Thai/Indian honesty: Brit tourist gets 255,000 baht back from overpaid curry bill

[Elkski]

Where is the rainbow??

 

Stupid publicity stunt.  

You anti Thai bashers are ridiculous. 

The Indian guy ran off on his vespa not out of honestly but fear of losing the 2500 baht.   

It's so easy to cancel any charge on a credit card.  When I call my credit cards up and say to cancel that charge they don't ask one question about it, they say yes sir. He knew a bank would not credit him with 257k for a meal.  He didn't do it out of kindness, but greed?

So stupid it turned into a publicity show.  But that reveals the real Thailand.  Defend that. 

Most people's limits I know are 15-30k USD.   My credit cards  all have limits over 10,000$. Isn't this normal?   My average monthly usage is 3000usd/ mo.   

 

 

[Inn Between]

It's wonderful that the restaurant owner went to the effort to get the overcharge cleared up at the time, but mainly it was smart of him. 

 

He's likely a very honest person and would have done the right thing anyway, but I think he also realized that if he did nothing about it, the charge would surely be challenged and reversed as it would be impossible to convince the CC company that a bill of that size had been legitimate, apart from producing a sales agreement to purchase the restaurant itself. And if the bill had not been corrected at the time of the mistake, the owner would not have kept the windfall in the end and only have set himself up with being accused of trying to rip off a tourist, absurdly.

 

So, good for him for being both smart and honest. 

 

Unfortunately, officials have made a big public deal of this situation, like they do when a taxi driver returns money left in the car by a tourist. And like I've said before, having a ceremony and by making a public spectacle of these acts of honest decency, it send the message that honesty is a rare occurrence in Thailand, and that's not true at all. 

[raccos21]

If you are looking for Indian food what the heck you are doing in Thailand. Funny tourists.

[CanadaSam]

4 hours ago, hyku1147 said:

Guess who ate most of the curry.????

 

 

 

Is mum giving somebody the finger?  And an extremely long one?

[roo860]

If you are looking for Indian food what the heck you are doing in Thailand. Funny tourists.

Probably like Indian food, Thailand is the hub of international food, apparently.

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[Inn Between]

1 minute ago, raccos21 said:

If you are looking for Indian food what the heck you are doing in Thailand. Funny tourists.

 

Personally, I think it's a little impractical to fly to India every time one gets a craving for a vindaloo, and it may be even less appealing to move there. 

 

 

I don't think tourists wanting to satisfy a craving for Indian food while visiting Thailand is such a funny thing. I think they're just smart enough to know that lots of Indian people live in countries all over the world and open restaurants that make real Indian food, so there's no need to head off to Delhi for some.  

[ravip]

11 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

 

Lots of people complain on these expat sites because it makes them feel that they matter still. Many have failed miserably in relationships or finances in their own country and somehow they feel that gives them the right to put down everything that doesn't fit with their ideal of how it should be here. Quite pathetic actually. 

You are absolutely correct. 100%.

This type of story becomes an unbearable ailment to many, many TVF members. They have to twist the story in some manner to suit their inner most feelings and gain relief.

Pathetic, indeed!

[ttrd]

36 minutes ago, raccos21 said:

If you are looking for Indian food what the heck you are doing in Thailand. Funny tourists.

Of the same reason we eat Asian, American and Italian food - in Europe and/or elsewhere ...

[ravip]

6 hours ago, malibukid said:

a restaurant in Thailand that takes a credit card.  thats amazing

Really? Amazing?

What sort of restaurants have you been in Thailand?

 

[ttrd]

4 minutes ago, ravip said:

Really? Amazing?

What sort of restaurants have you been in Thailand?

 

Wonder why Street Food came to my mind …  

[hottrader77]

11 hours ago, bluesofa said:

That's around 6,000 UKP.

