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When a "stupid" taxi rip off is not enough! Now a US dollar is worth the same as a Euro!


webfact

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I departed Samui 10 days ago, after a five day holiday.  Taxi from USM to my hotel in Lamai Beach 700THB.  Taxi from McDonalds to Chaweeng Central Festival 600THB, same price on the return trip, Dusk to 22:00, if time of day matters.  Same price from my hotel to Samui int'l stadium for muay thai fights on Thu & Sat, Dec 13 & 15, respectively; 600THB for return trip afterward.  Since I was on holiday the price didn't seem terrible to me.  Especially since I had been drinking alcohol before each journey.  The drivers quoted me 700THB, they each accepted 600THB.  Did I overpay or not overpay? 

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5 hours ago, webfact said:

 

A Facebook site posed a simple yet pertinent question...

 

Do Thai taxi drivers think foreign tourists are stupid? 

 

Not only are prices for trips on Koh Samui expensive but the charges quoted are the same in US dollars and Euros.

 

The exchange rate to the baht is about 32 for the former and 36 for the latter, reported Little Princess of Andaman. 

 

A round trip of the island would be 4,800 baht in dollars but Europeans would have to pay 5,400 baht - 600 baht more. 

 

Even on a 50 dollar trip to some of the islands popular beaches Europeans would have to fork out an extra 200 baht over their American cousins. 

 

The site suggested that taxi drives on Samui were fools themselves if they didn't think that foreigners would take one look at the charges and ask.....

 

WHY? 

 

The Facebook site said that they had not posted the charges themselves but been contacted by many foreigners who had complained about the discrepancy. 

 

They accepted that charges on Samui would be higher than the mainland but despite extra fees for things like the rank, the queue and the "win" on the island the fares were still high.  

 

Source: Facebook Little Princess of Andaman

Nowhere does it claim that anyone thinks that the value of the USD and the Euro are the same!

 

Could be something to do with the fact that $150 is easier to exchange than EUR131.73!

 

Or, of course, the whingers could easily get around the issue by not expecting Thai taxi drivers to accept Euros or Dollars and simply pay in Baht, the currency of the country they are in!

Edited by Just Weird
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The concept of repeat customers, and spreading your business through good reputation isn't very high on their list. Maybe it is just the case that there's no-one there, because the once-bitten-twice-shy response to this, has worked its way through just about everybody that might want to go there.

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