Fill in the blank.  Not meant to be a Thai bashing thread; there are plenty, already.  It is meant to be a wake-up call to businesses, all whom are struggling.  A few small changes might be the difference in failure and survival.  What are your pet peeves?  What needs to change at some establishments to get your business?

The businesses that give me good service and products get my repeat business. The ones that don't, don't.

Places that charge Falang price or have dual pricing are boycotted

any place that first serves a Thai customer who has jumped the queue and stepped in front of me, solely on the basis that he is Thai and I am not.  It happened to me yesterday, with a teenage kid who by definition has not lived in Thailand as long as I have. I have lived here for 25 years. 

Restaurants and bars that force me to inhale cigarette smoke.

I would like to point out that this problem is much smaller in Thailand then in Europe.

I am unlikely to do business with a place that - is closed.

I am unlikely to do business with a place that - doesn't sell anything I want.

I am unlikely to do business with a place that - sells left handed appliances.

I am unlikely to do business with a place that - sells second hand alcohol.

Just a couple of amusing experiences. 

 

I recently went to a local mini mart. Bought six bottles of soda water. The old guy told me I had to pay 5 baht deposit, per bottle. I said ok. Went back with my bottles later, and wanted to buy some more. He quoted me a price that did not take into account my 30 baht deposit. I said I get the deposit back, and then pay you for the water, right? He said no, the deposit is one way! I would have been upset, if I was not laughing so hard. I said no, farang is one way, that way, toward the road, and never come back. I took my bottles and left. It was well worth it. Have been telling that story to my friends for weeks. We all love it!

 

I have had dozens and dozens of these kinds of encounters here in LOS. Always amazed by them. There is a complete disregard for the future, for future patronage, for the idea of loyalty, and rewarding you for such. It has happened with merchants I had been dealing with for years. Over tiny amounts of money. Of course, they lose me for life. But, they do not seem to care one iota.

I am a business owner. I will do nearly anything to retain a loyal customer. Whatever it takes. A full refund, an exchange, just tell me what you want. Here? None of that. Tomorrow? Why think about tomorrow, when I can make an extra 30 baht today?
The tale of the One Way store. Great stuff. You could not make this stuff up, if you tried!

 

I was recently with a group of friends, and we wanted to order a bottle of wine, at one of those higher end restaurants in the EmQuartier complex. It was Bella Rocca Restaurant. I asked about a 2300 baht 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir.

 

Wait a minute. You have 300 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 15,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wines? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High spending tourists and ex-pats have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service.

 

I know some on here will knock me for this, and call me a wine snob. Saw that coming. Just not true. Simply a customer willing to pay real money for a great meal, with excellent service. A pet peeve? Perhaps. Unwarranted? I don't think so. Not with the over inflated wine prices here. 

 

Service levels are simply very low on average. Specially when you come more often, they think you will accept any behavior then.

 

I just decided to drop an entire area of CM where I frequented multiple businesses and spend over 20K baht a month because of that. After all the years, I am just done with it (even not all is bad but just better to move on).

 

I learned that I have to spend big money in TH to get proper service or suck it up. I essentially avoid dealing with Thais as much as possible for this reason. I do this for example by ordering many things online or sending someone else for me to get things done.

 

Might sounds so sour and negative but really am not. I also like Thai people, as long its surface contact and chit chat only.

     I will likely still do business with this store, as there aren't a lot of choices with large hardware/home stores,  but I hate when a store has things on display and you call a sales clerk over and say, "I want to buy that item", only to get the answer, "We don't carry that any more."  Huh?   If you no longer carry the item, why still have it on display for sale, wasting space?

    I remember one time my partner and I had spent quite some time picking out kitchen cabinet handles, only to get this no answer.  We searched some more, came up with a second choice--same answer.  Finally we wised up and asked what did the store have?  Turns out, not much. 

    When we were doing our View Talay renovations, we found a 2 seat dining set that we especially liked at an independent furniture store out on Sukumvit.  The set was stylish, comfortable, just the right size, and a good price. We bought at least 3 sets and when we went back to buy another set the sales clerk said they stopped carrying the set because it kept selling out.  Again, huh?

11 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Service levels are simply very low on average. Specially when you come more often, they think you will accept any behavior then.

 

I just decided to drop an entire area of CM where I frequented multiple businesses and spend over 20K baht a month because of that. After all the years, I am just done with it (even not all is bad but just better to move on).

 

I learned that I have to spend big money in TH to get proper service or suck it up. I essentially avoid dealing with Thais as much as possible for this reason. I do this for example by ordering many things online or sending someone else for me to get things done.

 

Might sounds so sour and negative but really am not. I also like Thai people, as long its surface contact and chit chat only.

Sounds like Nimmanhaemin...they think they can get away with anything.  Read the TripAdvisor reviews of some of those places selling 300 THB beers.  Vote with your feet and wallet..

Farang business with an American flag or any other alt-right contraband. 

21 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Just a couple of amusing experiences. 

