The Perils Of A Consumer Complaint In LOS

[Brewster67]

A member of my Thai family recently made a Facebook post mocking the blatant deception of a packaged food product, cheafly the fact that the packaging was unreasonably 5 times bigger than the contents to make the consumer think they were getting way more than they were actually getting.

 

Someone shared that post to the page of the company that produced said product. The result was they got a visit from the police and threatened with court action if they did not remove the post from Facebook.

 

This is not the first time I have come across this in Thailand. Look at the Andy Hall case where he was being sued for $10 million for breaching anti-defamation laws against a pinapple canning company or recently a farang who complained that his covid hotel experience was terrible and ended up being arrested.

 

In Thailand the truth doesn't matter, the justice system will ALWAYS find in favour of a big company against a mere peasant when it comes to defamation laws.

 

This is a stark reminder that the legal system here contains zero consumer protection rights, it is there to protect the big guy from the little guy rather than to protect consumers.

[bobandyson]

Thais can't handle the TRUTH!!!!!!!

????

 

[Swiss1960]

OP: you are mixing defamation and consumer protection 

1) yes, the Thai defamation / computer crime acts make it a CRIME to speak the truth, if somebody might lose face / reputation because of that. This law protects the government and all other rich and powerful people and nobody else. It's ridiculous and should be scrapped but we know this will never happen. 

2) Consumer protection law exists and is actually quite useful for normal people. If you are REALLY cheated (I.e. not getting what you ordered, warranty not honoured etc), you report it through police / consumer protection office and you WILL be able to win, but it is not a fast process.

 

I personally had a case against a motorbike company, and after the consumer protection office in Pattaya city hall talked with them, I got money back.

[KannikaP]

I bought a chest freezer via  Lazada 18 months ago when Covid started, Bht 6000. It had 2 years warranty. After 18 months ice started building up around the lid corners, so after a Line call to their Customer department, a man came out and fitted a new rubber seal to the lid., which, as I had guessed, made no difference. Two weeks later he came back and said 'oh, you have it on No 3 instead of No 6', so I put it on No 6. No difference. I suggested to the company that it was a design fault, and the only solution was a replacement. Two weeks later we got a new freezer.

It is still not right, but I shall hold my horses with any further complaint, and definitely not say anything on social media.

[malibukid]

11 hours ago, KannikaP said:

I bought a chest freezer via  Lazada 18 months ago when Covid started, Bht 6000. It had 2 years warranty. After 18 months ice started building up around the lid corners, so after a Line call to their Customer department, a man came out and fitted a new rubber seal to the lid., which, as I had guessed, made no difference. Two weeks later he came back and said 'oh, you have it on No 3 instead of No 6', so I put it on No 6. No difference. I suggested to the company that it was a design fault, and the only solution was a replacement. Two weeks later we got a new freezer.

It is still not right, but I shall hold my horses with any further complaint, and definitely not say anything on social media.

be very careful with Lazada, i have had problems with them when i wanted to return something for a refund that i had bought on their site.  they did not back me up.  i had to go through my credit card company.  still never got a refund after submitting all the paper work.  it was a Thai retailer.  i always shop directly now with retailers in Singapore. Lazada does not screen their associates well.  caveat emptor.

[Classic Ray]

I tried several times to buy branded SD cards through Lazada, each time they turned out to be counterfeit and my money was returned by Lazada, but the traders still advertise them.

 

Luckily I discovered InvadeIT in Pattaya who order genuine cards direct from the manufacturers. They are not cheap but you get what you pay for and they have excellent customer service.

[stereolab]

Would this refer to a lemongrass tea product ?, I bought a packet, at the same I bought a peach tea packet, there were 20 peach tea sachets, but only 8 of the lemongrass . The external  packaging  does actually  show  the package  contains  8 sachets, very clever internal packaging.

I got both at less than half-price.

[tonray]

14 hours ago, bobandyson said:

Thais can't handle the TRUTH!!!!!!!

????

 

But in reality, isn't that why most of us old  codgers are here ?

[ifmu]

47 minutes ago, tonray said:

But in reality, isn't that why most of us old  codgers are here ?

that's funny  ...           

