Yakult Scam

[basjke]

Its not really a scam. It how these girls do business. We are just not used to it. These girls make a profit of like 0.5baht per bottle.

I was in my collegues machine shop once. This Yakult lady just came around and started putting straws in all the bottles and giving them out to everyone. After, she collected money from everyone. Once the straw is in the bottle you can't refuse so you have to pay. You have to request not to have one before she puts the straw in the bottle.

The point is if you didn't want any Yakult then you shouldn't have took it inside and should have left it on the door hanging.

Seriously though, you really though you would receive free Yakult? Its kinda like if someone put a brand new flat screen TV infront of your door. You take it in you bought it, its not free bro.

Well then try to put a flat screen at my door and come collect your money next day.Be prepared for a surprise.

[basjke]

I like Yakult. I buy it often at 7-11s or local mini marts.

This kind of predatory sales has no place in a modern society.

If someone leaves something on my door, it's a gift. Who's to say some scallywag didn't come through collecting the lot?

you buy yakult like products at 7-11.

Yakult is sold directly by these girls, not via third party convinience stores. It is the company's business model in thaland at least.

And yes, these girls work hard for their dosh. They could lie on their backs, but they chose not to.

Lesson learnt: Never take stuff which doesn't obviously belong to you.....

Everything that hangs on MY doorknob is considered to belong to me.

[MeetJohnDoe]

All you posters slaming the Yakult ladies are truly pathetic. All I have dealt with have been honest and hardworking and as has been mentioned, they are a normal distribution channel for this product in Thailand. You seem to think that they go to the nearest 7-11 and buy up a bunch of them, put them in bags and hang them on your door, and then come back and charge you some big mark-up for them. That's not how it works...they are distrubutors from the manufacturer. I don't have the specifics at my finger-tips but they charge the same or many slightly more than you would pay for a simlar product at retail. They normally right the bell when delivering and if they have to leave your order behind, they even put ice in the bag.

My guess is you posters have never meat one of these ladies. If you don't like/want Yakult, that's fine, no one forces it on you. Just don't go calling something you don't understand a scam. I mean, are you always such A-holes?

[ihunnieibee]

Okay, i understand these girls work hard for their money, good for them. But if someone hangs something on my doorknob then i would assume that it is a gift for me, especially if there isnt a bill or pricetag or anything in the bag saying that i am required to pay for it.... Then coming by a few days later to accept payment??? It isnt about the cost, it's about the principal. Just like the other day i was in siam and some lady was handing something to me some paper or something and as i was taking it (i was just taking it cuz i feel bad for all those people handing out promo papers and whatnot) , she goes "50 baht" i'm like...<deleted>..!?? don't HAND me something and then tell me 50 baht, tell me 50 baht THEN hand me something after i agree i want it and pay for it!

[Datsun240Z]

Okay, i understand these girls work hard for their money, good for them. But if someone hangs something on my doorknob then i would assume that it is a gift for me, especially if there isnt a bill or pricetag or anything in the bag saying that i am required to pay for it.... Then coming by a few days later to accept payment??? It isnt about the cost, it's about the principal. Just like the other day i was in siam and some lady was handing something to me some paper or something and as i was taking it (i was just taking it cuz i feel bad for all those people handing out promo papers and whatnot) , she goes "50 baht" i'm like...<deleted>..!?? don't HAND me something and then tell me 50 baht, tell me 50 baht THEN hand me something after i agree i want it and pay for it!

Make that 2.

[basjke]

All you posters slaming the Yakult ladies are truly pathetic. All I have dealt with have been honest and hardworking and as has been mentioned, they are a normal distribution channel for this product in Thailand. You seem to think that they go to the nearest 7-11 and buy up a bunch of them, put them in bags and hang them on your door, and then come back and charge you some big mark-up for them. That's not how it works...they are distrubutors from the manufacturer. I don't have the specifics at my finger-tips but they charge the same or many slightly more than you would pay for a simlar product at retail. They normally right the bell when delivering and if they have to leave your order behind, they even put ice in the bag.

My guess is you posters have never meat one of these ladies. If you don't like/want Yakult, that's fine, no one forces it on you. Just don't go calling something you don't understand a scam. I mean, are you always such A-holes?

I think the point of the scam is not the amount of money,it is that they deliver something that wasn't ordered.At least they could have rang the doorbell the first day they delivered which didn't happen since the OP said he was home every time. I can believe they made a mistake in the delivery address one time but not 4 days in a row.

As another poster said already what would you do if in your home country the milkman put unordered milk on your doorstep every day for 1 week and then presented you with the bill.

[abdulrahman]

It's a scam. A very small one,(68 Baht) but a scam none the less.

May I as a grumpy old farang make a suggestion?

