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American expat avoids jail for negative review - reaches settlement with Koh Chang hotel

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  • Popular Post
1 hour ago, petermik said:

Lying toe rag lucky to get off so lightly....mouth bigger than his brain....som nom na....:thumbsup:

He probably thanks his lucky stars it's the era of face masks. 

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  • spidermike007
    spidermike007

    The regime has once again decided to protect the bigger guy, over the smaller guy. This will not go over well, internationally. Everyone will see right through this badly engineered PR stunt. When fac

  • You can bring in your own drink, but like establishments all over the world they charge a corkage fee. This is a common and well accepted practice.

  • Lying toe rag lucky to get off so lightly....mouth bigger than his brain....som nom na....

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45 minutes ago, norfolkandchance said:

Was his friend Male or Female ?

... probably a hybrid.

  • Popular Post
49 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

What could one take away from this? Write a bad review, get arrested and put in jail, and then apologise and say you were lying. It's still the same message; write a bad review and we'll send you to prison. 

 

 

He did not write A bad review. He wrote four or more. There are several bad reviews about the hotel. One claiming bed bugs etc. None have been removed. None have been accused of deformation. 

The guy obviously has anger management issues as indicated by his history in USA.

He was lucky. 

Edited by DrJack54

44 minutes ago, warcy said:

The problem is not about writing a single bad review, the problem is reporting fake comments on multiple websites and same website over many weeks just to defame that hotel.

 

If the comment is genuine, it's acceptable but not when it's full of malice and half-truth.

exactly,  If you are going to defame someone then make sure it's true.

Also,  if he just posted it on one or two sites it may not have escalated, however he was trying to be a smart_ss and posted it on many sites. 

He's been caught out and now he has egg on his face.

I'd have jailed him for the state of his strides....

32 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

But he didn't simply compose a "bad review" did he? He posted lies, deceit and personal opinions jaded by Lord knows what.

 

Even after Tripadvisor deleted his original post, he did it again.

 

Several times.

I think you will find Tripadvisor blocked anyone from leaving a review I remember when I looked it had some kind of notice at the top of the page words to the effect, I looked through 17 pages of reviews and could not find any from the yank,

7 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

He did not write A bad review. He wrote four or more. There are several bad reviews about the hotel. One claiming bed bugs etc. None have been removed. None have been accused of deformation. 

The guy obviously has anger management issues as indicated by his history in USA.

He was lucky. 

I also saw some really bad reviews maybe them guest had gone from Thailand and it's not easy to get reviews removed, I also looked on Booking.com few nasty ones on there

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3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

He did not write A bad review. He wrote four or more. There are several bad reviews about the hotel. One claiming bed bugs etc. None have been removed. None have been accused of deformation. 

The guy obviously has anger management issues as indicated in his history in USA.

He was lucky. 

"What could one take away from this?" Is what I said. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/29/american-wesley-barnes-faces-prison-thailand-bad-hotel-review

 

We can go into the semantics of it all, but this is an example of a headline from a global publication. 

 

Again, what might people take away from this new episode: "Man jailed for bad review and then apologises. Says he was lying" I'm guessing this is what some people might take away from all of this. 

 

Do you think this is a good look? Do you think people abroad will go much further beyond the headlines? This is a civil case. As in the hotel could sue this man. Having him jailed is a terrible look.

 

 

Lets see how the British tabloids spin this

8 minutes ago, steven100 said:

exactly,  If you are going to defame someone then make sure it's true.

Also,  if he just posted it on one or two sites it may not have escalated, however he was trying to be a smart_ss and posted it on many sites. 

He's been caught out and now he has egg on his face.

So, Steven, can we infer you agree the army should face defamation charges for their 900+ fake twitter accounts that have been removed? You know - the ones promoting Thing one and Thing Two and defaming the opposition? 

