SteveK

10 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Exactly that.....  There is no concept of being ‘pro-active’ in Thailand. 

 

Hit the nail on the head. Most people here don't think past the end of the day. There is no proactive thinking, only delayed, useless knee-jerk responses to things that happen. Plus a lot of the people I have met here are convinced that they're the smartest people on the planet after an incredible 4 years at school......

If someone's doing something dangerous here, the attitude is if nothing happens then it is always "mai pen rai". Then if something happens it's "whoops". They still aren't doing anything about the road deaths. Sometimes I think that someone's putting something in the water here. A heavy metal, perhaps. 

Just now, SupermarineS6B said:

Reminds me of something i once saw on a pub wall, "How do you make a small fortune in Thailand, Start with a big one" ..........When will foreigners realize that when you come to Thailand you're not supposed to make money but give money, in large amounts to lazy grafting toe rags.  I can remember when we all used to drink Carlsberg beer as most other beer drinkers did all over the world, all until someone in Thailand wanted Carlsbergs business and got them kicked out of Thailand, the cheeky barstuard even started selling his own Pi$# in the same bottles ........ Enter Beer Chang.........    Prayut must have a mate who wants a functioning gold mine........

I seem to remember that Chang was about 6.5% first time I visited Thailand. I got suckered in then they reduced it. A bit like Thai girls and their padded bras.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Thai politics all about keeping your snout in the trough for as long as you possibly can, fighting off other people who want to get their snout in the trough, then when it finally hits the fan you flee with as much ill-gotten gains as possible? 

2 minutes ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

Third world dump. This is ok but they still take your temp when you go in a supermarket even though covid left here 4 months ago!

Gotta keep up appearances to entice the Chinese tourists back!

1 minute ago, fruitman said:

And if the police refuse to do their job they should get sacked asap.

I remember the very first time I came to Thailand many years ago. I was talking to a woman in Bangkok, the previous day she had been robbed. Didn't lose too much, not the end of the world, but I asked her "why didn't you call the police?". She told me "what's the point, they won't come unless I pay them, and then they'll do nothing". I was flabbergasted at the time, now I fully understand the situation. The concept of having to pay the police, of all people, to get something done was anathema to me back then, but the police doing nothing was a concept I was familiar with.  

1 minute ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Yes, a truck driver could do this in any country.....

 

 

But try doing it in the US/UK/Australia, etc... and see how far you get before the police pull you over, give you ticket AND make you fix it before going any further.

 

 

In the UK an improper load carries a penalty of 3 points, which isn't a big deal, and an unlimited fine, which probably is.

1 hour ago, eisfeld said:

 The dealer gets paid in either case.  

Like I said, who gets paid and how much is irrelevant. In this case they asked him for 4k baht, thinking that he'd just hand it over. I'm alleging that this is what happened. I wasn't there and didn't witness this in person, however.

1 hour ago, eisfeld said:

The policies themselves are reasonable. They wont cover if the customer doesn't follow the maintenance schedule. Where the exact cutoff point should be can be debated. 200km is not very generous imho. And it wasn't communcated very well. But it's not a scam, nobody is trying to hurt anyone etc. And BMW when notified corrected the situation. Nothing to blow up imho.

They tried to charge, then guess what - after some intervention they didn't. It was an attempted scam. They failed. Had they charged him for it and he had paid, they would have put it through as a free service. In my eyes that's basically theft. It is absolutely NOT reasonable.

You've got no chance of getting anything back. Zero.

Had you filed a report with the police as soon as you found out that your possessions had been destroyed, then you might have a leg to stand on.    

Your best option is to forget about it and move on with your life. 

By the way, because you spent 15k on these items doesn't mean they are worth that much, everything could be replaced for about £1k or less so get a grip.

If someone in the UK is in possession of your things, which you allowed and agreed to either directly or passively, and something happens to them then it's a civil matter. This is so petty that I would be very surprised if a lawyer would be willing to help you, even then they're gonna want £500 up front and won't win. It's like saying I gave my packet of cigarettes to a friend at a party ten years ago, and he never gave them back, now I want £8.