Take the bag on your doorjamb,and as many other as you can,and put them on the security desk when they are sleeping (should not be too difficult);then enjoy.

I'm a bad boy .

[DP25]

I don't understand the 'they work hard for their money' excuse for this. The vast majority of Thai people work hard for their money, that's normal, and most don't make it by leaving unordered products on my doorstep and then presenting me with a bill for it several days later.

[surayu]

IMO this is a very bad way to do business, i buy this product every now and then but after have read your story i am not going to buy them anymore, i feel sorry for whoever is trying to make a living with it but simply i don't agree with these sort of actions, as everybody can see, many people felt they have been somehow "scammed", perhaps because it is a "scam", the best thing to do will probably be give to the security in place the lot and make sure they understand you don't want any kind of commercial harassments on your doorstep or chop-chop and find a new job. By showing "complacency" you will give the wrong message to all those business out there and one day you might end up with hundreds of items obstructing your entrance, so better to think about it first and is not about the one satang or one million, if someone try to get from you something you haven't mutually agreed that's bad and shouldn't have happened on the first place, so from now on i am simply going to boycott Yakult

[Carib]

IMO this is a very bad way to do business, i buy this product every now and then but after have read your story i am not going to buy them anymore, i feel sorry for whoever is trying to make a living with it but simply i don't agree with these sort of actions, as everybody can see, many people felt they have been somehow "scammed", perhaps because it is a "scam", the best thing to do will probably be give to the security in place the lot and make sure they understand you don't want any kind of commercial harassments on your doorstep or chop-chop and find a new job. By showing "complacency" you will give the wrong message to all those business out there and one day you might end up with hundreds of items obstructing your entrance, so better to think about it first and is not about the one satang or one million, if someone try to get from you something you haven't mutually agreed that's bad and shouldn't have happened on the first place, so from now on i am simply going to boycott Yakult

Yakult will be devastated I am sure...

[surayu]

Yakult will be devastated I am sure...

well to everyone his own, i am doing my part

Reason x edit: added possible identikit

and if this is what the delivery lady look like, then i am even willing to offer my skilled and fair help to her when Yakult will be no more, is she the right one?

Edited June 14, 2009 by surayu

[Carib]

Yakult will be devastated I am sure...

well to everyone his own, i am doing my part

OK, all fun aside, but you said that you drink yakult every now and than, it doesn't work as it is a pro biotic bacteria drink. They only stay in your intestines for a short time, so if you want the alleged plusses of this drink, it is recommended that you drink it on a regular bases. You will not be buying it anymore, but maybe this remark does some good for others .

And no, I have no interests or whatsoever in Yakult.

[Carib]

Yakult will be devastated I am sure...

well to everyone his own, i am doing my part

Reason x edit: added possible identikit

and if this is what the delivery lady look like, then i am even willing to offer my skilled and fair help to her when Yakult will be no more, is she the right one?

That is the lady who delivers yakult light. if she hangs that bag on the doorknob it will somewhat float...

Edited June 14, 2009 by Carib

[surayu]

if you want the alleged plusses of this drink, it is recommended that you drink it on a regular bases.

i didn't care much about the healthy bits, i was just drinking it because it's tasty.....

[Carib]

if you want the alleged plusses of this drink, it is recommended that you drink it on a regular bases.

i didn't care much about the healthy bits, i was just drinking it because it's tasty.....

Admit it.. you are already sorry you said you will not buy it anymore...

[unforgiven]

This is not a scam, These ladies work dammed hard for their money and make a honest living. I could see your point if they showed up demanding some crazy price like 500 baht or something but being charged a normal price for delivery is not a big deal, no need to classify this as a scam.

Most Thai families have more than two people living in the house so its normal to have a little bag of drinks dropped off. If you don't want it just tell them you don't want it, no big deal. We used to have a delivery of a whole bag full every few days and it was quite nice to have them in the fridge.

One of my best friends died a few years back and his wife has no other income other than selling these little drinks so I have first hand knowledge of how hard she works and how little she makes off it. I'm quite proud of her for being a good mom and raising up a kid in some pretty dramatic circumstance without having to bend over for her income.

If any of you guys has a chance to buy a few of these silly drinks to support a hard working and honest local you should consider a very small investment into the community. Please reserve the term "Scam" for the true "Scams" which typically involve hookers, the police, or degenerates, not industrious moms who are sending their kids to school by working for a living.

Ya the fact that the price was resonable makes it no big deal,I'd have paid her and at that priice let her kept delivering. But I'd probably not be setting a good example..........anyways my pen rai

Edited June 14, 2009 by unforgiven

[isanb]

Yakult will be devastated I am sure...

well to everyone his own, i am doing my part

Reason x edit: added possible identikit

and if this is what the delivery lady look like, then i am even willing to offer my skilled and fair help to her when Yakult will be no more, is she the right one?

