American expat charged with defamation after leaving multiple negative reviews online

[tonray]

10 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Sea View is located on Kai Bae Beach currently ranks 10th out of 85 properties on the island that have been reviewed on TripAdvisor. Out of 1,922 reviews, 1,090 rate the resort as excellent, 580 rate it as very good, 170 as average, 48 as poor and 32 as terrible.

Dont sound to bad to me

well 80 possible cellmates anyway

[Elayaam]

I see the 1/5 reviews are starting to flood through on google lol

[The Barmbeker]

Did you "Thailand is THE BEST- if you dont like it, go home"- crowd even bother to read the guy's explanation?

"We would like to stay at your hotel"

"Go online!"

 

"Could we see a room, before booking, please?"

"No!"

"Oooooh well...if you inmsist on it, we show it to you..."

 

That hotel would have heard a loud and clear "*** you very much and goodbye" from me!

 

Later, he states that they were having a drink ON THE BEACH!

OUTSIDE of the restaurant!

We are told over and over, that there are no private beaches in Thailand!

So how can a resort ask for corkage on a PUBLIC Beach?

 

I dont agree with the dude on his slavery remarks...that was just dumb!

But he other wise had the right to complain about this kind of "service"!

[Old Croc]

Having read both sides on Barrow's site I make the following comments.

 

The room price was high indicating an up market hotel with a quality restaurant.

The guest admitted drinking a bottle of gin on the beach with friends before going to the restaurant. (it was not a 7/11 bought Leo!).  I make the assumption here that they were affected by the grog when entering the premises. They were asked to pay a corkage fee which caused the group to "start a commotion". 

(note: corkage is common almost everywhere. I've paid it on numerous occasions when I have decided to bring my own wine to drink with a meal. I've also had to take my wine back to my car when places didn't allow any outside drinks. Restaurants make relatively small profits on food, but traditionally have big markups on liquor which helps cover liquor licenses, refrigeration, glass washing and breakages and the large cost of stocking many varieties) 

After the commotion, and intervention by the manager, they were allowed to drink their outside booze without paying extra. He checked out the next day without incident.

This is when the guest started his attack campaign on the internet. Rather than just give a low rating and describe his reasons as most dissatisfied customers do, this guy made 4 posts on two different sites over several weeks. His criticism included bigotted attacks on the manager, accusations of slavery and he even mentioned coronavirus in one rant. Guaranteed to turn future customers away!

The hotel asked him to make contact, as did the police after the complaint was made. The matter could have been resolved at either stage. He didn't bother to respond and was arrested. Entirely his fault he then spent time behind bars after failing to pay bail.

A drunken, boorish person who considered he could use the internet to ruin the reputation of a business because his nose was out of joint. 

I don't condone Thailand's defamation laws, they are often used by the corrupt and criminal to avoid repercussions for their dishonest actions.  Defamation should be a civil, not police, matter.  However, in this case one individual demonstrated how he thought he could use the internet to spread lies harming a business at a time when all are struggling.

I don't know what other recourse the hotel had.

 

 

[Solinvictus]

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

I think they were correct to have this guy arrested, he attempted to destroy their reputation based on his own ignorance at a time when business is already bad and ignored all attempts at contact.

 

I've met people like this guy before and believe me, I've considered having them arrested but I've refrained so far.

Petty. Plenty of petty Euros in Thailand.

 

Not being able to bring in me own drink is an inconvenience! Na!

Edited September 27, 2020 by Solinvictus

[DLock]

9 minutes ago, Elayaam said:

I see the 1/5 reviews are starting to flood through on google lol

 

No they are not. Interesting first post...is there something?

[Tounge Thaied]

Best to keep your postings factual and not overly vindictive. Thai Immigration is also suing an expat over comments he made on Twitter. Times are changing in the digital space. Clearly no longer a good idea to express your irresponsible stupidity now is it. 

[ChipButty]

6 minutes ago, polpott said:

I saw one bad review (probably the subject of the OP) and many excellent reviews. I wouldn't have considered not booking this resort on the strength of one bad review.

 

I stayed in a resort in Koh Chang a couple of years ago. Same as Faulty Towers. I gave it a bad, but honest, review on Tripadvisor and Agoda, from whence I'd booked the resort. My friend, who was with me but had booked separately, left similar reviews. Didn't get a knock on the door.

 

As others have said, the resort owner has made things much worse. Instead of letting one bad review die a death, he's made the bad review front page news. Knowing that I may be prosecuted for leaving a bad review of this resort, I would avoid it like the plague.

I think they have drawn more attention to themselves respond to the negative reviews in a positive way

[polpott]

23 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

I don't know what other recourse the hotel had.

 

Ignore it and let the good reviews speak for themselves.

[ChipButty]

1 minute ago, polpott said:

Ignore it and let the good reviews speak for themselves.

