American expat charged with defamation after leaving multiple negative reviews online

[pookondee]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Two idiots with a resentment. The main thing here is not to <deleted> off the wrong person in Thailand, and other places for that matter. In Scotland he'd get head-butted, which is much better than a 200k fine. 

Ive got to agree.

 

The part i find funny is..

the guy hears the boss (supposedly) shouting aggressively at an employee..

 

So he coins the term "modern day slavery" and put it into the review.

 

ummm ok

 

SO..you have a foriegn guy who knows zero Thai language, yet ASSumes the boss is dissing on the employee..

without even knowing whats being said??

 lol

 

The boss could have been venting to his employee about what aรร-หoles the farangs were, for all we know.

 

Unbelievable!

 

Its not uncommon though.

Ive seen it a few times.

 

Once in a place where an American was going absolutely off his chops about what he assumed a Thai barman was saying about him..

 when in fact the barman was laughing and commenting (in Thai) about how he was impressed that the farang could drink so much and still be walking. 

 

There is (or rather there WAS) to many farang D-heads in Thailand.

 

Rough justice yeah, but sometimes hard to feel sorry for em.

[sncoem]

how can any foreigner think that the customer was wrong ? even if arrogant or anything, any business that sue any customer should close definitively (at least).

whatever he did, the business is clearly managed by idiots, just read their reviews on all websites, you will understand.

Anyway this resort is now dead, just read the google reviews that are flooding...

[NCC1701A]

here is the other half of the story:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8waPd4H/view

[sucit]

Sets a horrible precedent and makes people fear leaving negative reviews.  Saying an establishment is not clean could be construed as a covid related jab. Where do you draw the line?

 

Reviews like this are one of the few areas where common people have power over corporations. This power gets abused all the time, sure, but live by the sword and die by it.

 

Thais can do what they want, but this clearly is not the correct decision. Publicly going after a guest will never be a good idea. 

[EricTh]

16 minutes ago, OJAS said:

If he had done so, I wonder whether things might have gone something like this:-????

 

 

Or this. This is another tourist who did something and look what happened.

 

 

 

[Puchaiyank]

Post derogatory remarks about Thailand tourism, accommodations, government,  monarchy,  restaurants,  women, climate, air quality, visa process and so on at your own risk...

 

Intolerant bunch!  OMG...someone in uniform is knocking on my door!

[sncoem]

5 minutes ago, sucit said:

Sets a horrible precedent and makes people fear leaving negative reviews.  Saying an establishment is not clean could be construed as a covid related jab. Where do you draw the line?

 

Reviews like this are one of the few areas where common people have power over corporations. This power gets abused all the time, sure, but live by the sword and die by it.

 

Thais can do what they want, but this clearly is not the correct decision. Publicly going after a guest will never be a good idea. 

 

Are you sure ? or it could just explain people that only brainless use their real name online and do not hide behind a vpn...

 

And when you want to kill a business, start doing it weeks after, not the next day...

 

 

[EricTh]

8 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

here is the other half of the story:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8waPd4H/view

Yes, but who is telling the truth?

[sucit]

Let's get past step one first.

 

HOW is it even ok to ever contact a guest who has left a review? There are all sorts of things the hotel could hold over the head of the reviewer to "convince" him to change it. If this is ok, maybe it should be ok for people to contact jury members in court cases during a trial. I hope we can all see how damaging that could be. 

 

The hotel cannot contact a guest after a review, will never be appropriate. Contacting the website about removing the review for inappropriateness, go ahead. 

[chessman]

11 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Post derogatory remarks about Thailand tourism, accommodations, government,  monarchy,  restaurants,  women, climate, air quality, visa process and so on at your own risk...

but that’s 95% of the posts on Thai Visa!

[Neeranam]

That Richard Barrow has poured gas on the fire. He'd better watch out, he's going to <deleted> off the wrong person again and all his gin and tonics with ambassadors on Ploenchit aint going to bail him out. 

[Flying Saucage]

The Thai defamation law is, besides LM and the computer crime law, one of the tools in Thailand of the so called elite to suppress freedom of speech and to prosecute respectable people who oppose mafia style businesses and and mafia style people. 

 

I am not defending this hotel guest. But it is definitely a pathetic display of a hotel manager, even more as he is a foreigner himself, as an American coming from a country where freedom of speech exists, to use this arbitrary totalitarian and highly controversial law against a customer. 

 

 

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Only in Thailand could this happen. No cease and desist orders necessary or blocking him and having the posts removed.  Not like tbe rest of the world.

Just don't insist to bring your own drink for free at a hotel

[sandbox]

I should think this has now moved into the realms of saving face. Those pressing charges cannot continue to allow themselves to be 'dissed' - it will challenge their status. Compared to this the veracity of the situation has no bearing upon the proceedings nor the continued good reputation of the resort.

