Benjie

Thais and foreigners are ripped off big time in Thailand because there is no competition and high taxes.

You can buy 2 BMW's in Europe for the price of 1 assembled here and there are many more examples. Also look at the fuel consumption of the average local produced car compared to western standards.

It's not just with cars, almost everything here is more expensive now than in western Europe. Thailand is a major exporter of agricultural products, how can it be that vegetables and fruit are the same or more in the market here as in Europe? Believe it or not, but my son buy dragon fruit cheaper in the market in The Hague (NL) than I buy them here???

Why is my dentist charging the same as a dentist in NL?

Burger King is almost 10% more expensive here than in NL!

The cheaper international schools charge 2 times the price of an IB program on an international school in NL!

Thailand is colonized by their own elite, 20 or so families, that run the show, form the cartels, set the prices and farm the country. In the mean time the poor and middle class people are robbed dry.

Kind of true. Only poor quality local stuff is cheaper here than back home, which also happens to be the stuff that most foreigners come to Thailand to seek. For example, cheap local transport (if they decide not to drive), cheap street food (made from questionable ingredients but with no taxes, rental or salaries to pay, the savings are passed onto the customer hence why Pad Thai only costs 30-40 Baht, or perhaps 100 Baht in tourist areas compared to 250-400 Baht equivalent in a Thai restaurant back home), cheaper hotels and apartments (but only because back home we don't have 10 sqm pads with no kitchen available for rent) and cheaper local shopping at the market.

Anything imported, anything of quality (even if it's manufactured locally), cars (including locally manufactured ones), electronic items, all more expensive here than back home. Even Thai made cars exported to say Australia are cheaper there, after shipping, than the ones sold here?!

Every year I've noticed cars in Thailand become more expensive. When I bought my 2013 Isuzu D-Max V-cross 4x4 manual, the top model, it was 952,000 Baht. The auto model was 993,000 Baht. This was December 2013. The current list prices for exactly the same 2 models, only difference being that it now uses a stop-start button instead of putting a key in the ignition but otherwise exactly identical and suddenly it's 972,000 and 1,017,000 Baht respectively. That means a 20,000 and 24,000 Baht price hike respectively. Where did that come from?!

Surely that's just inflation, It's around 2-2.8% if I remember correctly which seems to correlate almost perfectly with your figures.

The thing is the OP was perfectly happy to pay the asking price here in Thailand for his Mitsubishi but got upset when he looked at what it cost in another country.

How many people are looking up what it costs in Australia and making a decision based on that.

The local price is the highest that the market will take whilst keeping optimum profitability from supply and demand.

Why it doesn't work could be explained this way. Over simplified too. Because the heat load on the roof is greater than the cooling effect from the water, you can never get the attic air cool enough to make a noticeable difference in the room. If you put fans in the attic it would do more good than the water would.

Best example of this, is a fire. Ever notice how much water is required to put out fire? Then cool the it down so you can find hot spots? Even after the flames are out the stored heat in the wood is so great it still takes thousands of gallons to cool. Same physics are in motion in cooling the house but not as severe. Thermal heat transfer problems can be very complex even in a simple house problem like this.

Try attic fans first. One at each end of the house. You want one blowing in from the shaded side and an exhaust fan on the sunny side.

Exhaust fans function much better here than swamp coolers.

It is not unreasonable to think that a swamp cooler in a room and a dehumidifier at the far end of the room could have some beneficial affect on the air temperature

They are totally different concepts, an exhaust fan is not going to cool your house, it will stop the roof from heating it up a little and from retaining the heat but a better idea would be to put a roof over your roof, if direct sunlight doesn't even touch your roof then it won't aid in heating your house up.

An evaporative cooler will actively reduce the temperature and humidify the area, very useful for very hot and dry climates.

Exhaust fans get rid of the hot air which rises to fill the space below the roof. They also keep air circulating. Hot air goes up and out. Cooler air from the floor level moves up.

Yes, shading your roof is a good thing as is having a light colored roof.

An exhaust won't cool the living space below air temperature though.

Why it doesn't work could be explained this way. Over simplified too. Because the heat load on the roof is greater than the cooling effect from the water, you can never get the attic air cool enough to make a noticeable difference in the room. If you put fans in the attic it would do more good than the water would.