 

 

  • Popular Post
Just now, rkidlad said:

So, Steven, can we infer you agree the army should face defamation charges for their 900+ fake twitter accounts that have been removed? You know - the ones promoting Thing one and Thing Two and defaming the opposition? 

 

 

The guy refuses to pay the standard corkage charge.

The guy then writes defamatory posts which were supposedly lies on not one or two sites but many.

 

what do you think .....  If I was the hotel owner I'd sue him too

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

The guy refuses to pay the standard corkage charge.

The guy then writes defamatory posts which were supposedly lies on not one or two sites but many.

 

what do you think .....  If I was the hotel owner I'd sue him too

That's the owner's prerogative. He can sue 'til the cows come home. After all, this should be a civil case and not a criminal one.

 

As for my question about suing the Thai Army for their fake twitter accounts spreading lies, you agree, right? 

3 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

That's the owner's prerogative. He can sue 'til the cows come home. After all, this should be a civil case and not a criminal one.

 

As for my question about suing the Thai Army for their fake twitter accounts spreading lies, you agree, right? 

I just don't get your thinking on a lack of common sense and practicality sometimes.  

The guy did wrong but you try to turn it around. 

Try doing what he did in Australia and see if you get off with an apology.  Try posting in any country with lies on many websites and see what happens, i'm sure you be sued in most of them and especially in the US.   LOL

As for your other question on army tweets, I don't follow twitter or army tweets so I cannot comment.

 

All the nights what i have stayed in hotel, i have only one time write review and yes was bad! Hotel was Crown Regency Cebu City Philippines. (dont ever go there if you are in Cebu).

This what happen: We (my ex and i ) had first room in 15 floor, then they start paint something in corridor and smell was really bad, i ask chance room. Ok they chance us in 22 floor. In 22 floor going main elevator  was broken. So to get room need take 2 different elevator, first going 16 floor and chance there to get 22 floor! Internet not working in 22 floor, what i was paid (need that time to do job)! Nothing happen when i ask about it! From where we was (floor 22) i need to go front of hotel to smoke. Once i was smoke and same time 2 full bus of chinese coming in hotel, take me over houer back in room whit 2 elevator full of chinese! I had also issue to take taxi, coz chinese! I solve that problem (give head of security 500 peso's) after that he push chinese away when saw me, and ask taxi Sir! That was main sht what i remember lol. After week i chance hotel whitout refund! Had booked for 3 weeks! F them and they sht! 

  • Popular Post
1 hour ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

They just don't get it do they?
Had they not charged him with Defamation and put him in Jail for 2 days in the first place those media outlets wouldn't have reported about it.

Had he not posted false claims online to defame the hotel, he wouldn’t have ended up in jail with a defamation case and media outlets wouldn’t have reported about it. 

31 minutes ago, steven100 said:

exactly as I said before .....  The guy was probably half cut when he got there and refused to pay the corkage, then defamed the hotel by lying to the media. 

Please Please tell me which LIE?
No one seems to be able to answer this very simple question.

1 minute ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Had he not posted false claims online to defame the hotel, he wouldn’t have ended up in jail with a defamation case and media outlets wouldn’t have reported about it. 

Which false claims exactly? That the manager was a Czech?

5 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I just don't get your thinking on a lack of common sense and practicality sometimes.  

The guy did wrong but you try to turn it around. 

Try doing what he did in Australia and see if you get off with an apology.  Try posting in any country with lies on many websites and see what happens, i'm sure you be sued in most of them and especially in the US.   LOL

As for your other question on army tweets, I don't follow twitter or army tweets so I cannot comment.

 

So he'd have gone to jail in Australia over this? Amazing. 

 

Let me make the latter question more simple; If someone is proved to have created hundreds of fake accounts to promote one thing and criticize another, should they also be sued and sent to jail? 

  • Popular Post
1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

The regime has once again decided to protect the bigger guy, over the smaller guy. This will not go over well, internationally. Everyone will see right through this badly engineered PR stunt. When faced with jail, and who knows what else, many of us would prefer to "apologize". 