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, malibukid said:

be very careful with Lazada, i have had problems with them when i wanted to return something for a refund that i had bought on their site.  they did not back me up.  i had to go through my credit card company.  still never got a refund after submitting all the paper work.  it was a Thai retailer.  i always shop directly now with retailers in Singapore. Lazada does not screen their associates well.  caveat emptor.

I have had no problems returning items for a refund with Lazada. I usually pay cash on delivery and the refund goes into my Wallet. But I shall take your advice and be careful which companies I buy from.

[Bangkok Barry]

15 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

In Thailand the truth doesn't matter, the justice system will ALWAYS find in favour of a big company against a mere peasant when it comes to defamation laws.

If I remember correctly, the court eventually decided in favour of Andy Hall. So, not always, only 99.9% of the time.

[Guderian]

The safest way to lodge a complaint is via your local Consumer Protection Department. If they accept the case then they know how to handle these matters, though you personally might not get much satisfaction. If they say that you're just making a fuss over nothing then at least you know where you stand in this culture, regardless of our "Western" standards of truth and fairness. In Pattaya, the Consumer Protection Dept is at City Hall, and I've seen stories of a few people who've had positive outcomes there.

[swm59nj]

       I purchased a rice cooker from a major department store in Bangkok.  It only cost 650 baht.  It stopped working after about six weeks. It was a popular brand I have seen here in Thailand.

        I had all my receipts and the box.  A Thai friend suggested to go to the store and speak with customer service.   She would speak with them. The store was a ten minute walk from my condo.  

        So someone from customer service helped us.  He tested the cooker and saw it did not work.  I thought they would just exchange it for another one or refund my money.  Instead they kept it and told my friend they will send it out for repair at no charge.  She said they wont give me a replacement or refund.  And they told my friend it will take a long time to repair it.

        The repair might cost more than the item is worth LOL.  If I ever see the item again.  I do have a repair ticket.

[swm59nj]

      I was giving an example of complaints as the topic states.  It doesnt matter what the cost is.  I think the people that read these forums to belittle people.  Maybe their lives are too short because they are miserable and have nothing else to do.

[huangnon]

Lodge any complaints with the company you ordered from. There is a procedure to do this, and most companies here (in my experience) will help if you have a genuine grievance. Police or consumer protection channels are available if the company is not responding

Mocking them publicly on social media is not a good way to sort anything out.

[topt]

3 hours ago, Classic Ray said:

Luckily I discovered InvadeIT in Pattaya

If you mean the online retailer I think you will find they are based in or near Hua Hin.......

[Thingamabob]

I have my doubts about this post. I doubt that the Thai police would have been involved. Anyway, there are  procedures to be followed. Initially approach the supplier and, if that fails, the Thai Consumer Protection  authority. Latter were very helpful in the case of a family member's complaint.

[brianthainess]

2 hours ago, swm59nj said:

       I purchased a rice cooker from a major department store in Bangkok.  It only cost 650 baht.  It stopped working after about six weeks. It was a popular brand I have seen here in Thailand.

        I had all my receipts and the box.  A Thai friend suggested to go to the store and speak with customer service.   She would speak with them. The store was a ten minute walk from my condo.  

        So someone from customer service helped us.  He tested the cooker and saw it did not work.  I thought they would just exchange it for another one or refund my money.  Instead they kept it and told my friend they will send it out for repair at no charge.  She said they wont give me a replacement or refund.  And they told my friend it will take a long time to repair it.

        The repair might cost more than the item is worth LOL.  If I ever see the item again.  I do have a repair ticket.

Same when i got a tv that stopped working, will take 3 months for manufacturer to repair, 3 months without a tv !! got it repaired myself.

[seajae]

3 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Same when i got a tv that stopped working, will take 3 months for manufacturer to repair, 3 months without a tv !! got it repaired myself.

same here, wife bought 8 tvs for our new units, they came and set them all up, then when students moved in one didnt work, shop refused to refund or replace, they sent it off to be repaired and made us wait several months so we gave the student the tv from our bedroom while twe waited for it, the shop person that set them up would have known one was no good but said nothing and the shop would not accept fault, tv's were a good japanese brand too, these days we buy no electricals unless they test them first

[Fairynuff]

When times were a bit more normal I traveled a lot in and out f Thailand. I always found TripAdvisor useful and always shared my honest opinions to help other travellers and support the hotels and restaurants that did a great job. Being honest also meant giving bad reviews. Since the high profile case a couple of years ago I no longer post any reviews in Thailand, good or bad.