 

I recently went to a local mini mart. Bought six bottles of soda water. The old guy told me I had to pay 5 baht deposit, per bottle. I said ok. Went back with my bottles later, and wanted to buy some more. He quoted me a price that did not take into account my 30 baht deposit. I said I get the deposit back, and then pay you for the water, right? He said no, the deposit is one way! I would have been upset, if I was not laughing so hard. I said no, farang is one way, that way, toward the road, and never come back. I took my bottles and left. It was well worth it. Have been telling that story to my friends for weeks. We all love it!

 

I have had dozens and dozens of these kinds of encounters here in LOS. Always amazed by them. There is a complete disregard for the future, for future patronage, for the idea of loyalty, and rewarding you for such. It has happened with merchants I had been dealing with for years. Over tiny amounts of money. Of course, they lose me for life. But, they do not seem to care one iota.

I am a business owner. I will do nearly anything to retain a loyal customer. Whatever it takes. A full refund, an exchange, just tell me what you want. Here? None of that. Tomorrow? Why think about tomorrow, when I can make an extra 30 baht today?
The tale of the One Way store. Great stuff. You could not make this stuff up, if you tried!

 

I was recently with a group of friends, and we wanted to order a bottle of wine, at one of those higher end restaurants in the EmQuartier complex. It was Bella Rocca Restaurant. I asked about a 2300 baht 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir.

 

Wait a minute. You have 300 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 15,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wines? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High spending tourists and ex-pats have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service.

 

I know some on here will knock me for this, and call me a wine snob. Saw that coming. Just not true. Simply a customer willing to pay real money for a great meal, with excellent service. A pet peeve? Perhaps. Unwarranted? I don't think so. Not with the over inflated wine prices here. 

 

Part of the problem is outrageous taxes on wines.  But, shooting themselves in both feet is their trademark.

Just now, ShindenGo said:

Farang business with an American flag or any other alt-right contraband. 

I skip all the Scandie flag places.  All style, little substance..and higher prices.

Gov.UK for my wife's visas. 11 years and 16 visas, a small fortune, the system changes each time we apply.  Their IT system is a joke and to cap it all their system locked me out on one occasion and they then charged me to re-fund the application fee.

It took 15 months and a written request by my MP in the UK before they refunded me. I quoted the Sale of Goods act to them on numerous occasions and they ignored this legislation. 

 

There are numerous non-Brits that had similar problems with the IT system and I presume they didn't have the knowledge or determination to take on the UK Home Office.

4 minutes ago, moontang said:

Part of the problem is outrageous taxes on wines.  But, shooting themselves in both feet is their trademark.

So, knowing that and being asked to pay dumb prices for a modest bottle of wine, one expects some knowledge and service. Just too much to ask. 

16 minutes ago, moontang said:

Sounds like Nimmanhaemin...they think they can get away with anything.  Read the TripAdvisor reviews of some of those places selling 300 THB beers.  Vote with your feet and wallet..

Oh no, not at all. Actually nimman might be the only place where they do have some quality and service at places. But yeah it is expensive in most places, anywhere in TH, if wanting that...

 

The area I meant was actually most of old city, the gate, loy kroh and surroundings, night bazar (until the river basically).

Restaurants that "specialise" in Seafood AND Steak AND Pork

Even ordering a few simple things from TOPS seems to be too difficult for most of the Grab drivers. 

 

Ordered kiwi's, milk, coconuts and some juices. Texting me 10 times, to after 45 minutes tell me, half can't be found and if I am ok with something entirely different. Order cancelled, guy wasted his own time and earned zero. No brains really.

 

 

There's a mom and pop shop near my condo. I always used them instead of 711 to support a local business. I spent about 3000 Baht a month in there on water, beer, snacks, eggs, milk etc.

 

So one day the old lady tells me the price of a can of beer has gone up 8 Baht. I asked why. She said the government will increase the tax on alcohol tomorrow (which was true). So I said (politely) first of all you don't know the new price yet because it hasn't been announced, and even if you did you bought this can at the old price so why are you increasing it already. She looked bewildered, shocked even. So I put the can back on the shelf and never used that shop again. The next day the price at most shops went up 2 Baht per can due to the government increase.

 

That was over 3 years ago. 3000 Baht for 36 months is over 100,000 Baht of business. Because she couldn't resist trying to scam 8 Baht. She always gives me a dirty look now when I go next door, like I should be ashamed of myself ????.

1 minute ago, JonnyF said:

That was over 3 years ago. 3000 Baht for 36 months is over 100,000 Baht of business. Because she couldn't resist trying to scam 8 Baht. She always gives me a dirty look now when I go next door, like I should be ashamed of myself ????.

That last sentence exactly right, they manage to mess up big time, then not correct themselves + dare to give you a bad look when not coming back too LOL. I genuinely felt sorry for many businesses that lost my spendings but they didn't deserve it anymore too.

lol - I'd love to see the state of service in the west where people are being paid less than a $1 an hour with no benefits, I'm sure you would get all the a** kissing from the wine stewards and chefs at those establishments, sometimes you just can't make this **** up, it has to come from the mouths of the best complainers on the planet, the westerners..

4 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

lol - I'd love to see the state of service in the west where people are being paid less than a $1 an hour with no benefits, I'm sure you would get all the a** kissing from the wine stewards and chefs at those establishments, sometimes you just can't make this **** up, it has to come from the mouths of the best complainers on the planet, the westerners..