2 hours ago, eisfeld said:

They didn't try to screw him on purpose. They have their guidelines (which for motorbikes were unfortunately not clearly enough communicated) and just stuck to those. The dealer doesn't have room to break out of these, they would have to cover the costs out of their own pocket but it is BMW itself that has the cost coverage. They were not forced to do the honourable thing, they were *allowed* to do it by BMW because BMW said they will make an exception and cover the costs anyways. The common term for that in BMW Germany is Kulanz which means goodwill. Now what the dealer if they were really focused on providing a great customer experienced could have done is when they saw the case they could have tried themselves to plead to BMW to cover it under BSMI. But in the end it's always BMW proper that makes the decisions. The dealer has nothing to gain by making the customer pay out of his own pocket, they can only lose because the customer is unhappy.

Whatever the reasons or internal policies are, it still leaves the customer feeling as they are being ripped off. Whether that's the policy of the head office or the dealership is irrelevant, if I'm buying a $20k motorbike I want to be treated properly. As a customer, why should I worry about who is making money where? I've paid already. Give me the product and treat me with respect, or next time I go somewhere else.  

I've had my own experiences with BMW and wouldn't touch them again with my neighbour's aunty's giks's bargepole.

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

A win win, I’d buy another bike in future from this dealership after BWM’s fair response. 

They tried to screw you and were forced to do the honourable thing. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, but then with a BMW in Thailand I guess you're between a rock and a hard place. 

Next they're gonna say that smoking causes cancer, sheesh. 

Shocking, and to think that clamping down on poor driving/un-roadworthy vehicles and bad roads would be a relatively straightforward exercise. I also feel sorry for the dog, the white egret and the squirrel.

4 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I agree about not finding milk here years ago. I remember my first year in Thailand in 1990 finding milk and coffee in Foodland in Patpong one afternoon.

Nowadays it's easier to find milk than poontang, and that's saying something!

And big milk is 44 baht in 7-Eleven.  

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

Poontang???? Explain please.????????

Colin you are a lovely guy, and I love your posts. But sometimes you are either a bit naive or are baiting me. Poontang is something which Thai girls call their "shells", you or I would say vagina. 

35 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I did my 3 year warranty with Ford for our car and as soon as it was up went to my wife's cousin who has his own mechanical workshop, i.e. he used to be head mechanic for Nissan then ventured out on his own and is doing really well.

 

Yesterday dropped into Ford as was literally in front of them and heard this whining noise coming from almost under the gearbox, they put it on the hoist and said you have to replace the universal housing, cost 8,000 baht including labour, said will think about it, guy said you shouldn't drive it as it might do damage to the gearbox, said ok, will let you know, went to the wife's cousins 15 minutes down the road, said same thing, ordered the part and put it in, he said part cost him 3,600 baht, wife said plus your labour, he said ok 3,900 baht, wife gave him 4,000 baht.

 

I can appreciate Ford have huge overheads and need to make a profit, but was glad when warranty was over, oil and filter changes were like 4,000 - 5,000 a time, at wife's cousins it's 2,000 so better to have the dosh in my pocket, still can't believe I have 160,000 clicks on the clock and the brakes haven't been changed in 5 years, although next 10,000 kilometres they will be changed as will the oils in the diff and transmission as I am feeling that I can afford it if it's not at Ford, especially when there is no warranty to keep me there ????

 

As for the guy at Ford, wife did ring and thank him and told him that her husband decided to get it done down the road for 4,000 baht.

 

That's the funny thing about modern vehicles, they've become so complicated now that most people don't have a clue - I'm sure they've done it on purpose so they can tell you that the left balancing inverter nut and shaft need replacing costing thousands when they just tighten a screw.

I remember when I was a schoolboy, my father had a ford cortina, the thing was so simple that we used to get the engine out of it quite regularly which really annoyed my mother because of the grease stains on the dining room table and in the kitchen sink. My father had this hoist that'd lift it out and we'd wheel it into the house. I remember cleaning up the brakes with a wire brush we bought in Lucas and some Gateway washing up liquid. Then getting fish and chips once everything was done.  

Sometimes I think that life was much better back then.

20 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

  I would threaten to tell them that you will make sure that you will let as many people, bike clubs know of your experience with the dealership you purchased the bike from  

Most companies these days know that a shoddy experience can go viral in a few hours, potentially having a huge effect on their reputation. If they want to lose thousands of customers over 4000 baht then it's up to them. Don't worry about getting the book stamped, I always used trusted third-party mechanics for servicing who didn't stamp the book, never had a problem selling a bike because I just showed the servicing receipts.