Have you ever had anything stolen from a locked hotel safe?

If yes, name & shame so others may avoid theft.

[yaraboy]

Possibly at Pinnacle......................it was open when I got back and I thought I had closed it...............only about $70 of $500 missing.
A friend thinks he had about 400 Euros taken from a locked Pinnacle safe
I talked the matter over with Jimmy..and it seems that using a master key also obliterates your personal PIN number...................therefore you would know if it had been tampered with

Yes a spat of thefts from the Manager, some time ago I was reading this forum and many good reports came about a joking called place called, "Loom to Let, Monty's Guest House" , I advised a few friends about it and they stayed there they liked it very much, if not that clean, but nice guests, my friend had a fling with the Manager at the time to his cost, he also had money taken from the safe, as if was not that safe, when he complained, The Owner, who as always out of it, with drink in the afternoons, Growled, it was not true, even though others had complained about thefts from their safe, in their rooms, also my friend was a few hundred dollars,short, I hear others in some case was more. nothing was done, even when the police were called, as there was no proof, No Cameras, so how can you prove it, even though my Austrian friend was told after, it was the Manager, his lover, who was stealing the things from the rooms. so you can never be to sure.

Not quite in keeping with the topic, but l thought l would share this..
It was many years ago, and l shall not name the hotel as there has been a change of management since, but l paid for my room and the cost was 9500 Baht, when l got home
my visa came through and they had slipped a 2 behind the 9 so the bill was 29500!!
I phoned my visa card company (Girobank) , who doubted me!!! I told them l had my slip, they still doubted me, so l finally offered the authorisation code which was on the card, and they would not tell me how much it was for, but told me to send the slip to them...l didn't l sent them a copy of it.
3 days later they agreed the hotel did try and fiddle me, and they had their Visa/Mastercard status taken away from them.
The one upside to it was, when l did send the original copy, l was told l wouldn't be charged anything so l didn't pay the 9500 baht, and l got expenses. Was it worth it? No way.
I only use my card now in banks.

If yes, name & shame so others may avoid theft.
Yea this is a serious matter we are all friends here so be truthful...all serious advice on unsafe hotel will benefit all SGT members...im sorry if you had a problem with your stay but dont label them as thieves

To ensure there is no misunderstanding, I have NOT had any problems with theft from safes. The idea is to merely allow other members to make informed decisions to they can avoid theft, which is quite different.
It's very reassuring to hear most other members have the same positive experiences.

This year I will again be staying at places which have a good reputation, so I'm very confident about security.

The following "Trip Advisor" reviews show what could happen at badly run hotels, even if they are very much in the minority.

www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297930-d479508-Reviews-Sea_Sun_Sand_Hotel_Phuket-Patong_Phuket.html (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297930-d479508-Reviews-Sea_Sun_Sand_Hotel_Phuket-Patong_Phuket.html)

Not quite in keeping with the topic, but l thought l would share this..
It was many years ago, and l shall not name the hotel as there has been a change of management since, but l paid for my room and the cost was 9500 Baht, when l got home
my visa came through and they had slipped a 2 behind the 9 so the bill was 29500!!
I phoned my visa card company (Girobank) , who doubted me!!! I told them l had my slip, they still doubted me, so l finally offered the authorisation code which was on the card, and they would not tell me how much it was for, but told me to send the slip to them...l didn't l sent them a copy of it.
3 days later they agreed the hotel did try and fiddle me, and they had their Visa/Mastercard status taken away from them.
The one upside to it was, when l did send the original copy, l was told l wouldn't be charged anything so l didn't pay the 9500 baht, and l got expenses. Was it worth it? No way.
I only use my card now in banks.

I made a similar comment about the dangers of using Credit Cards in Thailand some months ago - unfortunately I was then set upon by the board's resident rottweillers telling me I was talking rubbish, so I'm interested to learn that you have had similar experience.

My advice is the same as yours - NEVER use cards in Thailand.

:cheers:

[bucknaway]

The only problem I had was using my American Express cart at the Airport in Tokyo. I only used it once on that trip and I used it there to buy a trinket. 3 months later my card was used to by $9,000 in car parts in Japan. American express fraud division called me at work as the transactions were going through and could not stop them. But under USA law, I was not required to pay for the $9,000 stolen from American Express with my credit card.

[Geezer]

As Thai banks never mention fraud protection for credit cards one assumes Buck would have been stuck for $9,000 had he been using a Thai card.

I would welcome evidence to the contrary.

[bucknaway]

you are right Geezer. Here in the USA we are given certain rights by law that protect us from credit card fraud. These laws do not extend to ATM/Debit cards for the most part. If I had suffered a $9,000 loss through my ATM/Debit card, I would be at the mercy of my bank to decide if they want to eat the loss and refund my account or if they will simply tell me better luck next time.

So when I am in Thailand, I bring 2 or 3 credit cards to use at hotels and 2 ATM/Debit cards to only be used at bank ATM's

I also notify my bank to let them know I will be traveling from to Thailand with a general idea of my return.

I mostly use Credit Cards in preference to cash, debit cards and travellers cheques when travelling. The one time I've had my identity compromised was when details were taken from the Electoral Roll and used to purchase two mobile phone accounts which included dispatch of handsets. I got onto the provider's account division in Bangalore as soon as the first bills arrived and their investigation division in Glasgow stopped dispatch of the handsets. Glasgow confirmed that they had many similar cases with my postcode and that the gang had chosen the launch of a popular phone to make their high level of transactions look "usual".

I'm not comfortable carrying cash in significant quantities but neither do I think traders should be accepting orders without properly verifying identity.

Good result all round then.

[Geezer]

тАЬI wasn't trying to suggest that Thai cards are better in any way.тАЭ

Thank you fattman -- and I didnтАЩt interpret your post in that way.

I was hoping fraud protection might be available for Thai credit cards. As I no longer reside in the US I canтАЩt open a new account there if ,for some reason, my two present credit card accounts are closed