He must have a very good credit limit for that amount to be approved? Or more than likely, am I completely out of touch with the UK cost of living?

the customer should have had a free meal because of the mix up and give him back all the money paid as it was the restaurant that pressed in 257,000 baht he just ok it 

[Speedhump]

11 hours ago, bluesofa said:

That's around 6,000 UKP.

He must have a very good credit limit for that amount to be approved? Or more than likely, am I completely out of touch with the UK cost of living?

Rip van Winkle? I (a pretty ordinary joe) used to have a UK credit card from MBNA at £10,000 which I never asked for, and I still have a UAE Mastercard at over $30,000 which I use for piddling amounts. I don't spend (or have) a lot. Banks still try to throw money at most people, and get them into trouble, in my experience. 

[Time Traveller]

7 hours ago, zib said:

So instead of just cancelling the transaction and refunding they took out 255k thb in cash and gave him. And most likely he or the restaurant lost a minimum of 2% in bank fees not counting the loss at the fx. All for a photoop with cash i bet. Dumbest shit ive seen this month.

I don't think anyone realizes, but this is the NUMBER ONE way ciminals defraud businesses. What they do is, 

1. pretend to punch in too many numbers when paying a bill by credit card, which gets approved.

2. Inform business they overpaid by a lot, in this case overpaid 200,000 baht. And request refund.

3. Business then pays the customer the cash, but continue to process the orginal transaction which is in fact a stolen card, and the transaction gets cancelled by the bank several days later as the card is reported stolen. Leaving the business owner out of pocket with no recourse.

 

So many really stupid comments on this topic (perhaps a record for Thaivisa) The restuarant owner - in fact every business owner - should never ever refund money by giving out cash on transactions like this.  

 

[Time Traveller]

32 minutes ago, hottrader77 said:

the customer should have had a free meal because of the mix up and give him back all the money paid as it was the restaurant that pressed in 257,000 baht he just ok it 

The customer is probably a scammer. 

[Swedenlars]

12 hours ago, Lucius verus said:

No big deal. Contact the card holder and adjust the bill.

Excuse me, you seem to be a rather naive person. No a big deal ? Are you kidding me ? Years back I clicked a wrong button on online booking for a hotel. It would have meant a suite room for a full month in Pattaya. Would have been 150'000 Baht. Contact them, mistake and cancel ? That's what I thought. With luck and a huge effort I had to pay "only" 30 000 Baht. Of course, it was clearly my mistake. But again, the hotel said booked is booked. It was over AGODA. They said, not our problem. Talk to the hotel. So not as easy as you think. But lucky there seem to be still some honest people in the Land of fake Smiles.

[sambum]

6 hours ago, Monkeyrobot said:

Who keyed in the amount?  The Indian or the Brit? 

Can you not read? PLEASE read the post before replying to it! Don't make me spit!!! :-

 

"After their curries Simon paid the 2,857 baht bill on his credit card and pressed OK. In reality he had pressed 257,857.12 by mistake and thus overpaid the restaurant by 255,000 and a few satang."

 

And don't tell me that the restaurant DELIBERATELY keyed in the wrong amount!!!

[sambum]

3 hours ago, Time Traveller said:

The customer is probably a scammer. 

There's always one who tries to make a drama out of a crisis!

 

The restaurant made a mistake when they entered the bill total, the guy made a mistake when he verified it, the restaurant realised the mistake when checking their takings for the night and tried to make amends - so you make a conspiracy theory out of it!

 

OK, it could be that the Brit guy/scammer said "make the bill out for xxx000 baht, and I'll sign the tab" Then I'll make a fuss about it later, but you've already been to the police to admit the mistake, and we can also involve Tourist Police and Immigration, so we can have a celebration party about honesty, and will be able to make a film about it, and we can go 50/50 on the profits?

Or possibly the restaurant owner is a member of ISIS and is looking for money to fund their next terrorist attack on the West!

 

Do me a favour, and stick to the facts as we know them!

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

Unless this person has a big credit facility it would have been bounced.

I guess the restaurant just wanted to get paid for what they had?

