American expat charged with defamation after leaving multiple negative reviews online

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

We always bring our own water with us to drink at hotels and we insist on it.

Wouldn't be proud of that.

[Tchooptip]

14 hours ago, Jack Hna said:

That's one hell of a corkage charge now. That leo from 711 just became one of the most expensive beers ever. 

It was not a Leo but a bottle of Gin, a little different in my book.

[mrmicbkktxl]

3 minutes ago, 2long said:

You can leave negative reviews (if fair and accurate and only done once). 80 others have left negative reviews on the same page. What this fool did was expect to drink his own bottle of gin in their prime-location restaurant without paying corkage. Then he made multiple personal attacks in an attempt to damage the resort's reputation.

The resort tried to solve it in a sensible way, but the reviewer only responded to their emails after he was arrested.

Are you from North Korea?A hotel sues a paying customer for defamation and the customer ends up in prison.This is a PR disaster.The hotel will be remembered for throwing customers into jail.If you get a bad review suck it up.Since these news are already around the world Thailand is again in hot water.A country what needs tourists to survive should not throw them into prison for bad reviews.It doesn't matter if the review was bs.The owner of the hotel is probably a greedy person and hopes he can press more money out of the tourist  with a lawsuit.Reviews for Thai businesses should be scraped as long people will receive a punishment for a bad review

[lensta]

14 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Little bit advice to any business in any sector: don’t have your customers imprisoned. It isn’t a good look. 
 

People leave bad reviews. This is life. Explain why the review is wrong or at least try to settle it with the guest. This has now just made it much worse for the hotel. 
 

And before people say it’s the law or the police did it, etc, once you go to the police to file charges for someone writing bad reviews, you can safely assume they’ll be arrested if the case is accepted. That’s how filing complaints with the police works. 

100% agree with you. The owners of the hotel have done far more damage to the reputation of the resort than any review from a single person could ever do. Well done.

[mrmicbkktxl]

13 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

But not the ones running the business. They are the ones who lose money. 

My point was about 'modern slavery"

[teacherclaire]

8 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

Correct. Sadly, there are many people here with a similar mentality as the American. 
I often wonder why these people even stay in Thailand? ... Complain every day about Thai laws and blaming everything on Thai people, but still choose to stay here..
Honesty, it's embarrassing especially when you know that Thai people come to this forum and read all of this stuff. What must they think ? 

That a lot of us are a bunch of whining and everything criticizing idio+s? 

[steven100]

6 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

The problem started when he brought his own bottle of drinks into the restaurant, didn't want to pay the corkage fee and begun insulting the staff.

yes ..... he was probably half cut to begin with and refused the corkage charge, then puts misrepresentative reviews on websites because he was cheezed off.

He deserves the defamation suit.

[hellohello123]

 

14 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

The yank may indeed be entitled but obviously the resort owners are entitled, privileged, ----s.

 

He wrote a review on trip advisor, a popular but essentially flaky online travel source. He then ends up with a 2 year jail sentence. Amazing Thailand.    

 

Methinks this is not going to help jump start tourism to Thailand.

 

and this is the one of the prime differences between many 3rd world and first world countries,

 

3rd world seem to lack the common sense and put a priority on face to be able to comprehend that "win the battle but not the war" when it comes to service

 

whether its a 50/50, 25/75, 75/25, 90/10, 10/90 fault of whoever, you run a business, you are going to get difficult customers,

how you handle disputes shows a lot about the business/staff involved

Edited September 27, 2020 by hellohello123

[teacherclaire]

2 minutes ago, mrmicbkktxl said:

My point was about 'modern slavery"

What we sometime see as modern slavery are jobs that they don't get at home and often a whole family lives off the income. Even when it's not much.

 

Don't you think that something similar exists in first, or second world countries? 

 

 

[Tchooptip]

14 hours ago, madmitch said:

The criminal defamation laws in Thailand are an absolute joke.

 

 

I guess you did not bother to read the links will all the details! For instance the way this hotel uses his personnel was like modern slavery, it seems to me that is much more than a simple negative review!

Before going to the police the manager emailed him to find an arrangement, no answer, he also brought his own bottle of gin to drink with his friend. 

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, steven100 said:

yes ..... he was probably half cut to begin with and refused the corkage charge, then puts misrepresentative reviews on websites because he was cheezed off.

He deserves the defamation suit.

Once he gets out of jail he's gunna need some corkage to help him not soil his pants every time he coughs or sneezes !

[waders123]

There is always two sides to every story.  If I was a betting man, me thinks, the resort is painting a "brighter" side of this tale than was.  

 

[steven100]

14 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Well, if they thought business was bad before, they’re in for a nasty surprise with this regressive behaviour. 
 