Experts say in the STR industry dont ignore it

[Orton Rd]

10 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

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

cheap charlies do not pay 6000 baht for Hotel room, that is where the problem started, looks like it was not a 6k experience.

[connda]

It's only defamatory if it's not true. 

[polpott]

26 minutes ago, The Barmbeker said:

Oh the poster of the year is at it again- complaining about people ho complain!

 

And you are complaining about people who complain about people who complain. 555

[polpott]

Just now, connda said:

It's only defamatory if it's not true. 

Not according to Thai law.

[steven100]

Just now, ChipButty said:

Experts say in the STR industry dont ignore it

but if the bad review is purely about the corkage incident then any common sense person reading it knows it's nothing to do with service or quality and as such won't take a scrap of notice. 

I wouldn't as corkage is charged everywhere.

[Tagged]

Quite convinient case and timing, thinking of thousands of people sitting in quarantine and just want to scream out how bad they are treated. Might make them think twice before they Complaining about their stay, food, view, noise or leaving a review. 

[polpott]

3 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Experts say in the STR industry dont ignore it

Does the STR say report them to the police?

[spidermike007]

Though it does sound like this guy over reacted, that is somewhat besides the point here. It is the heinous defamation laws, and the willingness of the authorities to use them, at this time, that calls into question the horrible judgment of this administration.

 

At a time when the tourism industry is suffering it's worst crisis ever, this is just crazy dumb, tone deaf and a further demonstration that they have no idea how to fix this tragedy, and guys like Pipat and Prayuth are totally in over their heads.

 

The defamation laws were written by sold out cowards, to protect rotten players from reprisals, due to bad service, faulty products and bad business. They have no place in today's world. They represent a heinous over reach of toxic power. 

[Don Mega]

1 hour ago, tonray said:

Certainly no surprise that you would defame an entire nationality due to the acts of one individual either.

To be fair though American's are renowned for being loud and outspoken.

[ChipButty]

2 minutes ago, polpott said:

Does the STR say report them to the police?

Not at all, I dont know about T/A but Airbnb does advise host and guest to be aware of local laws 

[polpott]

5 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

To be fair though American's are renowned for being loud and outspoken.

Agreed but it rarely warrants them getting arrested for it.

[NCC1701A]

55 minutes ago, Elayaam said:

I see the 1/5 reviews are starting to flood through on google lol

yes this is not going to end well for the hotel. 

 

typical comments now:

"This is a disgusting hotel that has customers arrested if they criticize the service they received. DO NOT stay at this hotel."

Edited September 27, 2020 by NCC1701A

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, polpott said:

Agreed but it rarely warrants them getting arrested for it.

To be fair though Americans are not singled out by this law as it applied is to all nationalities who run their mouth/keyboard and defame a business or person.

[rott]

12 hours ago, madmitch said:

The criminal defamation laws in Thailand are an absolute joke.

 

 

They may well be, but they are also easy to understand. 

 

Extract from Section 326 of the Thai Criminal Code "anything..... likely to impair the person's reputation or place the person in contempt or hatred by others". 

 

No mention there of even being right or wrong, just damaging someone. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The resort said they only took action after Mr Barnes posted multiple negative reviews on different sites over several weeks.

freedom of speech does not exist

 

honest reviews of those hotels neither

[ChipButty]

3 minutes ago, rott said:

They may well be, but they are also easy to understand. 

 

Extract from Section 326 of the Thai Criminal Code "anything..... likely to impair the person's reputation or place the person in contempt or hatred by others". 

 

No mention there of even being right or wrong, just damaging someone. 

You are right Guilty or Not Guilty 

[madmen]

29 minutes ago, Tounge Thaied said:

Best to keep your postings factual and not overly vindictive. Thai Immigration is also suing an expat over comments he made on Twitter. Times are changing in the digital space. Clearly no longer a good idea to express your irresponsible stupidity now is it. 

A lot of the hardcore bashers here are OS however they do Sucker in posters who clearly live here. These fools join the party with scathing attacks on government thinking they are not traceable. 

 

Penalty will be jail and then blacklist forever. I wonder how the warriors that laid down roots here will handle that? 

[rott]

23 minutes ago, connda said:

It's only defamatory if it's not true. 

Not true. 

 

See my post above and read Sections 326 and 330 of the Thai Criminal Code. 

[madmitch]

6 minutes ago, rott said:

 

No mention there of even being right or wrong, just damaging someone. 

And that is one of the main reaons why the law is so bad and why people can sue for defamation even though the "offender" might be completely right.

 

In most coutries defamation/libel/slander are civil and not criminal cases. You may have to pay damages but there's no chance of jail.

Edited September 27, 2020 by madmitch

[ChipButty]

7 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

yes this is not going to end well for the hotel. 

 

typical comments now:

"This is a disgusting hotel that has customers arrested if they criticize the service they received. DO NOT stay at this hotel."

Most likely T/A will suspend their account while the investigation is on going then loss of business at this time for the hotel