Doesn't say how they got the money back, I guess the transaction was cancelled and a new one done for the correct amount.

????

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

15 hours ago, happy chappie said:

Nothing like my story.i once landed back in the uk and the very next day while going through my mail/bills I found someone had used my card details and withdrew £2499.99.i was straight on the phone to the company and they said my details were used in a fraud.i was told not to worry and was reimbursed within a couple of days.i was actually on my long haul flight to London when the transaction took place.

I had a new credit card stolen in the post years ago that was used to pay for a load of bills.

It was several hundred pounds not thousands.

Credit card took responsibility. They don't send them by regular post any more.

[ScotBkk]

17 hours ago, Lucius verus said:

Its just a simple case of credit card error .Obviously the restaurant isn't going to process a bill for quarter of a million baht. 

No big deal. Contact the card holder and adjust the bill.

Why do the Thai cops have to turn it into a three ring  circus?

All that's missing in the photo op is a good Samaritan taxi driver who found 200,000 b in the  cab left by the Indian who was out looking for the farang.

Your All Heart. People like you make life worth living giving you the extra burst of energy wishing for eternal life. You need commended for your gallantry because what's life without people like you in it. Thanks for your wonderful comments you hurt my eyes welling up at every word God bless you. 

[ttrd]

1 hour ago, Time Traveller said:

I don't think anyone realizes, but this is the NUMBER ONE way ciminals defraud businesses. What they do is, 

1. pretend to punch in too many numbers when paying a bill by credit card, which gets approved.

2. Inform business they overpaid by a lot, in this case overpaid 200,000 baht. And request refund.

3. Business then pays the customer the cash, but continue to process the orginal transaction which is in fact a stolen card, and the transaction gets cancelled by the bank several days later as the card is reported stolen. Leaving the business owner out of pocket with no recourse.

 

So many really stupid comments on this topic (perhaps a record for Thaivisa) The restuarant owner - in fact every business owner - should never ever refund money by giving out cash on transactions like this.  

 

Agree to a certain point - if we stretch the speculation a little further and you only have a few days left of Your vacation then 250k/thb to spend the last days seems like a bit overkill and to exchange the baht back to Your currency will make you take a huge loss. 

 

Even a risk for a jail sentence may occur especially if the baht during the Exchange process will be proven to be Indian copies which the Indian of course will deny as the police witnessed when the cash was paid in full - With other Words it should not come as a surprise if it will be added more to this story later on and based on those facts in this respect the potencial risk in such a cash transaction is not only a risk for the business owner

... 

[Time Traveller]

2 hours ago, sambum said:

There's always one who tries to make a drama out of a crisis!

 

The restaurant made a mistake when they entered the bill total, the guy made a mistake when he verified it, the restaurant realised the mistake when checking their takings for the night and tried to make amends - so you make a conspiracy theory out of it!

 

OK, it could be that the Brit guy/scammer said "make the bill out for xxx000 baht, and I'll sign the tab" Then I'll make a fuss about it later, but you've already been to the police to admit the mistake, and we can also involve Tourist Police and Immigration, so we can have a celebration party about honesty, and will be able to make a film about it, and we can go 50/50 on the profits?

Or possibly the restaurant owner is a member of ISIS and is looking for money to fund their next terrorist attack on the West!

 

Do me a favour, and stick to the facts as we know them!

dude, no drama. I simply stated what happened is precisely the method used by scammers to target merchants. That this may be the one example where a person did accidentally type in a wrong amount, remains to be seen. 

But anyone with a credit card has up to 30 days usually to cancel transactions. And there is nothing the merchant can do about it, they will not get paid. 

So if the merchant is giving out Cash to refund the overpayment there is a huge risk to them. That is why I suggested there is a possibility the guy is a scammer. Why didn't he just ask the restuarant to credit it back to his Credit Card? That's a red flag right there.