People don’t like this sort of thing and quite rightfully so. 

disagree ....  people reading any review will see right through this. He made a problem because he didn't want to pay the corkage,  not because of bad service or food or bad quality.

Folks will go with the good reviews as corkage has nothing to do with the product provided.

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, polpott said:

Why bite the hand that feeds you? Or provides you with an exceptional cup of tea.

Why?Because the hand might taste better than what the hand is feeding you.I do like a good cuppa!I see good and bad behaviour from most people and also countries and I also see that it's quite easy to focus on either negatives or positives but I do see this example of judicial cluster seed in the hole (there's a word for that) as something which goes much deeper than people realise which is the the rules for posting stuff on the net.How one assembles their noughts and ones and ones concepts can cause affront to someone who expects those noughts and ones and concepts to be thus arranged.The cause for the anger lies in the having of expectations which are not met.There should be a law against expectations as they are the sole cause of anger when the are not fulfilled.

[Tchooptip]

14 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I disagree. If the guy has a genuine issue then he has the right to publish it on all media outlets and sites to tell others of his issue. After all not everybody will go to all the sites of every hotel to find his review and therefore get a false impression.

 

The only issue the hotel can possibly take up is having him post multiple reviews about the same hotel under different names on the same sites. That I would agree with as being defamtion. Otherwise they are fair game in my opinion to a review of the person feeling aggrieved on all review sites.

 

Your viewpoint is he could only complain on the BBC rather than ITV, Channel 4, 5 ABC, FOX - which is inappropriate in my opinion

Oh well to say that the way the hotel uses its staff is modern slavery for you that's just a negative review?

[teacherclaire]

7 minutes ago, mrmicbkktxl said:

Are you from North Korea?A hotel sues a paying customer for defamation and the customer ends up in prison.This is a PR disaster.The hotel will be remembered for throwing customers into jail.If you get a bad review suck it up.Since these news are already around the world Thailand is again in hot water.A country what needs tourists to survive should not throw them into prison for bad reviews.It doesn't matter if the review was bs.The owner of the hotel is probably a greedy person and hopes he can press more money out of the tourist  with a lawsuit.Reviews for Thai businesses should be scraped as long people will receive a punishment for a bad review

One bad review, or multiple bad reviews on various websites doesn't seem to be the same.

 

  In times of COVID where customers have many choices, it hurts when somebody's upset that he wasn't allowed to drink his alcohol that wasn't from this place.

 

I wrote a negative review about a hotel in Bangkok, where many things were not as described online.

 

The service was non existent, the computer system didn't have my name and many other issues that made my stay very unpleasant.

 

The pool was merely 50 cm deep and the guests were very loud Indians.

 

I do not think that I'd be thrown in jail for my review as all was true and I didn't add something as a kind of revenge.

 

  And I believe that the American must have added stuff that wasn't true. 

 

    But I could be wrong. 

 

  

 

  

[hellohello123]

13 hours ago, alyx said:

Well, whether one finds this arrest deserved or not, the hotel has just shot itself in the head....In order to have a fair opinion about this, I researched Mr Barnes' posts and....I saw several negative comments posted today. Fake or not there is one which will most certainly deter future potential clients: "One guest was arrested for defamation". Whether or not  it is proven, actually I do not know what has to be proven considering that all comments are subjective ( and that is the whole point) and may hurt the business (or help it) I know of a few possible guests who would choose another place.

exactly, ive now got a negative image of this resort now, and if I ever do go to this area, i will be less inclined to book through them, thats 6000 baht of revenue they wont have.   if arguing over 500 baht surcharge of which is just a service fee,

if management cant see this, then they just arent cut for customer service

[farangroby]

The american it's a bully who has run wild a <deleted> storm against the resort and, those who have a business, can not loose their reputation because the anger of someone who get request to pay for the corkage, it is absolutely normal practice, the restaurant  provide customers of glasses, ice and service and this is not free, really 500 baht for a bottle of gin at the table in a four stars resort is really cheap, they should have asked at least 1,000 Baht
Well done host, end of the revenges on social media, end of blackmails

[mrmicbkktxl]

An in the future everyone who left a negative review will end up in prison.Amazing Thailand

[madmitch]

5 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

I guess you did not bother to read the links will all the details! For instance the way this hotel uses his personnel was like modern slavery, it seems to me that is much more than a simple negative review!

Before going to the police the manager emailed him to find an arrangement, no answer, he also brought his own bottle of gin to drink with his friend. 

I have made a statement. The actual circumstances are not necessarily of any interest. The mere fact that someone can be arrested for posting an online review is what is wrong with the law.

[alation]

Hey, come on now, he thinks the way he thinks as they think the way they think both think there right and no doubt they both are somewhat just as we think  that he the customer is right and other would say that the establishment are right. We all know that one should be allowed to and indeed be entitled to say what they want both parties that is, but the only way to find the exact happenings is CCTV which most likely doesn't confirm word for word so perhaps an agreement to apologise to each other and move on, simple I know but a good starting place. 