If you could give someone an apartment for 50 dollars per month, and only charge them 30 THB to go to the hospital, you might have quite a few takers of the buck an hour wage..in the US. 

7 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

lol - I'd love to see the state of service in the west where people are being paid less than a $1 an hour with no benefits, I'm sure you would get all the a** kissing from the wine stewards and chefs at those establishments, sometimes you just can't make this **** up, it has to come from the mouths of the best complainers on the planet, the westerners..

 

The current  minimum wage in the UK is £8.72, that's $11.63 for someone over 24 at the moment, XE.com so where you got a dollar an hour from gawd only knows, as you couldn't get the basics right I didn't bother with rest of your drivel.

24 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

lol - I'd love to see the state of service in the west where people are being paid less than a $1 an hour with no benefits, I'm sure you would get all the a** kissing from the wine stewards and chefs at those establishments, sometimes you just can't make this **** up, it has to come from the mouths of the best complainers on the planet, the westerners..

You are totally wrong there. First of all you have to compare it to costs and secondly you can't even find people working for less than 15-20K baht a month, which is nearly the same as Spanish and Portugese get with all their costs in EURO. Never heard them complain or use that as excuse to not offer service.

 

Last but not least, Cambodians working for way less but being very very service minded too. Vietnamese too.

 

Not to mention we nowadays also pay nearly the same (or more with for example wine and beer) than it costs in all those countries. And I hope you understand we are not talking about the service at a 50 baht pad thai street food place here.

1 minute ago, ChaiyaTH said:

You are totally wrong there. First of all you have to compare it to costs and secondly you can't even find people working for less than 15-20K baht a month, which is nearly the same as Spanish and Portugese get with all their costs in EURO. Never heard them complain or use that as excuse to not offer service.

 

Last but not least, Cambodians working for way less but being very very service minded too. Vietnamese too.

 

Not to mention we nowadays also pay nearly the same (or more with for example wine and beer) than it costs in all those countries.

when I went to Spain the staffing was mostly folks from the UK who worked for peanuts because then they could have a working holiday - or so I was told. As far as the costs, it's all relevant. And you should pay more for your imported drugs here, that's how it works..

7 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

when I went to Spain the staffing was mostly folks from the UK who worked for peanuts because then they could have a working holiday - or so I was told. As far as the costs, it's all relevant. And you should pay more for your imported drugs here, that's how it works..

You were told fantasy stories then. Salaries for locals can be as low as 600-700 euro a month, 900-1000 is very decent and 1400 means a lot. The beer is not imported and wine can also be found in the region, again nonsense talk, if true, it wasn't cheap in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam too.

 

Anyway, when I have to pay 250-300 baht per glass of wine, I expect the staff to at least smile and tell me a story.

11 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

You were told fantasy stories then. Salaries for locals can be as low as 600-700 euro a month, 900-1000 is very decent and 1400 means a lot. The beer is not imported and wine can also be found in the region, again nonsense talk, if true, it wasn't cheap in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam too.

, all I've read about for years on this site was how expensive this imported 'box' wine (lol) is and that the local beer is garbage blah blah. I really don't care about any of it, in my opinion, many who drink are basically doing it to enlarge their testicles by ingesting a drug that gives them courage in social situations.  I just know most Thais are paid a lot less, and live a much harder life than the majority of working westerners. Most westerners wouldn't survive a week in the same situation here, especially the legions of whiners that populate this website..

20 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

, all I've read about for years on this site was how expensive this imported 'box' wine (lol) is and that the local beer is garbage blah blah. I really don't care about any of it, in my opinion, many who drink are basically doing it to enlarge their testicles by ingesting a drug that gives them courage in social situations.  I just know most Thais are paid a lot less, and live a much harder life than the majority of working westerners. Most westerners wouldn't survive a week in the same situation here, especially the legions of whiners that populate this website..

You simply talk rubbish, and that it is your opinion says much about you in fact. You are comparing apples with pears too.

 

You assume a lot, your basics and intel is wrong and off too. I actually lived on 15K for almost a year in my 3rd year in Thailand, between jobs and business. It was a very nice life compared to minimum wage in various European countries I lived too. Could rent an nice apartment for 2K a month, go to the movies every wednesdays, still eat out all the time and have left for some entertainment too.

 

There is few Thais i feel sorry for, in most cases they are lazy to improve their life and job situation themselves.

6 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

You simply talk rubbish, and that it is your opinion says much about you in fact. You are comparing apples with pears too.

 

You assume a lot, your basics and intel is wrong and off too. I actually lived on 15K for almost a year in my 3rd year in Thailand, between jobs and business. It was a very nice life compared to minimum wage in various European countries I lived too. Could rent an nice apartment for 2K a month, go to the movies every wednesdays, still eat out all the time and have left for some entertainment too.

hope you left enough to get laid once a year!

Just now, from the home of CC said:

hope you left enough to get laid once a year!

Unlike you, I was 24 years old at that time, and by renting the 2K apartment I met lots of students who just wanted some SangSom.