Long read Unpaid bill guesthouse..plus other advice needed

[Paulanna]

Before i explain i know ive been stupid and nieve..i arrived 30th may  and got a 30 day visa with no return as wasnt sure how long i was going to stay but had easily enough for 3 months.cash.

Had some issues in bangkok  on  1st of june which led to my funds being depleted trusting the wrong people not buying women. had good insurance wont help me .my flight was delayed coming here and im entitled to 600euro compensation which i filed for on 3rd june was told il recieve comp in 3 to 4 WEEKS.

I had family send me some money and carried on my holiday but now i was on a smaller budget.long and short is i booked in a guesthouse explained my situation they took my passport and said i could stay till i got my money....now if you noticed my visa ran out on the 30th and yesterday the guesthouse must of called police as i was woken by 10 armed police in 4 trucks and took to immigration .i managed to plead with my mother which wasnt easy and got 7000bhatt to pay overstay and visa...

this morning the guesthouse have said if i dont pay my bill of 4500 bhatt they will call the police again on me...my compensation isnt here yet and my only communication is by email im told its being processed as urgent..

 

I want to know what will happen on friday if police come againwhats the law do i go jail..i cant ask family or friends for anymore and ive no intention of not paying but im not sure i can and obviously im very worried hiding in my room with 12 BHATT  left.thanks in advance.  Richard head.

[Paulanna]

@dabhand wasnt sure i could swear means im a dhead where im from     @orchis  first time ive had a problem..

[Vacuum]

26 minutes ago, Paulanna said:

i arrived 30th may  and got a 30 day visa with no return as wasnt sure how long i was going to stay but had easily enough for 3 months.cash.

Obviously you didn't...

[BestB]

10 armed police in 4 trucks , overstayed visa , but paid and was allowed to remain ? No money to pay for the guesthouse? 

 

All sounds legit 

[Paulanna]

Its not a troll. And I dont want anyones money or watever i just need to know the law .

Not just getting your postcount up.if you cant advise scroll past please..

[Leaver]

Do you have anything you can sell? Like phone, tablet, camera, watch, jewellery. 

[JohnnyBKK]

Why would anyone come to a foreign country with such low funds... it's dangerous.

[The Man Who Sold the World]

So... what did your embassy say?

Edited July 10, 2019 by The Man Who Sold the World

[ubonjoe]

Try to work things out with the guesthouse is the best thing you can do for now.

You apparently got a 30 day extension so you are now not on an overstay.

[potless]

2 hours ago, Paulanna said:

cant ask family or friends for anymore 

Sorry to ask this but why cant you ask? 

Edited July 10, 2019 by potless

[BritTim]

I understand why some think this is an attempted scam, but my guess is that the basic facts are as the OP has stated. At this stage, I am not sure he will have the funds to get home. Much of the 600 euros he is relying on will go in paying off his debts. Flights at short notice at this time of year tend to be expensive.

 

In the short term, I think he may be OK, as long as the guesthouse believe him about the compensation he is due. Calling the police again is not going to help them get their money. Indeed, it may reduce their chances. It makes sense for them just to continue to hold onto the passport.

[elviajero]

If you’re arrested again, and charged, you will either be bailed pending court or held in jail until the court hearing.

 

The guesthouse can’t legally hold your passport, but if you take action against them they’ll almost definitely press charges against you.

 

IMO you need to agree a repayment date with the guesthouse and get family/friends to send you the money if the compensation doesn’t come through in time. 

 

I dont see that you have any choice other than to pay your debt.

[wotsdermatter]

4 hours ago, Paulanna said:

my compensation isnt here yet and my only communication is by email im told its being processed as urgent..

Money transfer by WU only takes a few minutes for it to be in country and picked up.  So why has this avenue not been taken?

'nuf sed.

[Scouse123]

23 hours ago, BritTim said:

I understand why some think this is an attempted scam, but my guess is that the basic facts are as the OP has stated. At this stage, I am not sure he will have the funds to get home. Much of the 600 euros he is relying on will go in paying off his debts. Flights at short notice at this time of year tend to be expensive.

 

In the short term, I think he may be OK, as long as the guesthouse believe him about the compensation he is due. Calling the police again is not going to help them get their money. Indeed, it may reduce their chances. It makes sense for them just to continue to hold onto the passport.

 

BritTim,

 

I am saying nothing about the genuineness of the OPs story as I do not know.

 

However, A few years ago I had a delay with BA and it was completely the fault of the airline. Cut a long story short, It was New Years Day from Manchester to Bangkok via London. A full complement of cabin crew rang in sick ( yeah, we know, straight after New Years Eve ) BUT  it took me nearly EIGHT months to sort the problem out, then BA flat refused to give me cash stating they would only give me a flight voucher as compensation.