Take good care out there people. 

[rkidlad]

7 minutes ago, steven100 said:

disagree ....  people reading any review will see right through this. He made a problem because he didn't want to pay the corkage,  not because of bad service or food or bad quality.

Folks will go with the good reviews as corkage has nothing to do with the product provided.

Get banged up for writing a bad review online or kill a cop whist drunk and coked up and spend not one second in jail. 
 

Yea, this seems fair in the broader context.  

[mrmicbkktxl]

4 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

One bad review, or multiple bad reviews on various websites doesn't seem to be the same.

 

  In times of COVID where customers have many choices, it hurts when somebody's upset that he wasn't allowed to drink his alcohol that wasn't from this place.

 

I wrote a negative review about a hotel in Bangkok, where many things were not as described online.

 

The service was non existent, the computer system didn't have my name and many other issues that made my stay very unpleasant.

 

The pool was merely 50 cm deep and the guests were very loud Indians.

 

I do not think that I'd be thrown in jail for my review as all was true and I didn't add something as a kind of revenge.

 

  And I believe that the American must have added stuff that wasn't true. 

 

    But I could be wrong. 

 

  

 

  

Even if the American added some bs to his review still you don't let paying customers end up in prison for a bad review.If people stop reviewing because they are afraid to end up in prison trip advisor can shut down.Trip advisor should help the American and take the hotel from their review list or better all Thai hotels

[Tchooptip]

14 hours ago, madmitch said:

The criminal defamation laws in Thailand are an absolute joke.

 

 

Writing in a public review in this hotel the way they treat their staff is like modern slavery is an absolute joke and logically may be considered defamation in most countries!

[GroveHillWanderer]

14 hours ago, EricTh said:

I just went to Tripadvisor and looked at recent comments, it's all negative, did he have a few friends who created multiple accounts just to bad-mouthed that resort?

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g580110-d594766-Reviews-Sea_View_Resort_Spa_Koh_Chang-Ko_Chang_Trat_Province.html#REVIEWS

I just clicked on the link you gave. Almost all the recent reviews were highly positive (4's or 5's). I could only find two bad ones within the last year or so, one of which is obviously from the guy who is the subject of this thread.

 

Based on the comment at the top of the Tripadvisor page about reviews that were not based on personal experience, I think they may have removed some of the negative reviews as not meeting their criteria for being genuine reviews.

Edited September 27, 2020 by GroveHillWanderer

[FarFlungFalang]

9 minutes ago, steven100 said:

yes ..... he was probably half cut to begin with and refused the corkage charge, then puts misrepresentative reviews on websites because he was cheezed off.

He deserves the defamation suit.

Hang on there Steven I think you might have meant that just about everybody deserves a defamation suit as just about everybody is misrepresents stuff at one time or another and it's something we are taught to do from an early age and it's called lying.Imagine if everyone was hit with defamation suit,deserved or otherwise,every time they lied?Poor old judge would never rest.Imagine if Khun What's his name was arrested for all those unfulfilled promises he made the gaols would be full of politicians.

[Myran]

Meh, I'm on the hotel's side on this one. You don't bring outside beverages to a restaurant without expressively asking for it beforehand, and if they deny you, you accept it without arguing. I doubt he would've been taken to court if he had posted a 1-star review with his actual experience rather than acting like a drama queen..

[polpott]

1 minute ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Imagine if Khun What's his name was arrested for all those unfulfilled promises he made the gaols would be full of politicians.

And bar girls. If I had a baht for every time one sent me a Line message, "I love you long time". Yep, about 5 minutes until the next customer walks through the door.

[polpott]

3 minutes ago, Myran said:

Meh, I'm on the hotel's side on this one. You don't bring outside beverages to a restaurant without expressively asking for it beforehand, and if they deny you, you accept it without arguing. I doubt he would've been taken to court if he had posted a 1-star review with his actual experience rather than acting like a drama queen..

I doubt he would have been taken to court in any other country in the world, especially not by the police. Beggars belief.

[madmitch]

2 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

Writing in a public review in this hotel the way they treat their staff is like modern slavery is an absolute joke and logically may be considered defamation in most countries!

In most other countries defamation is a civil action and not a criminal offence. Thailand is very unusual in this regard. Such laws are in place to protect "those who matter" and to aid the suppression of freedom of speech.

 

The hotel has probably shot itself in the foot in this instance due to the press coverage worldwide. And the very fact this has made news pages outside of Thailand demonstrates that theres something inherently wrong with the system.

 

They should have simply aske Tripadvisor to remove the review due to the defamatory content. I'm pretty sure they would have co-operated in this instance.