Cheap Charlie Farangs that expect service but do not want to pay

[NancyL]

5 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

What happens at the end of the year, do you just apply for another one for another 5000 baht, and can you do that an unlimited number of times? If it's that easy, I'm wondering why everyone doesn't do it.

 

This "marriage" visa is a one-year multi-entry visa with each entry stamped with permission to stay for a maximum of 90 days.  This means that the visa holder has to leave the country every 90 days.  This may be a problem for someone who doesn't like to travel and would simply be doing "border runs".  If someone travels out of Thailand frequently this visa makes a lot of sense in that they can totally avoid ANY contact with the Imm. office at Promenada and don't have to do 90 day reports.  TM30s probably aren't really an issue, either since Imm. Prom seems to enforce those just when you're doing your annual visa extension.

[suzannegoh]

This "marriage" visa is a one-year multi-entry visa with each entry stamped with permission to stay for a maximum of 90 days.  This means that the visa holder has to leave the country every 90 days.  This may be a problem for someone who doesn't like to travel and would simply be doing "border runs".  If someone travels out of Thailand frequently this visa makes a lot of sense in that they can totally avoid ANY contact with the Imm. office at Promenada and don't have to do 90 day reports.  TM30s probably aren't really an issue, either since Imm. Prom seems to enforce those just when you're doing your annual visa extension.

 

Is that still a non-Immigrant "O" visa or something different than that? With Non-Imm O or OA there also is no need to visit the the Prom if you leave the country every 90 days, but I thought that with them you needed to show money in the bank when you apply.

 

[suzannegoh]

and? People that buy sports shoes in America are being subsidised by the serfs that make them for a pittance in Asian countries.

Do I need to give any more of the thousands of examples as to how westerners can live the good life in their countries at the expense of others?

 

Rule #1. Life is ( for most people on the planet ) and then they die.

 

BTW, many of the poor in LOS do extremely well out of us. My ex family among them. If they hadn't been so greedy they would still be doing well out of me.

 

 

I didn't say that there's anything wrong with it. I just find it odd when farangs get high & mighty in over the exploitive low wages that Thai get and then in the next breath complain about being ripped off by Thais. Why do they think that it costs them only $500 per month to live here other than that Thais don't earn jack?

 

 

 

[NancyL]

17 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

 

Is that still a non-Immigrant "O" visa or something different than that? With Non-Imm O or OA there also is no need to visit the the Prom if you leave the country every 90 days, but I thought that with them you needed to show money in the bank when you apply.

 

It's a one-year multi-entry "O" visa, but the permission to stay is only for 90 days.  Yes, if you have a one year visa extension to your now long-dead "O" or "O-A" visa then you don't have to visit Imm. Prom, every 90 days if you leave the country, but you don't HAVE to leave the country since you have a one-year extension to your permission to stay.  And yes, you have to show either money in the bank or sufficient monthly income to apply for a one-year extension.  

 

Go back and carefully read MaeJoMTB's post #191 and all his answers to subsequent questions.  He's talking about obtaining a 1-yr multi-entry marriage VISA from the Thai consulate, Suvannakhet, Laos,  5,000bht (requirements Original marriage cert (+ copy), signed copies of partners ID card and house book, your passport (+ copy))  No need to show money in the bank or monthly income.  

 

Don't confuse his VISA from Laos from your one-year extensions from Imm. Prom.  His VISA from Laos is one Cheap Charlie way to remain in Thailand if you don't have money in the bank, don't have sufficient monthly income, have a Thai wife and don't mind some travel at least four times a year.  Mind you, I'm not saying MaeJoMTB is a CC, just this is a CC way to stay here and stay legal with your visa.  And there's nothing the matter with it, provided you have Plan B for health emergencies that is better thought out than "die quickly", "get back to my home country somehow for free care" or "I plan to live forever; so far my plan is working".

[suzannegoh]

It's a one-year multi-entry "O" visa, but the permission to stay is only for 90 days.  Yes, if you have a one year visa extension to your now long-dead "O" or "O-A" visa then you don't have to visit Imm. Prom, every 90 days if you leave the country, but you don't HAVE to leave the country since you have a one-year extension to your permission to stay.  And yes, you have to show either money in the bank or sufficient monthly income to apply for a one-year extension.  
 
Go back and carefully read MaeJoMTB's post #191 and all his answers to subsequent questions.  He's talking about obtaining a 1-yr multi-entry marriage VISA from the Thai consulate, Suvannakhet, Laos,  5,000bht (requirements Original marriage cert (+ copy), signed copies of partners ID card and house book, your passport (+ copy))  No need to show money in the bank or monthly income.  
 