Best example of this, is a fire. Ever notice how much water is required to put out fire? Then cool the it down so you can find hot spots? Even after the flames are out the stored heat in the wood is so great it still takes thousands of gallons to cool. Same physics are in motion in cooling the house but not as severe. Thermal heat transfer problems can be very complex even in a simple house problem like this.

Try attic fans first. One at each end of the house. You want one blowing in from the shaded side and an exhaust fan on the sunny side.

Exhaust fans function much better here than swamp coolers.

It is not unreasonable to think that a swamp cooler in a room and a dehumidifier at the far end of the room could have some beneficial affect on the air temperature

They are totally different concepts, an exhaust fan is not going to cool your house, it will stop the roof from heating it up a little and from retaining the heat but a better idea would be to put a roof over your roof, if direct sunlight doesn't even touch your roof then it won't aid in heating your house up.

An evaporative cooler will actively reduce the temperature and humidify the area, very useful for very hot and dry climates.

Benje

No, the average Thai buys a motorbike.

The cost in Australia is just under half the yearly salary,do you believe they should price the pickup at 2,999 dollars here in Thailand for the average Tha?

Who's driving the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of cars and pickups on Thai roads if they aren't average Thais?

No, I don't expect a pickup to sell for $2,999 here, but it would be nice to get the same level of equipment the buyer in Australia gets for the same price. Instead what Thailand gets is the "poverty pack" in equipment levels, probably the same in nearly all vehicles manufactured here. I think Thai buyers get short-changed.

Perhaps the market in Australia is more competitive and the buyers there won't settle for low equipment levels.

Why not just try drying your clothes inside with a fan blowing on them and see the effect.

Indian households hang woven Mats of Vertigris in the windows which they spray with water to cool down and keep insects out the house.

Things aren't priced on what it costs to manufacture but what the market will pay. You paid A$29,900 so I think they have it figured out right.

Don't talk rubbish.

How is that Rubbish, Do you honestly believe businesses manufacture things and then just add a set percentage on top as profit? Regardless of supply and demand and competitors.

So, the average Thai on probably less than $7,000 a year has to pay the same as the one sold in Australia, but to an Australian whose salaries are probably $70,000 plus a year on average.

No, the average Thai buys a motorbike.

The cost in Australia is just under half the yearly salary,do you believe they should price the pickup at 2,999 dollars here in Thailand for the average Tha?

So you ask your phone to tell your watch to turn on the air-con?

More like Wifi controlled A/C units and you haven't got any on your network.

Why not use the new Raspberry Pi, it's like $39

Probably just going to put the price up and doesn't want to sell any at the old price.

Why would you need to pay 400k?

You can get a nice quality screen here for around 20k, and decent projectors start at around 70k, then you've got your surround sound on top. Projectors have come a long way even in the last few years, if you have a room you can make dark and like big screens I would definitely go with a projector system.

For me (as an AV/Home Cinema professional) there is nothing like the feel of watching a projected movie on a large screen, it's just a totally different experience than watching a tv.

Sure you can pick up a locally made Vertex screen for 15-20K Baht, but the difference between it and a 200K-400K Baht Stewart screen is everything you'd expect.

Same goes for PJ's - 70K Baht is only going to get you into a 1080P run-of-the-mill 1600-2000lm beamer - for something that's going to have a hope of keeping up with the PQ of a current gen 4K flat panel TV though, you're talking 300K up.

Having had both (and others) I don't agree, was the Stewart screen better, yes but you certainly aren't getting a screen that 10 times better.

I could setup a "Run of the mill" 1080p projector and blow the socks of 95% of the population in terms of image quality, most people haven't seen a well designed and commissioned projector setup.

No point having 4k until that's the standard for HD releases. Thats the beauty of a projector, instead of being stuck with a 400k TV when the next best thing comes around, you just buy a new projector when the new standard comes into being, the rest of the setup stays the same.

I disagree when people say a projector can't match a TV picture quality, I much prefer a projected image.

Why would you need to pay 400k?

You can get a nice quality screen here for around 20k, and decent projectors start at around 70k, then you've got your surround sound on top. Projectors have come a long way even in the last few years, if you have a room you can make dark and like big screens I would definitely go with a projector system.