That is the lady who delivers yakult light. if she hangs that bag on the doorknob it will somewhat float...

agree

But if my wife open the door when this lady is behind it will somewhat sink..... cause she will never believe that i have nothing to do with that.

[yabaaaa]

This is not a scam, These ladies work dammed hard for their money and make a honest living. I could see your point if they showed up demanding some crazy price like 500 baht or something but being charged a normal price for delivery is not a big deal, no need to classify this as a scam.

Most Thai families have more than two people living in the house so its normal to have a little bag of drinks dropped off. If you don't want it just tell them you don't want it, no big deal. We used to have a delivery of a whole bag full every few days and it was quite nice to have them in the fridge.

One of my best friends died a few years back and his wife has no other income other than selling these little drinks so I have first hand knowledge of how hard she works and how little she makes off it. I'm quite proud of her for being a good mom and raising up a kid in some pretty dramatic circumstance without having to bend over for her income.

If any of you guys has a chance to buy a few of these silly drinks to support a hard working and honest local you should consider a very small investment into the community. Please reserve the term "Scam" for the true "Scams" which typically involve hookers, the police, or degenerates, not industrious moms who are sending their kids to school by working for a living.

Ok Im gonna drop 2 tons of elephant sh*t on your drive let me know if you dont want it, seems reasonable right?

[Carib]

This is not a scam, These ladies work dammed hard for their money and make a honest living. I could see your point if they showed up demanding some crazy price like 500 baht or something but being charged a normal price for delivery is not a big deal, no need to classify this as a scam.

Most Thai families have more than two people living in the house so its normal to have a little bag of drinks dropped off. If you don't want it just tell them you don't want it, no big deal. We used to have a delivery of a whole bag full every few days and it was quite nice to have them in the fridge.

One of my best friends died a few years back and his wife has no other income other than selling these little drinks so I have first hand knowledge of how hard she works and how little she makes off it. I'm quite proud of her for being a good mom and raising up a kid in some pretty dramatic circumstance without having to bend over for her income.

If any of you guys has a chance to buy a few of these silly drinks to support a hard working and honest local you should consider a very small investment into the community. Please reserve the term "Scam" for the true "Scams" which typically involve hookers, the police, or degenerates, not industrious moms who are sending their kids to school by working for a living.

Ok Im gonna drop 2 tons of elephant sh*t on your drive let me know if you dont want it, seems reasonable right?

Mmmm, 4 bottles of yacult weighing next to nothing are delivered by two ladies, so.. 2 tonnes of elephant shit would be delivered by.....how many ladies?? Please deliver, I will even act surprised.

[LeungKen]

Was this the Yakult lady who knocked on your door demanding 68 Bt ?

[Mai Krap]

This is not a scam, These ladies work dammed hard for their money and make a honest living. I could see your point if they showed up demanding some crazy price like 500 baht or something but being charged a normal price for delivery is not a big deal, no need to classify this as a scam.

Most Thai families have more than two people living in the house so its normal to have a little bag of drinks dropped off. If you don't want it just tell them you don't want it, no big deal. We used to have a delivery of a whole bag full every few days and it was quite nice to have them in the fridge.

One of my best friends died a few years back and his wife has no other income other than selling these little drinks so I have first hand knowledge of how hard she works and how little she makes off it. I'm quite proud of her for being a good mom and raising up a kid in some pretty dramatic circumstance without having to bend over for her income.

If any of you guys has a chance to buy a few of these silly drinks to support a hard working and honest local you should consider a very small investment into the community. Please reserve the term "Scam" for the true "Scams" which typically involve hookers, the police, or degenerates, not industrious moms who are sending their kids to school by working for a living.

Ok Im gonna drop 2 tons of elephant sh*t on your drive let me know if you dont want it, seems reasonable right?

Do you need a street address or do you have a GPS in order to find the place and deliver? Oh I forgot, your just running off at the keyboard because your pissed off at little girls for overcharging you 2 baht a day on silly yogurt drinks. I guess when the real scam artist catch up with you guys and beat you out of some serious money we will not hear anything about it because you will have a heart attack and die right there on the spot still completely ignorant about how things really go in Thailand.

This entire thread shows the kind of quality expats Thailand is attracting with all the political instability and monthly fiasco's. I remember a former government official now living in exile and his grand scheme of turning Thailand into the hub of all VIP tourism, to bad he did not have the foresight to see that trying to attract decent normal thinking people would be a great improvement over the degenerates that often end up staying here long term for whatever reason.