Further, again and again we see the Thai tourism minister(s) with their finger in the pie, IMHO the minister should have jumped in and behind the scenes generated a quick settlement/ closure on this matter, so that it didn't become a big and globally known incident, he didn't. Publicity like this doesn't help Thai tourism. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

Which false claims exactly?

 

8C4F4BBE-5C4E-4E4C-873A-1A059EC6C8E0.jpeg

Edited by welovesundaysatspace

10 minutes ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

Please Please tell me which LIE?
No one seems to be able to answer this very simple question.

Don't understand also how opinion can be lie! I don't think nobody think review's are fact?

Edited by 2 is 1

  • Popular Post
2 hours ago, Solinvictus said:

I too have studied dogs. Sometimes they put their tail down. He works here too though. Damn, they are all about 'making a wrong a right.' Petty, in my view.

 

But IMO, it is still a big inconvenience to not be able to bring in me own drink.

So should you also be able to take Fries, say bought at KFC, into the restaurant to eat? Or buy cans of Singha from 7-11 and quaff them in the hotel's bar?

Eating or drinking in the privacy of your own room is fine, but not in the public bar or restaurant

Edited by stouricks

Typical Thai way ! Photos and b*****it.  

8 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Further, again and again we see the Thai tourism minister(s) with their finger in the pie, IMHO the minister should have jumped in and behind the scenes generated a quick settlement/ closure on this matter, so that it didn't become a big and globally known incident, he didn't. Publicity like this doesn't help Thai tourism. 

 

 

Yes and that's good ! Because Thai tourism needs taught some hard lessons 

15 hours ago, Seismic said:

You can bring in your own drink, but like establishments all over the world they charge a corkage fee. This is a common and well accepted practice.

 

Not in any of the scores of Thai hotels I have stayed in.  Not once been asked for corkage in 40 years.

  • Popular Post

He must have had an actual greivance to get so wound up as to post bad reviews on multiple sites. In my opinion, they all lose! Who wants to go to a hotel infamous for prosecuting guests who write reviews? Who wants to visit a country where the police and hotel gang up on a guy and make him jump through all these hoops to ensure he doesn't get prosecuted. The bar is so low for prosecution that this poor chap probably had no other recourse.

10 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

So he'd have gone to jail in Australia over this? Amazing. 

 

Let me make the latter question more simple; If someone is proved to have created hundreds of fake accounts to promote one thing and criticize another, should they also be sued and sent to jail? 

Well I would expect in Australia you would have to front court that's for sure, then the court would determine if you should be punished by way of jail time or not, but it doesn't happen overnight.

As for the latter question ....  If the criticism is true and correct then there has been no attempt or implied defamatory against the other party and as such would be deemed non-liable.   imo

But i'm not a lawyer ..   lol

6 minutes ago, steven100 said:

Well I would expect in Australia you would have to front court that's for sure, then the court would determine if you should be punished by way of jail time or not, but it doesn't happen overnight.

As for the latter question ....  If the criticism is true and correct then there has been no attempt or implied defamatory against the other party and as such would be deemed non-liable.   imo

But i'm not a lawyer ..   lol

No, this simply wouldn't happen in Australia. 

 

So.........what if these accounts were paid for by the tax payer? What if they were pretending to be normal members of the public but were really just soldiers promoting the government and criticizing the opposition? Would you be okay with this kind of use of tax payer's funds? 

Edited by rkidlad

  • Popular Post
1 hour ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

They just don't get it do they?
Had they not charged him with Defamation and put him in Jail for 2 days in the first place those media outlets wouldn't have reported about it.

Yup. 

 

It is all about winning and saving face here. They really don't care how they appear to outsiders. 

16 minutes ago, trucking said:

 

Not in any of the scores of Thai hotels I have stayed in.  Not once been asked for corkage in 40 years.

How is that relevant? 

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