Foreign Man Refuses to Pay Dental Bill in Pattaya Clinic

12 hours ago, scorecard said:

Is the dental clinic properly registered / certified?

Are the dental staff all correctly qualified?

12 hours ago, scorecard said:

Is the dental clinic properly registered / certified?

Are the dental staff all correctly qualified?

12 hours ago, scorecard said:

Is the dental clinic properly registered / certified?

Are the dental staff all correctly qualified?

Why the 'thumbs down'. Dental clinics and doctor's clinics operating with no qualified staff have been discovered many times before in Thailand.

Decades ago I went to a small medical clinic on Petchaburi Road in Bkk to get a medical report for my work permit.

Nurse asked me to fill in my personal details on the top of the form and tick the needed boxes (this is years before a blood report was needed), then 'dr' signed the report. Paid 40Baht and all done.

I mentioned this to my Thai HR manager, she laughed and said 'there's about 6 small medical similar clinics in a cluster on Petchaburi Road, i've used them many times, none have a qualified doctor, seems to be standard routine '2 arms, legs, you pass'.

The dude in the pictures looks pretty sketchy, questionable tats, poor skin complexion (hints at substance abuse), unkempt stubble and is wearing the wife-beater white vest too... basically a massive walking red flag.

On 5/1/2026 at 7:46 AM, ChaiyaTH said:

Can't trust dentists in Thailand

BS, had all my old fillings, replaced with white ones a very long time ago in Phuket over a period of time for less than 10% it would cost me in the Netherlands.

On 5/1/2026 at 5:39 AM, jacko45k said:

I blame the tatts..... maybe the weed too!

I wonder which came first.

On 5/1/2026 at 12:55 AM, save the frogs said:

1 - Ban weed.

2 - Ban visits to dentists while under the influence of weed

3 - Ban visits to dentists while wearing a wife beater

Come on you missed a perfect chance to mention 60 day Visa Exempt arrivals...

My clinic he'd get an appointment in a few weeks, end of problem with riff raff

On 4/30/2026 at 11:21 PM, Georgealbert said:

I figured GeorgeGeorgia was way older than this....

16 hours ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

There is no treatment that would cost only 400 baht. They probably charged him a consultation fee without treating anything. Sounds like the clinic manager has a chip on her shoulder and hates foreigners and it's that attitude that made him upset enough to flip her the bird and skip a 400 baht bill. It's amazing how Pattaya - where the economy is 90% reliant on foreigner money - is full of Thais who have a seething resentment against foreigners. (it's understandable to be frustrated with a**hole tourists, but you gotta at least like or be interested in foreigners to work in a 90% tourist spot.

Possible - and the consultation fee does make more sense, especially since an X-ray and any follow-up treatment would almost certainly cost more. So it’s quite plausible the story has been somewhat embellished.

As for Thais in high-tourist areas showing resentment towards foreigners - that unfortunately comes with the territory, particularly in the more notorious spots. There’s a kind of double stigma at play: on one side, these areas tend to attract lower-quality tourists who often behave poorly; on the other, many of the Thais working there are present for purely mercenary reasons, and are often not local themselves.

The result is a ‘double-edged sword’, where a degree of indifference - sometimes even slightly off-key interaction - is present from the outset, and it colours the entire exchange.

In contrast, in softer, less tourist-saturated areas, the opposite tends to be true. Interactions are typically warm, genuine, and positive on both sides. That dynamic breaks down in places that draw the worst of both tourists and locals - it becomes a recipe for tension, which is exactly why I avoid those areas.

Just compare walking through a market in Patong with one in a less touristy region, or somewhere like Khon Kaen - the difference in tone and behaviour is immediately obvious.

So yes - there’s likely a mix of mild resentment and some embellishment in the story. But equally, someone skipping out on a 400 baht bill has no excuse - it’s simply scummy behaviour.

Post breaking forum rules removed.

@Sir Dude there was nothing lost in translation, the report states what the staff said.

