Repeatedly Ripped Off In Karon Beach - A Warning.

[billythehat]

Ah well, mix with the pond-life and don’t be too surprised if some of the scum sticks.

It’s happened to most folks (yes, even the holiest of reprobates here on this forum, including the lass’s - whose purses are normally closed tighter than a mozzie’s chuff) at least once, but if it keeps happening to ya…mmmm…..

So ya lost a few shillings and a fake friendship with a chimp…So who’s really the winner here? See what I’m getting at? Lesson learnt and moving on.

I’m not knocking ya for giving the heads-up on potential scam locations. Forewarned is forewarned and don’t say I didn’t tell ya so.

[roygsd]

Clapton Bar, in the cluster of bars across from the Mermaid Hotel/Scandanavian Restaurant in Karon, is and has been pulling a major criminal scam on customers by an owner who should be in jail, not running a business.

I am a resident of Chiang Mai and over the past nine days, I met with a friend visiting from Hawaii and dear friends, an expat couple who have been living in Karon for some ten years and are actually friends with the owner of this establishment, and we were all absolutely stunned at the scam being perpetrated against patrons of this bar.

Drinks for the customer are charged as ordered but if you buy for ladies working in the bar, not only are their drinks almost double the usual price (understood) but every drink is surreptitiously marked as two on the customer's tab. After being hit a couple of nights in a row, the three of us guys kept close count on what we ordered to figure out what was going on and verified the scam.

This was also just today verbally verified by two of the girls who work in the bar and are also friends of my expat friends.

It's the perfect setup, isn't it? The customer gets swarmed by beautiful women hustling drinks/whatever and when after drinking a bit, is presented with an astronomical bill that he cannot verify. Calling the Tourist Police would end up with the word of a drinking farang against a Thai business owner which would obviously go nowhere.

We are trying to figure out some way to get a sting operation going to at least shut this criminal activity down and if any of you have any suggestions, please feel free to PM me (please, no religious stuff or references as to my intelligence or lack thereof). In the meantime, either avoid this craphole or take a look at your tab every single time you order something or suffer the consequences.

What really bums me out is that I and my wife have known and trusted this owner for over seven years and assumed that we could trust her. Our dear friends down there have just yesterday broken all ties with her and are outraged and hurt that money takes priority over friendship, even to the point of totally screwing with them and their other close friends!

Go figure, eh?

Hi,

I would never use any bar that charges more for the girls drink, the only way these scammers MIGHT learn is be people refusing to enter their premises and for them to make it clear to newcomers why they should keep away from such places.

Not saying to will do any good given the high turnover of tourists but well worth making the effort, pleny of other bars to choose from.

Roy gsd

[LivinLOS]

I would never use any bar that charges more for the girls drink

So you dont drink in Thailand then ?

[LivinginKata]

I would never use any bar that charges more for the girls drink

So you dont drink in Thailand then ?

There are plenty of regular, bars without a posse of girls hanging about.

[2008bangkok]

Never did I mention the word wife.

Really...so it wasnt you that wrote the paragraph below was it

What really bums me out is that I and my wife have known and trusted this owner for over seven years and assumed that we could trust her. Our dear friends down there have just yesterday broken all ties with her and are outraged and hurt that money takes priority over friendship, even to the point of totally screwing with them and their other close friends!

Go figure, eh?

Yes go figure that

[Dustoff]

Never did I mention the word wife.

Really...so it wasnt you that wrote the paragraph below was it

What really bums me out is that I and my wife have known and trusted this owner for over seven years and assumed that we could trust her. Our dear friends down there have just yesterday broken all ties with her and are outraged and hurt that money takes priority over friendship, even to the point of totally screwing with them and their other close friends!

Go figure, eh?

Yes go figure that

Okay nitpick, my wife was not with me when the ripoff occured; perhaps I should have explained that more clearly.

Now you can let your imagination run wild but forgive me if I don't bother to read it since my relationships are absolutely none of your business and have nothing to do with this thread.

[lujanit]

Okay, let me correct dustoff. Corona at Clapton's Bar is 180 baht which is about the going rate at all the bars in Karon, it certainly is at Skylight2. That is the price for farang so I would guess that Corona as a lady's drink could be 280 baht. 10 drinks were consumed, 10 x 120 plus 10 maybe at 280. My maths is pretty rusty but I make that 4000 baht.

I got caught at the same bar when my friend ordered corona which he always drinks. I also thought it would be about 80 baht and questioned the bill next day. It's right there on the drinks list. No excuses for being pissed.

Having said that I, in no way agree with this business of good friends being hit lady drink prices when all they are doing is being friendly. Having a drink with friends is exactly that, no come on to one of the girls. I've been hit lady drink prices even if I buy one for the owner on many occasions and now play it really carefully. Caveat emptor methinks.

Thai's are very hedonistic, they can only think about right here, right now. They are incapable of thinking what may result from actions taken now. I don't agree with any 'sting' operation unless you have all the facts and can prove a 'scam'. The answer is really simple, go drink elsewhere.