 

I DO KNOW that airlines can, depending on the delay, payout in cash in Euros, but I do not think it is anywhere near as fast as the OP thinks it will be.

 

I feel he is being very optimistic in his expectations. I also have seen the adverts of these legal companies that act for you for 25% on a no win no fee basis, but it takes months.

 

Lastly, this is a voluntary scheme signed up to by the  airlines that are based in Europe, it doesn't apply to Middle Eastern airlines, as I found out with a different overnight delay on Etihad. We were given a hotel and buffet breakfast but no compensation except a catch up flight the following morning.

 

It must have been a hell of a crisis to manage to mess up his three months worth of money/funds in the space for two days between May 30th and June 1st?

 

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by Scouse123

[Bill97]

If you think about taking another trip, don’t, stay home.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[SueOriginal]

First, you live in a fantasy world about "600 EUR compensation for a delay of flight", as Article 6 "Delay" of the EU Regulation 261/2004, among the remedies in a case of delay, doesn't list any reference to the Article 7 "Right to compensation", in case of delay remedies listed are references to the Article 8 "Right to reimbursement or re-routing" and to the Article 9 "Right to care".

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:en:HTML

Article 7 that list possible compensation up to 600 EUR in relation long-haul flights, is referenced in a list of remedies only in the Article "Denied boarding" (=overbooking) and in the Article 5 "Cancellations", i.e. only if someone was denied to fly because of overbooking, or the flight was cancelled at all - so you had a flight delayed , you have no rights for any compensation under the Article 7.

Your claim for a compensation is likely is still at the process of an approval - first, an airline consider grievances brought by a passenger, then it informs about its decision whether to approve or reject claim, and then after an approval , as a second step, it takes around 2 weeks for an airline to process a payment and a payment to arrive to a card or to an account.

(If you deal via a kind of passengers rights facilitator outlet, they are even more prone to tell BS and invoke false hopes)

 

Second, you ask what options a law has to unfold onto you in regard of your arrears toward a guesthouse.

First, a Penal code already has an article that directly relates to your situation, as already at check in you did not have sufficient funds to pay for your accommodation, and a source of funds for an unapproved compensation from an airline, already on this basis, can not be regarded to be any serious one:

"Section 345 Whoever,  orders  and  consumes  food  or  drink,  or  stays  in  a hotel,  by  knowing  that  the  hecannot  pay  money  for  the  food,  drink  or  the  stay  in  the  hotel,  shall  be  punished  withimprisonment  not  exceeding  three  months  or  fined  not  exceeding  five  hundred  Baht,  orboth."

 

This Section is rarely invoked, but of course can be.

 

If you will not pay your guesthouse, and still hold a return ticket back home, and will try to board the plane, it is very likely, that guesthouse will file a complaint with a police, and they will inform an immigration to put you on a stop list , so eventually you will be detained in the airport, brought to a police station, then court, and most likely will get some fine / jail days, assuming that in the middle you will clear also your guesthouse debt, then , as you will not have visa anymore, they will forward you to Immigration detention facility - IDC in Bangkok, where you will stay in detention until you will be able to bu6 your direct flight ticket home and pay ca. 1000 THB cost of deportation up to an airport.

 

Similar situation will happen, if you don't have a ticket home , they will detain you for an overstay on an expiration of your current visa, and, it is almost certain, if still unpaid, the guesthouse will file a complaint as well.

 

They may complaint now, that may lead immediately or duration next sessions with a local police station, to detain you , however it is unlikely that they will do it on the basis of Section 345.

 

What you have to do NOW is to ASK for money from your relatives and friends , as long as you are not in detention - as there you will very limited opportunity to make calls, and, of course not free, to have enough money to pay both for a guesthouse , your current expenses and ticket back home if you don't have one.

Act  NOW, because now you are already out of funds - over the time a situation only will proliferate - if you do nothing, money will not appear, as you do not have any real source for it, and you will have even less time to resolve all this by asking for funds from external sources.

If you have anything you can sell, like computer do it now, but you will get , of course, only a fraction of price, still better than nothing.

 

It will cost you much MORE if you will do it later.

 

Good luck!

[ToddinChonburi]

Use your credit card.

[scorecard]

On 7/10/2019 at 3:39 PM, BritTim said:

I understand why some think this is an attempted scam, but my guess is that the basic facts are as the OP has stated. At this stage, I am not sure he will have the funds to get home. Much of the 600 euros he is relying on will go in paying off his debts. Flights at short notice at this time of year tend to be expensive.

 

In the short term, I think he may be OK, as long as the guesthouse believe him about the compensation he is due. Calling the police again is not going to help them get their money. Indeed, it may reduce their chances. It makes sense for them just to continue to hold onto the passport.

