Oh my Buddha, they got me again.....

[bigben]

Oh my Buddha, they got me again.

Just when I figured I had learnt most of the scams and rip offs the Thai business people pride themselves on, I was fleeced once again. It is almost a game to me now that I know of their trickery and pea shell games and I laugh at myself when I catch them with a new one, especially when they win.

Enter-- the menu trick

I had breakfast at one of the cafes in the Sunee area that opens for breakfast around 0900 AM. I was greeted nicely and I noticed the tables were covered with clean table cloths, the place looked clean and with clean floors and plants, I was looking forward to a good farang breakfast.

The menu looked clean and had a fair amount of Thai food and an assortment of different farang breakfasts on order. I chose my favorite (as usual) the English breakfast with bacon, eggs, sausage, beans and coffee or tea. No juice with this one but that is ok as I donтАЩt care much for the canned crap most places serve.

As I was waiting for my food to be prepared, I enjoyed the show as many people were walking to work or wherever they walk to in the early morning hours.

Breakfast is served. Wow. Nice big cup of coffee, scrambled eggs that were cooked properly 2 big pieces of bacon and a good tasting sausage and toast for only 110 baht.

Everything tasted good. The butter was actually at room temperature so that one could spread it on the toast without having the normally frozen cube of butter that you have to wait 10 minutes for it to thawтАУof course the toast is cold by the time the butter is spreadable. Man sized napkins folded and placed into those little wooden bin cups. This place actually had their shi* together.

In my mind I decided I had found another nice place to eat breakfast in the Pattaya area and put it into my long term memory bank (whatтАЩs left of it anyway)

тАЬCheck bin pleaseтАЭ and the little lady presents the bill. I glance at it and notice an extra 60 baht item written in Thai. Not wanting to lose face I pay the bill with a smile and ask if they have deserts available. (This way I can check the menu again since I thought the price of breakfast was 110 baht, not 180 baht).

I looked at the menu (for the second time) and sure enough, the breakfast I ordered was listed as 110 baht but I was charged 180 baht. I took a deep breath and politely called the waitress over and inquired as to why I was charged 180 baht and not 110 baht, pointing to the menu so she could see the price on the menu.

Ok....this is really a good one. Are you ready?????

First she gets that blank stare look and quickly walks away returning with another menu. She tells me the menu in front of me is the old menu and hands me the new menu.

Huh???? An old menu and a new menu??? WTF????

I check the тАЬnewтАЭ menu and sure enough, the menu is a carbon copy of the old one except that the тАЬnew menuтАЭ has coffee listed as extra on the farang breakfast. EXTRA???

Good one I thought. They present the тАЬoldтАЭ menu when you first order and if you happen to remember the prices and question the bill because of the тАЬextra chargeтАЭ they simply show you another menu.....the тАЬNEW MENUтАЭ which shows the higher price.

What will they think of next?

I wonтАЩt mention the name of the place because the food and the total experience was actually nice (except for the built-in price gouging) But I will not return because I just donтАЩt like being cheated. I wish I could speak Thai and tell them that for Christ sake, if you need to charge more just charge more, but donтАЩt do it in an underhanded way.

mai paan rai (never mind) TiT

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bigben: Sorry you got ripped-off. Such a nice touch you have in writing about a bad result. Truly a gentleman.

I do wonder though, why we advocate health measures for Thai people - yet as zophtic and prescription-medicated as many of us are, we eat combinations like scrambled eggs and beans in the morning. Clearly habit and cultural taste, but really a tumult for aging stomachs.

Yes, tell us the name. They deserve the "attention."

What the hell is wrong with you?

Nice place? Yet they rip you off by 60 Baht, that's over 90 Pence and you say nothing? That's a 55% surcharge!

In your home country would you allow your local cafe to charge you an extra 55% and say nothing? Would you then not say anything to anyone else or not mention the name of the establishment? I bet the answer is you would say something and you would tell others.

Probably for the same reason that the majority of Farangs pay 10Baht fare on a Baht bus instead of the standard 5 Baht fare without questioning the 100% surcharge with the driver, But they then go on and write letter to the Pattaya Mail about this henious crime.

[TrongpaiExpat]

Another menue scam is to have one in Thai script and another in English with jacked up prices.

Name the place.
Don't get mad, get even.

I would go even further. Name the place. People should go there and if they get the "old menu" go ahead and order and when the bill comes DEMAND to pay the price shown on the menu you ordered with. Better yet, demand to hold onto the menu while eating. Believe me, if you stand firm, it will work because they know they are running a scam and figure we are all suckers. Teach em a lesson.

A friend just returned from Pattaya and was charged 50-baht on his first "10-baht bus" trip to Jomtien! Since he hadn't been to Thailand for more than a year, he foolishly asked the driver the fare. Not knowing if prices had actually increased, he didn't make a fuss and paid the 50-baht... :geek:

Needless to say, he was rather annoyed when he found out later that he had been taken once again in the LOS! Really talking about a tiny amount of money here (particularly for someone on holiday) ... but he said that was only the beginning of the "horrors" on this most recent trip (Bangkok taxi drivers, etc.)!

Apparently, this trip was an "awakening" for him ... the first time he had been in Thailand without his rose-colored glasses! Although he still loves the Thai people (and the Thai guys), he no longer puts them on pedestals.

I assume that the local Pattaya expats pay only 5-baht for the buses?

***After writing the above, I wonder if the driver actually held up five fingers and it was my friend who mistakenly thought that he meant 50-baht???

[Brad the Impala]

180 minus 110 is 70 baht difference.

You guys are so jaundiced that you assume the worst and assume it is a scam. Did the possibility of the story told by the employee being true ever occur to you. Some businesses are not run that well, and it is quite conceivable that lack of competence was responsible for the error, not lack of honesty. It's not as if anyone was suckered in by the 110 Baht menu, it sounds as if Bigben would have made the same order even if the price was 180.