Thai train station offers refund after Facebook complaint over unexpected 100 baht fee

[snoop1130]

 

A popular Facebook page shared a complaint about train station staff closing ticket booths and directing passengers to purchase tickets on-board, leading to an additional 100 baht fee. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has since clarified the situation and offered a refund.

 

A local train passenger yesterday took to the famous Facebook page อยากดังเดี๋ยวจัดให้ รีเทริน์ part 6 to express concern over an incident at a train station. The passenger revealed that, due to a long queue, they could not buy a ticket before the train’s arrival. The ticket booth was subsequently closed, and everyone in line was directed to buy tickets on the train.

 

Once on board, passengers were charged an additional 100 baht (US$3) fee by the ticket inspectors. This fee was imposed on all passengers who had not been able to purchase their tickets earlier, including students.

 

The passenger questioned who was responsible for the incident, as it seemed unfair for those who had done nothing wrong but had to bear the additional cost of 100 baht, which could have otherwise been spent on two meals, reported Sanook.

 

By Samantha Rose

Caption: Picture courtesy of อยากดังเดี๋ยวจัดให้ รีเทริน์ part 6 Facebook

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-10-25

 

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[MartinBangkok]

The corruption in this country is nauseating..

[peter zwart]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

The ticket booth was subsequently closed

There is a time for work (not long) and there is a long time for sleep and eat

[NoDisplayName]

15 minutes ago, MartinBangkok said:

The corruption in this country is nauseating..

 

not really.

well, at least not in this case.

 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

The passenger revealed that, due to a long queue, they could not buy a ticket before the train’s arrival. The ticket booth was subsequently closed, and everyone in line was directed to buy tickets on the train.

 

trains only in the station for a short time, often only a couple minutes.  gotta cut off ticket sales some time.

 

but sure, sell tickets as the train is loading and/or beginning to pull away, and get all the moaning about lax safety standards when granny gets her legs chopped off as she falls under the wheels running to board the train at the last second.

 

or.............what the hell is wrong with these people?  are they unable to plan arriving at the station with enough time to purchase a ticket.

[Foxx]

11 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

what the hell is wrong with these people?  are they unable to plan arriving at the station with enough time to purchase a ticket.

Because of regular train delays, the ticket offices for local trains will only begin selling tickets 10-15 minutes before the train is expected to arrive.  Nothing wrong with "these people", which is more than I can say for "NoDisplayName".

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, MartinBangkok said:

The corruption in this country is nauseating..

Explain the corruption here please. Did you even read the article?

 

Buy tickets on a train in the UK and you pay a huge premium. It seems it wasn't these peoples' fault they couldn't buy at the office and had to pay the standard 100 additional fee to buy with the inspector on a train. This is common the world over to encourage people to book in advance for easier management of passenger numbers.

 

Also there is a MASSIVE PICTURE of the receipt for the 100 baht booking fee. So, again, did you read the article or look at the MASSIVE PICTURE?  Where is the corruption when you get a receipt?

Finally, this happened to THREE PASSENGERS and they all got a refund as it wasn't their fault the ticket office closed. This would not have happened in the UK. Again, please explain the corruption here, I am waiting for your insight.

So many posters here write hysterical ridiculous responses based on a headline and not reading anything, it winds me up (in case you couldn't tell).

Care to elaborate on the corruption please Mr Marin Bangkok?

[observer90210]

Amazing how every petty clerk behind the counter can make up their own rules that ultimately lead to appologies  from the HQ regarding the....the ? ...ah yes...the "misunderstanding". In western nations such people would plainly be sacked on the spot.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, MartinBangkok said:

The corruption in this country is nauseating..

What was described in the OP was not "corruption", it was a one-off that happened at one station and the, inappropriately applied, but legitimate fee was being refunded.

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The ticket booth was subsequently closed, and everyone in line was directed to buy tickets on the train.

 

Once on board, passengers were charged an additional 100 baht (US$3) fee by the ticket inspectors. This fee was imposed on all passengers who had not been able to purchase their tickets earlier, including students.

Pee-up in a brewery springs to mind.

[Bangkok Barry]

9 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

or.............what the hell is wrong with these people?  are they unable to plan arriving at the station with enough time to purchase a ticket.

Exactly. But that means planning ahead, organising yourself, common sense.

[mikebell]

There are inordinate queues in every walk of Thai life as the workers are unable to keep their eye on the job and wander off or chat with fellow workers.  I sat for nearly 30 minutes in a Bangkok Bank whilst the four staff handled the TWO customers in front of me.

[new2here]

13 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

not really.

well, at least not in this case.

 

 

trains only in the station for a short time, often only a couple minutes.  gotta cut off ticket sales some time.

 

but sure, sell tickets as the train is loading and/or beginning to pull away, and get all the moaning about lax safety standards when granny gets her legs chopped off as she falls under the wheels running to board the train at the last second.