 

They must 'win' and publicly. I'm afraid the poor naive customer is on a hiding to nothing.

 

[oldhippy]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

That Richard Barrow has poured gas on the fire. He'd better watch out, he's going to <deleted> off the wrong person again and all his gin and tonics with ambassadors on Ploenchit aint going to bail him out. 

A truly disgusting thing to say.

[FritsSikkink]

2 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. 

Don't bring your own and go to a place you can't afford.

[Flying Saucage]

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

Just don't insist to bring your own drink for free at a hotel

The outcry is not about bringing an own dring for free at a hotel. The outcry is about prosecuting and throwing a customer into jail for leaving a review on Trip Advisor. 

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Only in Thailand could this happen. No cease and desist orders necessary or blocking him and having the posts removed.  Not like tbe rest of the world.

If you can't afford a drink somewhere, move to a cheaper place which suits you better. 

[sammieuk1]

How on earth do you slander anything in this circus ????

[FritsSikkink]

2 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

he didn't have a genuine issue, was a cheap charley.

[FritsSikkink]

6 minutes ago, Flying Saucage said:

The outcry is not about bringing an own dring for free at a hotel. The outcry is about prosecuting and throwing a customer into jail for leaving a review on Trip Advisor. 

Never had a business in your life by the looks of it.

[Arnold47]

I value the quality of life I am able to enjoy here in Thailand.  My lifestyle would not be possible in the USA due to the unreasonable cost of living.  I therefore am very careful about who I interact with and how I conduct myself in public and on social media.  I recently cut ties with a fellow expat who could not go without daily anti social antics in public here in Pattaya.  I tried to explain the legal system to him and I hope everyone who has read the misfortunes of our American friend have a healthy appreciation of how things can go sideways in a hurry here if you cross the line with the wrong person or business.

[Neeranam]

17 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

he didn't have a genuine issue, was a cheap charley.

I thought only bar girls said 'cheap Charlie'.

[EricTh]

There are more to the story that is not told, read below.

 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/expats/koh-chang-resort-sues-american-over-bad-review

 

Posting one bad review is enough but posting multiple bad reviews on same site and other sites sound like deliberately bad-mouthing...

[oldhippy]

22 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

he didn't have a genuine issue, was a cheap charley.

We can not expect cheap trolls to read the first posts - otherwise you would be aware of the room price that this man paid.

[CG1 Blue]

7 minutes ago, EricTh said:

There are more to the story that is not told, read below.

 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/expats/koh-chang-resort-sues-american-over-bad-review

Sounds like the customer is a general pain in the arris, and a bit odd. Obsessively posting his poisoned reviews week after week - what's that all about?

And who would bring their own bottle of gin to the table of a restaurant in a high end hotel anyway? 

 

I have zero respect for these type of people. He won't go to jail, but he'll certainly think again before trying to kill a hotel's business just because he couldn't afford to stay there. There are plenty of decent hotels in the lower price bracket. He should stick to those (if they let him stay in the country!). 

 

 

[oldhippy]

33 minutes ago, Arnold47 said:

I value the quality of life I am able to enjoy here in Thailand.  My lifestyle would not be possible in the USA due to the unreasonable cost of living.  I therefore am very careful about who I interact with and how I conduct myself in public and on social media.  I recently cut ties with a fellow expat who could not go without daily anti social antics in public here in Pattaya.  I tried to explain the legal system to him and I hope everyone who has read the misfortunes of our American friend have a healthy appreciation of how things can go sideways in a hurry here if you cross the line with the wrong person or business.

That attitude explains why Farangs live in the 21st century, while Thais struggle to escape from the 19th century.

And no, I am not saying we are here to fight their battles for them.

But we should not stimulate them in their backwards thinking, or, like many, take advantage of it.

Fear = Power for some

Fear = Submission for most

[MRToMRT]

I wonder what will happen if I make a police report because some people on this forum have called me a bit of a British <deleted>? 

 

Cmon, who the <deleted> would stay at this hotel if they knew the story even if the guy was a bit an <deleted>, apparently.

 

What a ridiculous state of affairs. 

[Neeranam]

6 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

That attitude explains why Farangs live in the 21st century, while Thais struggle to escape from the 19th century.

And no, I am not saying we are here to fight their battles for them.

But we should not stimulate them in their backwards thinking, or, like many, take advantage of it.

Fear = Power for some

Fear = Submission for most

What a truly racist, Thai-bashing post, you should be ashamed. I've no idea why you foreigners want to live here.

[oldhippy]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

What a truly racist, Thai-bashing post, you should be ashamed. I've no idea why you foreigners want to live here.

Who is the racist?

You like them little people who don't stand up for their rights - they don't stand up for their rights out of fear, and you take advantage of that.

Who is the racist?

And by the way, I live here because of the weather and because my wife owns a beautiful big garden, and I try to put up with the system - but condoning it? never!