Edited October 6, 2008 by lujanit

[Dustoff]

Okay, let me correct dustoff. Corona at Clapton's Bar is 180 baht which is about the going rate at all the bars in Karon, it certainly is at Skylight2. That is the price for farang so I would guess that Corona as a lady's drink could be 280 baht. 10 drinks were consumed, 10 x 120 plus 10 maybe at 280. My maths is pretty rusty but I make that 4000 baht.

I got caught at the same bar when my friend ordered corona which he always drinks. I also thought it would be about 80 baht and questioned the bill next day. It's right there on the drinks list. No excuses for being pissed.

Having said that I, in no way agree with this business of good friends being hit lady drink prices when all they are doing is being friendly. Having a drink with friends is exactly that, no come on to one of the girls. I've been hit lady drink prices even if I buy one for the owner on many occasions and now play it really carefully. Caveat emptor methinks.

Thai's are very hedonistic, they can only think about right here, right now. They are incapable of thinking what may result from actions taken now. I don't agree with any 'sting' operation unless you have all the facts and can prove a 'scam'. The answer is really simple, go drink elsewhere.

Perhaps if you had taken the time to read the entire, short thread you would be better informed.

The beer was San Miguel Light, not Corona, a mistake I have already acknowleged but thanks for your advice.

[lujanit]

oops i missed the bit about the san miguel lite, my bad, sorry

You have a PM too.

[Dustoff]

oops i missed the bit about the san miguel lite, my bad, sorry

You have a PM too.

Hey, no worries. I could have presented this way better but I was feeling majorly hurt that I had been taken by someone I have known and trusted for many years. I suggested setting up a "sting operation" to see if this is a common practice in this bar but simply was not there long enough to do anything other than verify that I and a couple of others were being had.

And I, after all my years of travels and experiences, should certainly know by now that trust is something to be handed out sparingly or be willing to suffer the consequences - but suffer the consequences I do because I trust too much. Kinda like Worf on Star Trek Next Generation beating himself with a 'Pain Stick'?

I still have no idea whether the owner herself is overseeing this ripoff, altho rumors abound as I have found thru several PM's, or whether the bartender was simply screwing with us in spite of the fact that she would realize no financial benefit for doing so.

What the hey, I will not return to Clapton Bar and perhaps have finally learned to 'pay as I go' to avoid being suckered. Chances are slim however that I will ever learn not to be taken in by a pretty face and a toothy smile...

[Ping]

Thai's are very hedonistic, they can only think about right here, right now. They are incapable of thinking what may result from actions taken now.

Agreed, some Thais are, just as some farang are. A bit harsh to generalise, don't you think?

[billythehat]

QUOTE: Lujanit

Thai's are very hedonistic, they can only think about right here, right now. They are incapable of thinking what may result from actions taken now. I don't agree with any 'sting' operation unless you have all the facts and can prove a 'scam'. The answer is really simple, go drink elsewhere.

Ping replied:

Agreed, some Thais are, just as some farang are. A bit harsh to generalise, don't you think?

…..mmmm..quite possibly, my dear Mr Ping, but by only selectively quoting in your reply, you negate to mention what the OP also said in his last sentence. If by experience, empirical or otherwise, an individual has an opinion that is perceived to be a generalisation, doesn’t necessarily make it so. My own ‘generalisation’ on the OP was that I don’t think he is any more bias than your kind self and furthermore it both saddens and amuses me when the comfortable-shoe-squad alight from their chairs to ‘tsk-tsk’ anybody who is judged to take a swipe at those lovely wee brown folk .

[DrDave]

QUOTE: Lujanit

Thai's are very hedonistic, they can only think about right here, right now. They are incapable of thinking what may result from actions taken now. I don't agree with any 'sting' operation unless you have all the facts and can prove a 'scam'. The answer is really simple, go drink elsewhere.

Ping replied:

Agreed, some Thais are, just as some farang are. A bit harsh to generalise, don't you think?

…..mmmm..quite possibly, my dear Mr Ping, but by only selectively quoting in your reply, you negate to mention what the OP also said in his last sentence. If by experience, empirical or otherwise, an individual has an opinion that is perceived to be a generalisation, doesn’t necessarily make it so. My own ‘generalisation’ on the OP was that I don’t think he is any more bias than your kind self and furthermore it both saddens and amuses me when the comfortable-shoe-squad alight from their chairs to ‘tsk-tsk’ anybody who is judged to take a swipe at those lovely wee brown folk .

Ping was not quoting the OP, he was quoting Lujanit. Look again at post #37, there's no disclaimer about generalization. If you would substitute the word Thai with your own nationality in that post, you wouldn't feel slighted or marginalized in any way?

[billythehat]

If you would substitute the word Thai with your own nationality in that post, you wouldn't feel slighted or marginalized in any way?

Ho hum, no Padre, I wouldn’t, and why would I? What an absurd proposition.

Shoes still a bit tight then?