consumer protection.
The national consumer protection board website is at http://www.ocpb.go.th

[barrys]

Do you know if there is any consumer rights department in Hua Hin municipality?

I'm pretty sure there isn't one as such, though there has been talk in the past of the municipality setting up offices to help with specific matters.

Maybe people could give you more appropriate advice if you could tell us what the specific problem is.

[Lung Per]

Most shops apply this policy: "All sales are final. No return."

[hhfarang]

I agree with Richard on this topic entirely...

[Clivep]

8 years ago I bought a European manufactured car from the main Thai dealer for that marque in Bangkok. Great car in general, but a significant number of minor faults, rattles, trim problems cropped up that should not have in a car costing THB 4M+. These should have been dealt with under the warranty, but I was consistently fobbed off by the dealer. After one year with very little resolved, I asked for help from the Consumer Protection Board - not really expecting much. Took a couple of hours waiting around then a rather long statement (in a mixture of English and Thai, but written in Thai) was taken from me detailing my complaints, when made and to whom, and any action taken or replies given. I was then told "Thank you for use our service, we will consider." And that was it.

Then, about two months later I get a phone call asking if I still want to complain. "Yes I do", "Oh - you still have car?", "Yes", "You still have same problem?" "Yes" - "OK please wait we will call you back". An hour or so later they called again and asked if I can attend their office the next day for a meeting. "Yes", "OK - please bring car and all 'paper' you have.

The next day I turned up at the appointed time to find the Owner of the dealership had also been asked to attend. - The meeting was with me and my partner, the Dealership Owner and his Manager and three representatives of the OCPB. It was very animated, exclusively in Thai, of which I was able to follow very little and I was asked very little. Then after about 20 mins we all trooped out and had a look at the car and I was asked to show some of the faults. Then it fell very quiet and there was a few deep wai's before the other side left saying they would call me next week. So, I expected they had been told to try and address the problems - RESULT!!!

I was then told - in English - " Thank you for use our service; next week they will give you a new car, same model but maybe not the same colour - but you have to give them this car back - is it OK for you?"

Sure enough, the following week that's what happened!

Don't let the naysayers put you off getting in touch with them - seemed to me they had the opinion their job and duty was to protect consumers and it didn't matter that I was not Thai - they wanted to show they could do the job!

[hhfarang]

I wonder if you would have gotten the same result for a normal car or truck costing 800k to 1.5m. I suspect because you paid more that 4m baht for the car you got preferential treatment as they considered you a hi-so (preferred to live here) rich farang, but I could be wrong.

[Frank Hovis]

@clivep It's good the hear from someone who has successfully used the available options. It's far too easy to simply rollover and assume 'not for farang'. I see it in this forum nearly every week; someone has a problem and instead of trying to help the usual 'not for farang' is trotted out as if it were a boast on how badly we are treated.

We've all read Big Boy's trouble with Ford but in the end he got it sorted out and I don't recall seeing him complain recently. viewtopic.php?f=44&t=23600

@Dennini, if it's worth pursuing there is little to lose by going through the official channels.

[migrant]

[Big Boy]

We've all read Big Boy's trouble with Ford but in the end he got it sorted out and I don't recall seeing him complain recently. viewtopic.php?f=44&t=23600

I am over the moon with my car now, but this is because I am not currently dealing with Ford. Things did improve after identifying and writing to all of the Ford big knobs worldwide. Next installment could be February/March when the next service is due.