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14 hours ago, jimmybcool said:

I wonder if he got any relief from his toothache? Did they do anything or just take Xrays and then tell him extraction will be 5,000 baht? Something about this article is fishy. First how they know he is 27 and a yank. Second no mention of fixing the toothache. If he was stoned he might have thought 400 fixed the problem and they thought 400 would find the problem.

Not totally exonerating him no matter what you don't flee a bill.

The hospitals never ask for an ID when registering? Especially foreigners.

Just now, ravip said:

The hospitals never ask for an ID when registering? Especially foreigners.

has something changed? The first time I went to a hospital in Thailand (Bangkok Christian) in the early 90's I had to register and I wasn't even living in Thailand yet.

His face looks like a punching bag to me . What a loser!

On 5/1/2026 at 2:23 AM, worgeordie said:

These badly behaving tourists are going to cause problems to us

expats who just want to live peacefully here ,Thai's must be getting

sick with all of these unruly tourists causing problems everyday .

regards worgeordie

I’m sure you’re right. The last few years has seen the worst possible drunks, drug addicts, scammers, wanted criminals etc etc . They’ve all given all foreigners a bad name. Thais have changed too, answering back and loosing their cool over nothing. Go back some years, you didn’t have all this rabble, and immigration was cool as long as you behaved. I lived on Phuket, even seedy Patong and sleepy

Kata a while from 84 till after the tsunami , and I never ever saw the riff raff that you see and hear of daily today.

Really obvious that immigration, police and authorities would get p….d off.

4 hours ago, ericthai said:

has something changed? The first time I went to a hospital in Thailand (Bangkok Christian) in the early 90's I had to register and I wasn't even living in Thailand yet.

Exactly.

I was answering the comment...

First how they know he is 27 and a yank.

Off topic post about Covid vaccines removed. @Explorator en Action this is the news section, if you want to post conspiracy theories, go to the ‘off the beaten track” section.

23 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

The dude in the pictures looks pretty sketchy, questionable tats, poor skin complexion (hints at substance abuse), unkempt stubble and is wearing the wife-beater white vest too... basically a massive walking red flag.

Or a refugee from fashion week in Milan. Strange that every other criminal in these reports has his face blurred out and this guy has portraits from a fashion photographer. Over a 400 baht dental bill. Very strange.

On 5/3/2026 at 12:07 AM, scorecard said:

Why the 'thumbs down'. Dental clinics and doctor's clinics operating with no qualified staff have been discovered many times before in Thailand.

Didn´t give you a thumbs down, still I don´t get your logic:

The article is about a foreign guy who got whatever treatment and later not only refused to pay but also insulted the dentist and his nurses.

Why does this prompt you to question their certification?

On 5/3/2026 at 12:07 AM, scorecard said:

Decades ago I went to a small medical clinic on Petchaburi Road in Bkk to get a medical report for my work permit.

Nurse asked me to fill in my personal details on the top of the form and tick the needed boxes (this is years before a blood report was needed), then 'dr' signed the report. Paid 40Baht and all done.

Legally they would have to check for special diseases, I remember Syphilis, Tuberculosis and Elephantiasis being amongst them.

Would you have preferred a 100% correct diagnostic procedure?

On 5/1/2026 at 6:08 PM, Olmate said:

You must have a crap dentist then, my suggestion.. get a qualified one.

Normal price she happens to be a specialist and works at khon khun university. What a stupid comment your suggesting that somebody is not qualified to expectations because they don't charge on x-rays.

2 hours ago, arick said:

Normal price she happens to be a specialist and works at khon khun university. What a stupid comment your suggesting that somebody is not qualified to expectations because they don't charge on x-rays.

Hard up for a chat, 10day old yarn 😭 who cares now!

16 hours ago, arick said:

Normal price she happens to be a specialist and works at khon khun university. What a stupid comment your suggesting that somebody is not qualified to expectations because they don't charge on x-rays.

There is no "khon khun university"