Don't confuse his VISA from Laos from your one-year extensions from Imm. Prom.  His VISA from Laos is one Cheap Charlie way to remain in Thailand if you don't have money in the bank, don't have sufficient monthly income, have a Thai wife and don't mind some travel at least four times a year.  Mind you, I'm not saying MaeJoMTB is a CC, just this is a CC way to stay here and stay legal with your visa.  And there's nothing the matter with it, provided you have Plan B for health emergencies that is better thought out than "die quickly", "get back to my home country somehow for free care" or "I plan to live forever; so far my plan is working".

Is there something special about getting the Non-Imm O visa in Laos or can you get the same "marriage" visa from from any Thai Consulate outside of Thailand? I have a friend who lives in the US with his Thai wife and they want to move back to Thailand but the 400K requirement is a problem for the them. So could he apply for that marriage visa in the US without having money in the bank?

[55Jay]

                Karma.

 

[Lacessit]

I always ask the price first. Then I can negotiate, or walk away.

It seems to me many falangs lose sight of the fact a lot of Thais are struggling to survive.

I go to a massage shop in Chiang Mai which is very good value, 120 baht for one hour. I pay 150 baht and still feel a bit guilty. The Thai clientele always pay 120 baht, even when they turn up in a Mercedes.

Being a Cheap Charlie when you are on a limited income is fair enough. However, if you are well off it is not the kind of person I want to know.

[NancyL]

11 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

 

Is there something special about getting the Non-Imm O visa in Laos or can you get the same "marriage" visa from from any Thai Consulate outside of Thailand? I have a friend who lives in the US with his Thai wife and they want to move back to Thailand but the 400K requirement is a problem for the them. So could he apply for that marriage visa in the US without having money in the bank?

 

Google is your friend.  Check out the website of the Thai Embassy in the U.S.  Yes, it's possible to obtain a multi-entry one-year O visa for the purpose of staying with your Thai family in Thailand.  (Now, I don't know how they will handle the situation where the "family" is with the applicant in the U.S. and planning to move back to Thailand using their Thai passports.)

 

http://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/non-immigrant-visas/non-immigrant-visa-category-o/

[jenny2017]

17 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

 

Is there something special about getting the Non-Imm O visa in Laos or can you get the same "marriage" visa from from any Thai Consulate outside of Thailand? I have a friend who lives in the US with his Thai wife and they want to move back to Thailand but the 400K requirement is a problem for the them. So could he apply for that marriage visa in the US without having money in the bank?

 

I think that it's not working at any Thai consulate, or embassy. Currently it's only working well in Savannakhet/Laos, near Mukdahan/Thailand. 

 

  I was there last May and was happy that I had my wife with me. You can tell your friend to check at a Thai consulate if they issue a Non -O multiple entry for one year. It's easy to Google the next consulate and call them, before driving hundreds of miles. The difference to consulates is that local people are working there.

 

   But also the consulates have changed a lot. Only a few years ago it was very easy to receive such a Non-O ME at almost every Thai consulate.

 

   The embassies go strict by their law and regulations. 

 

  P.S. I must have posted at the same time as NancyL, sorry if there are some similarities. 

Edited January 7, 2018 by jenny2017

[sanemax]

1 minute ago, jenny2017 said:

 

  I was there last May and was happy that I had my wife with me.

I always assumed that you were a female .

Why are you called Jenny , which is a girls name ?

[Acemaker]

On 1/5/2018 at 10:50 PM, Shoeless Joe said:

Perhaps there are tourists (Farangs AND others) who try to "negotiate" themselves out of previously quoted prices for services and who take part in low-level thefts as described by the OP. But surely if, as you (or your Thai friends) claim, these events were taking place on the scale you indicated (i.e. "this is happening on a much larger scale than we get to hear about"), why the deafening silence? If this was true would we not already have heard and been made aware of what's happening by the Thai "victims" shouting and screaming from the rooftops? After all, they're not usually slow in blaming farangs and tourists for everything else.

 

BUT really, there's no context here. How does what you say compare with, for instance, farangs who are daily subject to the iniquitous, discriminatory 2-tier pricing system which operates almost everywhere and farangs who have dealt with unscrupulous Thais providing services who frequently attempt to renegotiate previously quoted prices in the middle of a job and then blackmail their clients by threatening to leave if there's no additional money (not forgetting that they will already have had a reasonable deposit, whilst at the same time charging for top class materials and buying cheap inferior products).

 

I suggest that the above examples are at least comparable with the unreported stories your friends and business owners told you.

 

Regards,

 

Joe

Stealing and not returning your Deposit when you leave your Condo is one of the most favoured scams amongst Thais, ( Oh Misterrrrrrr, Toiret Seat broken )    i think its laughable that Thais complain about Foreigners scamming them.