[ttrd]

1 minute ago, Time Traveller said:

dude, no drama. I simply stated what happened is precisely the method used by scammers to target merchants. That this may be the one example where a person did accidentally type in a wrong amount, remains to be seen. 

But anyone with a credit card has up to 30 days usually to cancel transactions. And there is nothing the merchant can do about it, they will not get paid. 

So if the merchant is giving out Cash to refund the overpayment there is a huge risk to them. That is why I suggested there is a possibility the guy is a scammer. Why didn't he just ask the restuarant to credit it back to his Credit Card? That's a red flag right there.

RE- But anyone with a credit card has up to 30 days usually to cancel transactions

 

Not quite correct - With the use of Visa Card the transactuion is made immediately - With Master Card you have the possibility to cancel a transaction within a Limited time frame … 

[GAZZPA]

On April 12, 2562 BE at 10:03 AM, from the home of CC said:

 

Lots of people complain on these expat sites because it makes them feel that they matter still. Many have failed miserably in relationships or finances in their own country and somehow they feel that gives them the right to put down everything that doesn't fit with their ideal of how it should be here. Quite pathetic actually. 

Or they just see this as an simple admin error not worthy of the news and not impressed with the whole big deal made of it. Your summary is based on nothing more then your own thoughts, unless of course you have solid data of these failed foreigners and their finances? The reality is Thailand is a poor country with ridiculous ideas and a lot of people can see it, many cannot, or they turn a blind eye refusing to accept their decision to settle here. I am glad the guy got his error reversed, of course there are many who are honest, not that a dishonest person would have got away with that size of error anyway.

[ravip]

4 hours ago, GAZZPA said:

Or they just see this as an simple admin error not worthy of the news and not impressed with the whole big deal made of it. Your summary is based on nothing more then your own thoughts, unless of course you have solid data of these failed foreigners and their finances? The reality is Thailand is a poor country with ridiculous ideas and a lot of people can see it, many cannot, or they turn a blind eye refusing to accept their decision to settle here. I am glad the guy got his error reversed, of course there are many who are honest, not that a dishonest person would have got away with that size of error anyway.

Well... a half full glass can be seen in two different ways. Some, will see it as half full, while the others will see it as half empty. Both parties are 100% correct.

[DieterWiehe]

On 4/12/2019 at 9:54 AM, Lucius verus said:

Its just a simple case of credit card error .Obviously the restaurant isn't going to process a bill for quarter of a million baht. 

No big deal. Contact the card holder and adjust the bill.

Why do the Thai cops have to turn it into a three ring  circus? 

All that's missing in the photo op is a good Samaritan taxi driver who found 200,000 b in the  cab left by the Indian who was out looking for the farang.

Why do the Thai cops have to turn it into a three ring  circus?

Because = the can

[from the home of CC]

9 hours ago, GAZZPA said:

Or they just see this as an simple admin error not worthy of the news and not impressed with the whole big deal made of it. Your summary is based on nothing more then your own thoughts, unless of course you have solid data of these failed foreigners and their finances? The reality is Thailand is a poor country with ridiculous ideas and a lot of people can see it, many cannot, or they turn a blind eye refusing to accept their decision to settle here. I am glad the guy got his error reversed, of course there are many who are honest, not that a dishonest person would have got away with that size of error anyway.

There are lots of threads that indicate financial issues and problematic relationships, you just have to read the threads (and between them). IMO many people have really come to Thailand to hide, to hide from emotional and economical baggage related problems, but mostly to hide from themselves. And in feeling this inadequacy they compensate by denigrating others which gives them back some power (temporarily). Really is sad.  

[bristolgeoff]

i agree a large credit limit on the card.a meal for 6k really,the card company did not question it at the time.most companies would  question that amount.if i don,t tell the card company they would refuse a pound on the card  from there.

[wreckingcountry]

Crazy guy paying that ! The restaurant owner would have seen it ! Furthermore what a crazy limit the card holder has!


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[ChipButty]

If it was MBNA they would be right on to it especially that amount