For me (as an AV/Home Cinema professional) there is nothing like the feel of watching a projected movie on a large screen, it's just a totally different experience than watching a tv.

Why would you want to buy a brand without a good reputation, Why not start a new company without the headache of expectations for servicing for old customers.

Everyone else is "incompetent" but who has two broken bones? Did you fall out of a tree while raking leaves?

I believe an unlicensed, uninsured teenager in a car did an illegal U-Turn without signalling or warning and hit his bike head on.

Cant you just get a soundbar which should be at least capable of say 3-4 times the volume of the TV, these generally connect with optical and sometimes have subwoofers as well.

The Newest Raspberry Pi looks like it will work well for Kodi, You can power it over the USB Port of your TV as well (I think).

They are still 50 years behind when it comes to card matters. Back in December i had a double charge on my card at Tesco on 108 although the girl insisted that she had only put it through once. I went to customer services who were completely 'out of it' and knew nothing so i asked for a Manager. After 35 minutes waiting around a Female Manager turned up looking annoyed and telling the Mrs she was 'extremely busy'. After ten more minutes of her running around and being very vexed in her approach to other staff she finally agreed that i had been charged twice and said it would take 45 days for me to receive a refund ! I let her know calmly what i thought of the service both at till and management level and then left the store.

Upon return home i sent my card issuer an email explaining what had happened and they gave me an immediate credit for the double charge. I also sent Tesco Thailand an email with a copy to Tesco UK. I had an apologetic reply from England but no response from Thailand (nothing abnormal there then !).

They don't have a clue what they are doing with card transactions and even in the few places like Tops and Home-Pro where they actually use 'chip&pin' they still expect you to sign pieces of paper which is not required.

Of course we will get all those Thai apologists coming on saying it's a cash society and so on but the fact is that Thailand needs to try and remove itself from the late 19th century and move on !

But the fact is, it hasn`t, and Thailand has still to embrace the concept of living in a cashless society, so therefore those living here have a learn to adapt accordingly.

Firstly , I don`t have or want a credit card, for what purpose? I guess the most users are those who are living on strict budgets and need to pay upfront first on their credit cards because they don`t have the cash at hand. Otherwise their first choice would be debit cards not credit cards.

I have debit cards pertaining to all my foreign bank accounts that I keep locked in my safe, or should say; in case of emergency, break glass. Had them for 3 years now never used them yet. I have 1 debit card for only 1 of my Thai savings bank accounts. Again mostly in a case of an emergency or for making purchases online. I only keep 10000 baht balance on my card, so if the worse should happen that`s all I have to lose.

It is extremely easy to draw cash using a Thai bank debit or ATM card from the always available ATM machines located outside the large stores. Just draw the cash and pay by cash for purchases made inside the stores.

The problem is that there are those who plonk themselves in Thailand still expecting that facilities and services is going to be just like things were at home, and then become flummoxed, bewildered and frustrated when it hits them that Thailand hasn`t quite caught up yet and find this difficult to except.

The solutions are simple; learn to adapt and change your methods of doing business and making transactions here. But the main problems for some, is that old habits die hard, the long and suffering moaners and whingers.

I've lived in Thailand for over a decade, I've run a number of businesses here, I use my (Thai) cc for just about everything for about 6 years because it's simpler and airmiles, I've never had a fraudulent transaction - I've shopped at Rimping hundreds of times - I was just annoyed at them keying in my cc number. I at no time became flummoxed or bewildered.

Depends on how you presented yourself.

What they did is not appropriate, and there is no valid reason for their doing it. Makes it possible for an unscrupulous employee to access your credit for outside use. The reason the staff "snatched" back your card is that your information is, by design, not supposed to remain in their database. So it had to be done manually, by someone's orders. This is wrong.

If your "complaint" was calm and cool, you were well within your rights, and I would have complained, too. In fact, I'd have insisted they delete the info right then and there, and never use the card there again.

If you were indeed "freaking out," then … well, you know.

I'm not crazy - I was calmish (slightly annoyed they didn't understand why they shouldn't have my cc number) , I did insist on them deleting my info - they said this would happen if they voided the transaction - I'm 100% sure this would have doubled the chances my details stayed in their system so said no.