[Acemaker]

8 hours ago, connda said:

There is more to it than the sad Songtaw driver's story.  The first couple of years in Thailand, being married to a Thai, I understood the price structure for local transportation. Songtaw trips within the local radius of Muang Chiang Mai were 20 THB.  I remember loading up a Songtaw with a group of expats for a trip from Thapae gate just past Chang Puak gate.  The driver tried changing 60 THB for each person.  I intervened, told the group the going price, and we paid him 20 THB per person which at the time was the fair and going price.  "But you didn't negotiate a price up front."  Thais don't "negotiate a price up front" because they know the going rate. 
So unfortunately there are opportunistic Thais who will scam, and their are Richard-headed farangs. 

Dining and dashing is a crime; stealing is a crime; obtaining service and refusing to pay is a crime.
A lot of this is solved by posting prices upfront, paying upfront, and issuing receipts as proof of payment.  And if dining and dashing is become such a huge issue, then the local restaurants and the BIB should work together in order to catch and prosecute people who do it. 

Most Thais are not scammers; most farang and foreigners are not non-paying jerks. You have to keep it in perspective.  Op is cherry picking on this particular farang bashing campaign.  Cheap Charlies.  Gotta love that pejorative!  I always wonder who these people who use the term think they are?  Who says that only Thais are status conscious? 

Excellent post !

[Acemaker]

7 hours ago, steven100 said:

how did I specifically say you are cheap ?   I said  ' There's so many cheap charlie farangs in Thailand  "

My Butler agrees entirely !  

[Dante99]

18 minutes ago, sanemax said:

I always assumed that you were a female .

Why are you called Jenny , which is a girls name ?

Why are you called sane?

[rickudon]

Ok, i do not live in a tourist area, so less falang customers. Some are tight, but have not actually had one who has not paid the bill. My wife used to run a restaurant and prior to that had a shop (now has a shop again). Thai's used to sometimes try to get credit at the shop - usually it was hell getting the money later. At the restaurant, had a few Thais who ate lavish meals - and then said they didn't have any money. It was never the ones just having fried rice and water. Worst was a man booked a party for 40, asked for giant prawns, etc, and expensive drinks. On the day they hired extra staff and started cooking. The party never turned up. When called he said they were to expensive! They had spent over 20,000 baht preparing for this meal (some of it borrowed). Took them months to pay it all off. 

 

So not worried about cheap charlies - just Thai scammers.

[sanemax]

22 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Why are you called sane?

Wen I registered, every other name seemed to be taken , this name was about the 5 th attempt to find a name that wasnt already taken . I dont like this name and want to change it

[cat handler]

Did you ask your “friend”why he charges a Farang 1200 baht for that trip and only charges a Thai National 600 baht?

Also ask him why he charges Chinese more if 2 of them are in the same taxi? A taxi fare is a taxi fare regardless of the number of passengers.

 

Edited January 7, 2018 by cat handler

[Andrew65]

On 1/6/2018 at 4:39 PM, DipStick said:

I think you missed the point! I think MM was trying to point out that the guy he was trying to help out,  made no  effort to offer him any refreshments Etc, which in my book is just plain ignorance and rude and no wonder they are no longer friends.

Many years ago I worked for a year as a line/telephone engineer at British Telecom in the UK. Out in all weathers, quite enjoyed it though. in the space of a day you could be working in  a castle then in a council flat.

 

People are charged/not charged according to where the fault is. It was up to the engineer to enter this info into the system accordingly.

 

It was amazing how a hot cup of tea or coffee on a winter's day meant that someone wasn't charged for an internal fault, which should have cost them quite a lot of money.

 

Don't think I ever charged anyone, one I'm a big softy, and two, there's no commision or anything like that in this stuff for the engineer anyway.

[1FinickyOne]

13 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I always ask the price first. Then I can negotiate, or walk away.

It seems to me many falangs lose sight of the fact a lot of Thais are struggling to survive.

I go to a massage shop in Chiang Mai which is very good value, 120 baht for one hour. I pay 150 baht and still feel a bit guilty. The Thai clientele always pay 120 baht, even when they turn up in a Mercedes.

Being a Cheap Charlie when you are on a limited income is fair enough. However, if you are well off it is not the kind of person I want to know.

The system here is not as heavily geared toward tipping as we are accustomed in the west... at restaurants, it is often just a matter of leaving the coins from the change... and Thai do not look at non-tippers as cheap. Though some do tip for massage, others do not tip. Just different customs. I am a good tipper especially for massage as I appreciate it, but I would not think of tipping at Big C... yes, I know, nobody does, but for many Thai, just paying the price for a massage is sufficient, no matter what kind of car they drive. Things are a bit different in tourist areas. 