 

or.............what the hell is wrong with these people?  are they unable to plan arriving at the station with enough time to purchase a ticket.

 That’s a fair assessment..  Like airports - there’s a cut off for things like check-in and/or ticketing .. so, I think it’s fair to ask this question.. do they arrive early enough to allow for ticketing

 

(NB If it were me, I’d post a formal cut off for same day ticketing — like “no later than :15 before scheduled departure” or the like.. just so there’s some explicit timeline that everyone can fall back to for guidance)

 

I don’t think the onboard staff erred .. now, that said, IF there were perhaps a handful of people who all claimed the exact same issue … “the staff didn’t have time to issue tickets and we were told to buy onboard” then I’d think the onboard staff should have perhaps taken a step back, paused and checked with the station staff (by phone as I’d assume they were already rolling) to see what’s what before taking action.

 

But in totality, I think the article shows the correct outcome, the station staff admitted their error/failure and the fee refunded accordingly.

 

 

[fondue zoo]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

There are inordinate queues in every walk of Thai life as the workers are unable to keep their eye on the job and wander off or chat with fellow workers.  I sat for nearly 30 minutes in a Bangkok Bank whilst the four staff handled the TWO customers in front of me.

 

Did one of them keep going back and forth between desk and photocopier for almost the entire time?. copying and stapling, copying and stapling. 

I find it funny these days.

[scorecard]

14 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Explain the corruption here please. Did you even read the article?

 

Buy tickets on a train in the UK and you pay a huge premium. It seems it wasn't these peoples' fault they couldn't buy at the office and had to pay the standard 100 additional fee to buy with the inspector on a train. This is common the world over to encourage people to book in advance for easier management of passenger numbers.

 

Also there is a MASSIVE PICTURE of the receipt for the 100 baht booking fee. So, again, did you read the article or look at the MASSIVE PICTURE?  Where is the corruption when you get a receipt?

Finally, this happened to THREE PASSENGERS and they all got a refund as it wasn't their fault the ticket office closed. This would not have happened in the UK. Again, please explain the corruption here, I am waiting for your insight.

So many posters here write hysterical ridiculous responses based on a headline and not reading anything, it winds me up (in case you couldn't tell).

Care to elaborate on the corruption please Mr Marin Bangkok?

 

"This is common the world over to encourage people to book in advance for easier management of passenger numbers." 

 

Also, there's several items of administration costs, handing in cash, checking cash against ticket sales etc etc. Someone has to pay for this, typically the end user - the passsenger / buyer.

[circa02]

It's simple, cash and ready to go ticket lane, when I used to travel on Thai trains used to be annoying as fck at the old BKK train station stuck behind a Russian debating weather they wanted lower or upper bunk, followed by two American girls that were surprised they didn't accept AMEX and one had to run cash machine, followed by another clown that had to verify exact directions to the platform 3 times..  Could easily be 10 minutes a customer for what should be 45 seconds

[PETERTHEEATER]

17 hours ago, MartinBangkok said:

The corruption in this country is nauseating..

The affected passengers were issued a printed receipt by the on-board ticket inspector clearly showing the 100 ThB as 'Fee'. This is a policy that has been in place for decades to deter pax attempting to evade ticket payment. Pax are required to buy a ticket prior to boarding and present it for inspection on demand.

 

The problem here is a the station which closed its ticket office too soon or, more likely, too many pax turning up to buy tickets when train arrival was imminent.

 

I would not label this event as corruption.

[richard_smith237]

On 10/25/2023 at 8:30 PM, MartinBangkok said:

The corruption in this country is nauseating..

 

Thats not corruption.... Its simple incompetence combined with a 'couldn't give a f...' attitude.....

 

 

[jacko45k]

23 hours ago, mikebell said:

There are inordinate queues in every walk of Thai life as the workers are unable to keep their eye on the job and wander off or chat with fellow workers.  I sat for nearly 30 minutes in a Bangkok Bank whilst the four staff handled the TWO customers in front of me.

Yes I have been irritated by the lackadaisical service in the 2nd/soi6 branch of BB on a number of occasions. Your time is of no consequence... and don't expect to get served close to lunch time! I actually got so irritated I stood and raised my voice as there were 3 or 4 waiting customers and nobody being attended to once!

 

[mikebell]

21 hours ago, fondue zoo said:

 

Did one of them keep going back and forth between desk and photocopier for almost the entire time?. copying and stapling, copying and stapling. 

I find it funny these days.

Yes exactly that + she had to get a male to teach her how to work it.  Aged 81, I am not amused at the waste of the precious time I have left.

[fondue zoo]

3 minutes ago, mikebell said:

Yes exactly that + she had to get a male to teach her how to work it.  Aged 81, I am not amused at the waste of the precious time I have left.

 

I read that hearing an old timey prospector voice.