They are calling me tomorrow and showing me a printout that will apparently prove they only keep the last 4 digits, I'm really not convinced.

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Okay, cool. I was only going by some of the words you chose to describe yourself.

Lol, I don't normally get upset but for some reason this did upset me. A bit like when the bank asks for my passport for ID and then the clerk decides she's going to check my Visa whilst shes at it.

Depends on how you presented yourself.

What they did is not appropriate, and there is no valid reason for their doing it. Makes it possible for an unscrupulous employee to access your credit for outside use. The reason the staff "snatched" back your card is that your information is, by design, not supposed to remain in their database. So it had to be done manually, by someone's orders. This is wrong.

If your "complaint" was calm and cool, you were well within your rights, and I would have complained, too. In fact, I'd have insisted they delete the info right then and there, and never use the card there again.

If you were indeed "freaking out," then … well, you know.

I'm not crazy - I was calmish (slightly annoyed they didn't understand why they shouldn't have my cc number) , I did insist on them deleting my info - they said this would happen if they voided the transaction - I'm 100% sure this would have doubled the chances my details stayed in their system so said no.

They are calling me tomorrow and showing me a printout that will apparently prove they only keep the last 4 digits, I'm really not convinced.

Good luck. I have never found it. Nor tung oil. I have turned to using coconut oil. There is a thread on this subject somewhere here if you do a search.

Does the coconut oil not go rancid? what sort of coconut oil the processed cooking kind or the clear virgin (cold extracted)?

You could melt some Beeswax into it also I guess.

The Viso seems to be more of an iPod dock with Bluetooth than a wireless system like Sonos in which the individual speakers can feed each other. Or maybe it just isn't very clear in the Viso advertising and I need to look harder.

As far as I know Sonos has no real equal when it comes to integrated systems that work throughout the whole house wirelessly. Personally I use mine for listening to music from my NAS or from internet radio or from streaming services like Spotify and Deezer, all of which Sonos can do on its own, though of course Sonos can also play music that is stored on your iThingy or Android device.

I did like the optical input and HD FLAC support on the Viso though.

No matter how I try I cannot get either Spotify or Deezer to stream to my Sonos system here in Thailand, even tried using a VPN, I gave up in the end, I have premium accounts with both but both sites have omitted Thailand in their list of available to countries, if you have managed to stream these I would be grateful for some advice.

Try a factory reset on the Sonos and when you are asked by the Sonos system which country you are in put in the country that your Spotify account is registered with, that will work.

I would like to ask the OP, how high is the actual roof of the house from the ceiling?

Ours here is over 3 metres. If your roof is low than you have problems, it means there is no breathing space above the ceiling between the roof tiles for the hot air to circulate creating a very hot ceiling.

If this is the case, then there is not much you can do about it. One method that maybe worth trying, is to purchase about 10 light weight aluminium or metal medium size washing up bowls and place them above the ceiling. These bowls will absorb some of the heat. That`s about all I can suggest.

words fail me! You might as well cast spells on the roof. The roof temperature will be over 70C on a normal day and the bowls would need refilling every few hours.

Cheapest way as I've suggested is to install a large industrial fan on a tripod near an entrance to the house and force air through the place.

Next would be to fit 'cyclone' type ventilators on the roof. These rotate under their own power as hot air passes through them and will keep the roof cavity cooler than being totally blocked off as is usually the case. They are available in Thailand.

http://www.twista.com.au/How-Roof-Vents-Work/

http://www.bunnings.com.au/our-range/building-hardware/building-construction/ventilation/roof

If the house is rented, negotiate with the owner about sharing the cost of insulation. This should be 150mm thick, and ensure it's not fibre glass which is not used in most countries. Polyester mix is safer for installers.

Where in my post did I mention about filling the bowls with water? My point was the the metal bowls will absorb some of the heat.

All the fans will do is just circulate the heat, they are not a solution to the problem. But one idea you have plonked into my mind is perhaps installing a large extractor fan inside the roof that may expel some of the hot air.

Whatever, considering it`s a rental property the OP has 2 options, either spend some money on solving the problem or move if a solution is not viable.

After 'absorbing' the heat what then do the metal bowls do with it?