[DP25]

I think a few people are lacking interaction with normal Thai society given that they seem to think Yakult girls leaving unordered products on your doorstep and then charging you for them are paragons of virtue.

[madjbs]

Most likely she just dropped it off at the wrong door. When she found that you took it anyway she probably just assumed that you wanted it, so kept on delivering it. Virtually every Thai person knows how the Yakult thing works, so it wouldn't have been unreasonable for her to assume you were going to pay when you kept taking the bags.

[sanook2me]

Most likely she just dropped it off at the wrong door. When she found that you took it anyway she probably just assumed that you wanted it, so kept on delivering it. Virtually every Thai person knows how the Yakult thing works, so it wouldn't have been unreasonable for her to assume you were going to pay when you kept taking the bags.

My opinion entirely.

This post is just another farang with his knickers in a twist over something he doesn't understand and has made no effort in trying to get to understand.

Scammed by a Yakult lady.. probably some of the hardest manual workers and lowest paid yet still do the job to earn their crust.

Some farangs entire existence here is marred by their perpetual fear of been scammed so they miss the whole picture.

Plain and simple its a normal sales/marketing scheme and if you don't want it you leave it on the door knob.

Yes, it may be bewildering to begin with but it is normal.

Poor Yakult lady would be embarrassed to know she has started another international diplomatic incident with a knickers in a twist farang who "mai khai jai" = must be a scam

[thirdeyedmt]

Early last week 4 small bottles of Yakult in a plastic bag were left hanging on the door of my condo. I checked the other three apartments on my level and all had the same plastic bags with Yakult inside. I considered it some sort of promotion. The Yakult was cold, so had obviously been recently placed on the door.

Over the next three to four evenings more small plastic bags with 4 Yakult inside were again left hanging on the apartment door. I was actually home on each occasion and no-one rang the bell. I figured the promotion was being overdone. I don't like Yakult, but brought it inside each time and put it in the fridge. You don't need Yakult going off overnight on your front door. And then last night, the doorbell rang and two ladies in Yakult caps and T shirts presented me with another 4 bottles and a bill for 68baht! They could not speak English and my Thai is limited, but I gave them the 68 baht, told them it was little better than a scam and not to leave any more Yakult.

Although peeved, I still admired the sheer audacity of it. Yet another Thai scam, or a misguided marketing effort on the part of Yakult? And how did they get into the building when security is very tight? The usual kickback, no doubt. This little exercise in condo blocks around town (I live in Sukumvhit) could be a nice little money earner.....

i have a fridge full myself, is that where it comes from? on my way out i have noticed it several times, i thought my wife must have ordered it......Oh there will be blood!

[surayu]

if something it's wrong it will remain wrong in whatever country i am located, just because the most of the people might eventually think something wrong is right, that doesn't make that thing right, we got already enough sheeps around, people should start using their own mind without taking something for granted, look for the truth

[madjbs]

if something it's wrong it will remain wrong in whatever country i am located, just because the most of the people might eventually think something wrong is right, that doesn't make that thing right, we got already enough sheeps around, people should start using their own mind without taking something for granted, look for the truth

So basically you are just saying that you are completely ethnocentric.

Don't you realise the exact same argument can be used against all the things you believe are "right"?

[dsprtliving]

Okay, i understand these girls work hard for their money, good for them. But if someone hangs something on my doorknob then i would assume that it is a gift for me, especially if there isnt a bill or pricetag or anything in the bag saying that i am required to pay for it.... Then coming by a few days later to accept payment??? It isnt about the cost, it's about the principal. Just like the other day i was in siam and some lady was handing something to me some paper or something and as i was taking it (i was just taking it cuz i feel bad for all those people handing out promo papers and whatnot) , she goes "50 baht" i'm like...<deleted>..!?? don't HAND me something and then tell me 50 baht, tell me 50 baht THEN hand me something after i agree i want it and pay for it!

Make that 2.

Make that 3!

[surayu]

if something it's wrong it will remain wrong in whatever country i am located, just because the most of the people might eventually think something wrong is right, that doesn't make that thing right, we got already enough sheeps around, people should start using their own mind without taking something for granted, look for the truth

So basically you are just saying that you are completely ethnocentric.

Don't you realise the exact same argument can be used against all the things you believe are "right"?

well show me where and i might even agree with you, till then it's not a good idea to leave things hanging on my door....

[sanook2me]

if something it's wrong it will remain wrong in whatever country i am located, just because the most of the people might eventually think something wrong is right, that doesn't make that thing right, we got already enough sheeps around, people should start using their own mind without taking something for granted, look for the truth

Can you explain to me what you mean.

Are you saying that because a nick om poop farang did not understand the this sales system that somehow it is wrong?

If yes, oh dear where did it all go wrong for you?