 

The guest want their money, not surprising and quite possible the guesthouse owner has been through this before and compassion is all used up.

 

Did you just tell them about the coming compensation money or did you show them the e-mails? Have you shown them the most recent e-mail from the compensation outfit?

 

Ultimately the guesthouse owner won't be all that impressed with the e-mails, he wants his money, but it might reduce the tension a little bit.

 

I hope you have learned several lessons in life including respect for others and for yourself, in that you will in the future do things in a much more logical and mature way. 

[lamyai3]

1 hour ago, SueOriginal said:

First.......... 

Blimey, you're good! 

[newnative]

  You need to work more, vacation less--and closer to home.

[Billpro785]

I have a hard time believing this post. But if true, you don't have emergency credit card for backup ? I always have a least 2 back up cards, stored separate from my wallet, and have the account numbers written down for extra security. As you are posting this, you must have a computer, and or mobile phone. Do what many have suggested, sell what ever you have, call your mom to send money via Western Union. Get yourself home ASAP, and stay there until you learn to be more responsible.

 

 

  

Edited July 11, 2019 by Billpro785

[Suradit69]

On July 10, 2019 at 12:57 PM, Paulanna said:

managed to plead with my mother which wasnt easy and got 7000bhatt to pay overstay and visa...

 

On July 10, 2019 at 5:00 PM, wotsdermatter said:

Money transfer by WU only takes a few minutes for it to be in country and picked up.  So why has this avenue not been taken?

'nuf sed.

He and his mother seem to know HOW to transfer money and apparently she knows him well enough not to bail him out for anything more than baht 7000. Sounds like he'd rather deal further with the police than with Mom.

 

If he can't get anyone to send him baht 4500 for the amount due, that should tell you something about his personal history and about how much money he probably thought adequate for a 2 or 3 month stay.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Suradit69

[DiDiChok]

The very first time I came to Thailand, I paid the hotel in full up front for my stay and for a taxi back to the airport.  Inevitably, when I ran out of money, it didn't matter.

[Suradit69]

9 minutes ago, DiDiChok said:

The very first time I came to Thailand, I paid the hotel in full up front for my stay and for a taxi back to the airport.  Inevitably, when I ran out of money, it didn't matter.

Wow. Words to live by. 

 

Have to to admit I never thought of  running totally out of money as inevitable. 

[somtumwrong]

1 hour ago, Billpro785 said:

I have a hard time believing this post. But if true, you don't have emergency credit card for backup ? I always have a least 2 back up cards, stored separate from my wallet, and have the account numbers written down for extra security. As you are posting this, you must have a computer, and or mobile phone. Do what many have suggested, sell what ever you have, call your mom to send money via Western Union. Get yourself home ASAP, and stay there until you learn to be more responsible.

 

 

  

Or marry a rich Thai woman who walks beside you. It's called a walking ATM.

[ericthai]

how did you lose all your money for a 3 month stay in 1 day? You said no girls were involved. Did you try to buy drugs?  Seems you never traveled before, Thailand was the wrong place to start. A newbie tourist can be spotted a mile away!

[dogfish180]

Ummm......"Richard Head! ????" If you don't have a return ticket I think the 4,500 baht is the least of your worries! It's going to be a long walk home.

[Curt1591]

I would suggest you find a means to pay up.

The guesthouse must be well connected.

My mother in law had a court order to have a UK national free loader evicted from her rental. It took weeks to convince the local PD to help evict him.

This owner had 10 show up!

[lamyai3]

31 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

The guesthouse must be well connected.

My mother in law had a court order to have a UK national free loader evicted from her rental. It took weeks to convince the local PD to help evict him.

In the UK? If so there's legal problems evicting tenants, so it's not surprising. But a non-paying foreign tenant in Thailand has few rights - even many paid tenants get ripped off on return deposits for flimsy reasons. I'm sure the cops would be happy to help the guest house given the issue is about getting the foreigner to hand over money. 

[lamyai3]

On 7/10/2019 at 12:57 PM, Paulanna said:

my flight was delayed coming here and im entitled to 600euro compensation

This is a lot of compensation for a flight delay, suggests that it might have been a decent ticket on a quality airline. Ticket conditions and flexibility vary according to fare class - long haul flights may have one, three, six or twelve month validity, so there's a good chance of a return ticket still being valid subject to a date change fee (perhaps €150 or so).

 

Whatever happens, as others have commented, you're going to need to get someone to wire you the cash pronto, and enough of it to cover the full extent of your ongoing guest house costs, plus the cost of flight date changes or a new flight out if it's expired, as well as incidentals to buy food etc. On the plus side, sounds like you got 30 days extension so you're not on overstay.