[Srikcir]

Posting consumer complaints on FB can be triple jeopardy:

-Violation of the Compter Act

-Civil Defamation 

-Criminal Defamation (sometimes arising out of a civil defamation)

Best to contact Consumer Protection, manufacturer, distributor. And be nice, get a Thai to present your issue.

My experience.

[Puccini]

22 hours ago, Brewster67 said:

A member of my Thai family recently made a Facebook post mocking the blatant deception of a packaged food product, cheafly the fact that the packaging was unreasonably 5 times bigger than the contents to make the consumer think they were getting way more than they were actually getting...

Back to the OP.

 

Question: What harm did the person who made the Facebook suffer from the product she mocked?

 

Answer: None.

[Phredd]

The Truth remains the Truth, no matter how it is Believed. Yes, and only the Truth Hurts. ????

[Puccini]

3 hours ago, Phredd said:

The Truth remains the Truth, no matter how it is Believed. Yes, and only the Truth Hurts. ????

What is the truth in the case of the OP?

 

The mass or volume of the content of the packaged food container is by law stated clearly on the label. Are you suggesting that the truth is that the person (hereafter referred to with the pronouns she and her) who made the allegedly defamatory Facebook post does not know how to read, ie is illiterate, and that this truth is hurting her?

[malibukid]

Lazada does not screen its partners well enough.  remember where you are.

[Gaccha]

On 9/25/2021 at 7:05 PM, Puccini said:

What is the truth in the case of the OP?

 

The mass or volume of the content of the packaged food container is by law stated clearly on the label. Are you suggesting that the truth is that the person (hereafter referred to with the pronouns she and her) who made the allegedly defamatory Facebook post does not know how to read, ie is illiterate, and that this truth is hurting her?

I think this is more my experience. 

 

When I see posts ranting about Lazada or Shopee experiences, I can't help but feel so many didn't do the simplest steps of due diligence. Check the product details (not rely on the photo), check the seller has a +95% satisfaction score, obey the simple rules to obtain a product refund.

 

Similarly, when I see reviews on Agoda or Facebook I am struck by how warped, odd, eccentric, trivial the complaints are.

 

I've ordered hundreds of items off Lazada. I pay by debit card. I've had to return two items. In the first case, the company sent a delivery rider to take the wrong product back and then immediately delivered the correct item.

 

In the other case, the electronic item was broken. I sent it to Lazada as required in their procedure. They independently inspected it within the assigned 5 days window and refunded the money. The company itself was extremely apologetic because they didn't want a bad rating on their Lazada score.

 

The companies with reputations will follow reasonable complaints or they'll die out. Stop ordering from 1-day-old sellers with no reputational scores based on photos.

 

It is ok to have an open mind but not so open your brain falls out. 

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 9/25/2021 at 9:28 AM, swm59nj said:

       I purchased a rice cooker from a major department store in Bangkok.  It only cost 650 baht.  It stopped working after about six weeks. It was a popular brand I have seen here in Thailand.

        I had all my receipts and the box.  A Thai friend suggested to go to the store and speak with customer service.   She would speak with them. The store was a ten minute walk from my condo.  

        So someone from customer service helped us.  He tested the cooker and saw it did not work.  I thought they would just exchange it for another one or refund my money.  Instead they kept it and told my friend they will send it out for repair at no charge.  She said they wont give me a replacement or refund.  And they told my friend it will take a long time to repair it.

        The repair might cost more than the item is worth LOL.  If I ever see the item again.  I do have a repair ticket.

Wife  had  similar with a bag from the people that dont make  jam company or the Grdauate Dustin Hoffmans affair. movie woman...........sent for repair, never  heard  back, finally  admitted theyd  lost it, offered  vouchers krap.............koo koo kachoo mrs.... jesus  loves  ya  more than you  will  know

[MRToMRT]

With Lazada I now stick to established suppliers. I have a 99% good experience but have had two scammy episodes which really put me off. I did get my money back in the end but I just don't want to go through that kind of stuff. 

[bbko]

IMO there's a right way and a wrong way to complain in the "Land of Smiles".  If I have a problem or "complaint" with an establishment I report it to them but with a smile on my face and no anger in my tone.  It's been working for me for over a decade.