Phuket Gets Tough On Jet Ski And Motorbike Renters

[george]

Phuket gets tough on jet ski and motorbike renters

By John Le Fevre

PHUKET (thaivisa.com): -- The governor of Phuket has announced that jet ski and motorbike renters on the island are to have their photographs and fingerprints taken in an attempt to arrest the continual flow of complaints by tourists.

The decision was made last week after a meeting between Governor Wichai Praisa-nob and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Teuksuban in Bangkok.

The Governor was told that foreign diplomats had warned that the continuing complaints of over charging and exorbitant claims for repairs to rented items was having a significant impact on the islands tourism industry.

Under the new plan all renters of motorbikes and jet ski’s will have their details entered into a database to allow tourists to more easily identify anyone they have a dispute with.

Details will start being added to the database in September, a month before the Asean plus six summit on the island in October.

Governor Wichai said the actions of a few rogue operators could not be allowed to damage the islands tourism sector and said the police should also take a more active role in explaining the common sense in solving matters before they escalated to court action - a situation that could prevent tourists from leaving Thailand before the proceedings were finalized.

He also said the lack of insurance on most rented motorbikes and jet skis was also a concern, with many people who were injured while renting them having to pay large medical bills when they found their was no insurance coverage.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-08-10

[petercallen]

There is now a warning on the australian govt site for aussies living or touring in thailand not to hire jetskis in thailand because of the amount of complaints they have had

[ozymandious]

What year are jet skis supposed to be banned again? oh yes, i forgot, it's always next year.

let's get rid of the blasted things already.

[Thongkorn]

There are some jet skis near soy 8 in Pattaya , i have seen the scam many falang to the tune of 20,000baht, The poor customer goes off to the police station across the road , all they get is told to pay up , The damage that is on the jet ski could not be done on water,usualy its a crack along the water line,

[george]

PM orders investigation into Phuket jet-ski scams

Some corrupt government officials collude with jet-ski

operators to scam tourists, the governor has charged. File photo.

PHUKET: -- Australian diplomats regard the problem of jet-ski rip-offs in Phuket so seriously they have complained to the prime minister, Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop said yesterday.

As a result, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has ordered a thorough investigation into scams on the island, particularly those involving jet-skis and motorcycle taxis, Gov Wichai said.

There are about 300 jet-skis on five beaches in Phuket, some of which have fake registration documents, he said.

The typical Phuket scam runs like this: a tourist rents a jet-ski at the beach. When they return the jet-ski, the operator claims it has been damaged and charges the tourist an exorbitant amount for repairs.

Australian Ambassador to Thailand Paul Grigson recently raised the issue of Australian tourists falling foul of jet-ski scams on Phuket with the prime minister, Gov Wichai said.

Mr Grigson said that every year, a huge number of Australians come on holiday to Phuket, with most of them having a great time.

The thing that caused the most problems was jet-ski scams, he explained.

Motorcycle taxis were also cause for concern, Gov Wichai said.

Some motorcycle taxi drivers ride off without returning tourists’ change, he said.

“Tourists are falling foul of these scams and complaining to the government and their embassies. Although the number of scams is small, the damage done to the island is great,” Gov Wichai said.

The governor went further, charging corrupt government officials with colluding in the jet-ski rip-offs.

Fees demanded to fix ‘damaged’ jet-skis are typically inflated by 30 percent to pay officials to turn a blind eye to the scammers, he said.

The work of the government officials concerned would come under close scrutiny and every related agency would be contacted in the next week, he said.

There will be a meeting of all those concerned in which measures to fix the problem would be hammered out.

Such measures would include strict enforcement of the law, including limiting the number of jet-skis in each area to existing quotas.

It appeared a number of operators were exploiting a legal loophole, however, by using jet-skis in Phuket that were registered in other provinces, Gov Wichai said.

The jet-ski problem has existed for years in Phuket, where several people have died in jet-ski accidents, including minors.

Technically, it is illegal for any person to operate a jet-ski without a Thai captain's license, but no governor has ever sought to enforce this rule as a way of dealing with the problem.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009-08-19

[steelepulse]

>>Fees demanded to fix ‘damaged’ jet-skis are typically inflated by 30 percent to pay officials to turn a blind eye to the scammers, he said.

I wonder how this inflated figure is arrived upon seeing as how the skis are never fixed, and from what I've heard and read it's more like 1000% of any actual damage.  30% does sound more politically correct for the governor though than saying tourists were fleeced by 1000%.

[petercallen]

Jetskis should not be allowed on swimming beaches at any time, just ban them instead of talking about it for years, the operators should be wealthy with the amount of money they have scammed of tourists and should not receive any compensation.

[DrDave]

What happened to the total ban on all jetskis that was supposed to take place in Phuket?

I recall that there was a period of about two years in which no new jetskis could be registered on the island (only replacements for currently registered units) in preparation for banning all jetskis from Phuket's beaches. Did government officials cave in to the jetski operators at some point?

[cdnvic]

Details will start being added to the database in September, a month before the Asean plus six summit on the island in October.

Sounds like how they got rid of all the counterfeit goods in Bangkok before APEC, and they were back a week after it ended.

[britmaveric]

Just for show...

[mca]

police should also take a more active role in explaining the common sense in solving matters before they escalated to court action

"Look Sir. This is how it goes. We take you to a hotel near the airport and you cough up a lot of dough to our dodgy middleman, you get to go home without all that unseemly due legal process where we'll stitch you up like a kipper in court and the colonel gets his new Sony Bravia TV. It's just plain common sense really isn't it?"

I swear to God whenever anybody in authority in LOS makes a statement they must have hit a bong just before speaking.

[stevenl]

What happened to the total ban on all jetskis that was supposed to take place in Phuket?

I recall that there was a period of about two years in which no new jetskis could be registered on the island (only replacements for currently registered units) in preparation for banning all jetskis from Phuket's beaches. Did government officials cave in to the jetski operators at some point?

Yes, I think about 2 years ago they gave up on that idea.