[ZeVonderBearz]

What is it about the farang community in CM that seems to make lots of people so bitter about one another. I see it a lot but mostly online with sites such as this one and Facebook pages Farang Community in CM is a classic. There's always that one farang who's been here longer than everyone else and tells all farang to go home. That one farang who speaks and reads Thai better than everyone else and tells everyone they shouldn't be here if they don't speak Thai. That farang who is more Thai than most Thais and if you don't know as much as them you should go home. That farang who is a visa expert and insists that you don't even attempt to come to Thailand and it's best you stay at home. That farang who thinks that if you can't afford to eat overpriced pizza and drink overpriced Leo at the sh***y farang restaurant then you shouldn't be here. 

[MaeJoMTB]

24 minutes ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

What is it about the farang community in CM that seems to make lots of people so bitter about one another. I see it a lot but mostly online with sites such as this one and Facebook pages Farang Community in CM is a classic. There's always that one farang who's been here longer than everyone else and tells all farang to go home. That one farang who speaks and reads Thai better than everyone else and tells everyone they shouldn't be here if they don't speak Thai. That farang who is more Thai than most Thais and if you don't know as much as them you should go home. That farang who is a visa expert and insists that you don't even attempt to come to Thailand and it's best you stay at home. That farang who thinks that if you can't afford to eat overpriced pizza and drink overpriced Leo at the sh***y farang restaurant then you shouldn't be here. 

Elderly western people living in foreign countries are usually 'a bit different', and often not in a good way.

I certainly fit that criteria.

 

If you want to meet 'normal people', probably best to stay in your home country.

PS. Probably best not to use the word 'farang' so many times, if at all, you clearly aren't Thai, so why use a Thai word used to describe white people in a forum for English speakers?

Edited January 8, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[cyberfarang]

2 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Elderly western people living in foreign countries are usually 'a bit different', and often not in a good way.

I certainly fit that criteria.

 

If you want to meet 'normal people', probably best to stay in your home country.

PS. Probably best not to use the word 'farang' so many times, if at all, you clearly aren't Thai, so why use a Thai word used to describe white people in a forum for English speakers?

Back in my own country, ang-grìt, there are enough of us there where we can filter out the deadbeats from what you describe as normal people. But here in Thighland, over the last few years it seems to have attracted more than it`s fair share of deadbeat foreigners, people who are simply looking for a cheap or free ride and probably prepared to cheat and ponce their way in Thailand for as long as they can get away with it. 

 

I`m doing alright in Thailand thank you very much without having the need to be a ponce or expect charity from other people or loading any of my problems onto anyone else. I have no desires to live anywhere else, it just means having to be very choosy who we decide to be associated with here and the choices are becoming more and more limited.

[scorecard]

On 1/7/2018 at 10:28 AM, suzannegoh said:

 

Rich Thais in Chiang Mai seem pretty tough on hired help to me, both in terms of what they will pay and in how they treat them.

 

 

Agree. Our rich Thai female neighbor has a maid who comes, as agreed, for 3 hours every morning.

 

The female neighbor squeezes pretty much every day for an extra 10, 20 30 minutes with no extra payment, plus always 3 to 5 days late with the monthly salary.

 

Also asks the maid to come early with no notice knowing well that in the original discussions about employment the maid indicated she cannot come earlier because she has to take her 2 kids to school. 

[thaibeachlovers]

23 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

I didn't say that there's anything wrong with it. I just find it odd when farangs get high & mighty in over the exploitive low wages that Thai get and then in the next breath complain about being ripped off by Thais. Why do they think that it costs them only $500 per month to live here other than that Thais don't earn jack?

 

 

 

What makes you think that every farang can afford to get ripped off? Some of us may not have any more money than needed to live here.

[suzannegoh]

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What makes you think that every farang can afford to get ripped off? Some of us may not have any more money than needed to live here.

Good point, just because they are worldly and articulate doesn’t mean that they have money.

[transam]

12 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

Good point, just because they are worldly and articulate doesn’t mean that they have money.

Take me for instance....

[MaeJoMTB]

I was a really cheap charlie in Tesco last night, that's a lot of meat for 100bht.

 

[newatthis]

37 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

I was a really cheap charlie in Tesco last night, that's a lot of meat for 100bht.

 

A good buy. Fat on the meat is still white; not yellow like  I see on the chicken in Lotus and Big C sometimes.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, newatthis said:

A good buy. Fat on the meat is still white; not yellow like  I see on the chicken in Lotus and Big C sometimes.

 

And some of these chains move the past use by date products from their flagship big stores to their mini-marts. Near us there is one such mini-mart always loaded with way out of date packages (as per the photos) and fruit and vegetables which are obviously not fresh. 

 

[colinneil]

7 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

And some of these chains move the past use by date products from their flagship big stores to their mini-marts. Near us there is one such mini-mart always loaded with way out of date packages (as per the photos) and fruit and vegetables which are obviously not fresh. 

 

Sorry but your comment about big stores sending out of date stuff to mini marts is incorrect.

Yes i am a cheap charlie, many times i buy reduced items in big C, never have i seen out of date food forsale.

Last date yes, but never past the sell by date.