Cheating Pharmacy

[mkawish]

I wanted so badly to agree with you.

But did you ever attend any open markets in Shienghai or Beijing recently?

Overcharging for the unawares, seems to be the norm globally, whether Thai, Chinese or otherwise.

Thats one thing, when you go into a market and its open season and hagglable..

Entirely another when you go into a modern pharmacy, inside a tesco lotus, which is supposed to be operating a barcode scanning till checkout.

No she just lied, added 50 baht to the price, and freaked out when I tried to look at the tills screen to expose the lie.

Like KB says.. 50 baht to find shes a thief and liar.. Bargain..

Also I do find the Chinese community, far less likely to operate these kind of practices, far more likely to understand repeat customers etc etc.

[LivinLOS]

Thats one thing, when you go into a market and its open season and hagglable..

Entirely another when you go into a modern pharmacy, inside a tesco lotus, which is supposed to be operating a barcode scanning till checkout.

No she just lied, added 50 baht to the price, and freaked out when I tried to look at the tills screen to expose the lie.

Like KB says.. 50 baht to find shes a thief and liar.. Bargain..

Also I do find the Chinese community, far less likely to operate these kind of practices, far more likely to understand repeat customers etc etc.

Ah yes, that feeling of comfort and security we all get once we walk into a modern mall or superstore environment, I'll be safe in here, the rules here must surely be different to the market or street, there's no way that I could possibly get ripped off in a place like this. Why?

Well the idea that everything has a barcode and is scanned pricing should ensure everyone pays the same.

I classify adding some on top and displaying the price with a calculator instead of the till, to be pretty much theft by the cashier.

But as I said 50 baht isnt breaking my day, lesson learnt, shes a liar and a thief. Chinese woman in Kathu (without any barcode system) treats me fairly.

[chiang mai]

Well the idea that everything has a barcode and is scanned pricing should ensure everyone pays the same.

I classify adding some on top and displaying the price with a calculator instead of the till, to be pretty much theft by the cashier.

But as I said 50 baht isnt breaking my day, lesson learnt, shes a liar and a thief. Chinese woman in Kathu (without any barcode system) treats me fairly.

How can we be certain that the scanning wand doesn't have two buttons, one marked "local" and one marked "other nationality", I'm pushing the thought envelope of course but probably not that far! Have to agree though that the bar code plus the calculator trick does seem to stretch the mind.

[LivinLOS]

I agree we cant be.. Its one of those things.. We need to remain ever vigilant against every kind of scam and trick.. Sometimes you have to simply pay the cost to learn the lesson.

But when I say this on the forum there seems many people who dont share that view.. When I mention that it was this kind of vigilance and being on guard my mother wasnt able to do, and got continually scammed (to some extreme levels, as like sharks around blood they could see a timid older woman) people seemed to think it was made up somehow.

[NamKangMan]

I always send the lady in to do the shopping unless it really cant be helped. Main reason, I hate shopping, but I know she won't be ripped off like me.

My attitude is the same as KarenBravo, they lose my custom for all time if they rip me off once.

Pharmacies are interesting in the way they do business. I've exhausted my prescription

anti-inflammatories (indicid) from Oz, so my lady ordered some from a place in Patong. Had to get them in, not held in stock.

They received them in bulk (1000 capsules) and wanted to know how many I wanted. Quoted 3 baht each if they had to count them out, so I bought the lot for 750 baht!

What would you do if you were single???? You would have no choice but to pay the higher price. Trouble is, once again, the collusion, based on "race." You are farang, you have to pay more. Thai businesses, in tourist areas, all have this mentality. They don't care if you live here.

[NamKangMan]

Doesn't seem like most of these "pharmacies" just buy ALL their stock from Super cheap anyways. I mean if you wanted an imported drug it would not be there. Boots has fixed prices and can order drugs.

Interesting post. I do visa runs with Airasia (a Malaysian Company) I shop at Carrefour (a French Company) etc etc. Strange how these foreign companys, operating in Thailand, are cheaper than their Thai competition. Could it be the "no rip off factor" and "no collusion factor?" Eg - marked prices and Bangkok Airways "owning" the rights to airports.

[jkzero]

i'm not single, but i dont have a thai partner.. if i'm making a big purchase, i'll do my research and ask a couple of thai friends for advice.

if i discover double pricing, i wont go back, and if i'm paying for a service rather than a product i will always check the price before.. if they take the piss, i'll walk out of there and refuse to negotiate.

[petercallen]

Thats one thing, when you go into a market and its open season and hagglable..

Entirely another when you go into a modern pharmacy, inside a tesco lotus, which is supposed to be operating a barcode scanning till checkout.

No she just lied, added 50 baht to the price, and freaked out when I tried to look at the tills screen to expose the lie.

Like KB says.. 50 baht to find shes a thief and liar.. Bargain..

Also I do find the Chinese community, far less likely to operate these kind of practices, far more likely to understand repeat customers etc etc.

Ah yes, that feeling of comfort and security we all get once we walk into a modern mall or superstore environment, I'll be safe in here, the rules here must surely be different to the market or street, there's no way that I could possibly get ripped off in a place like this. Why?

We recently bought a large fry pan from Carrefour, it was priced a lot better than similar ones.

When we went through the checkout it came up a lot more expensive.

I went with one of the staff to do a price check ( just to make sure the price tag on the display did not disappear )

They gave me the fry pan because the computer was wrong the same as they do in Australia.

[NamKangMan]

Well said MisterMan.

Plus there are more explanations for the 25 Baht price difference than dual pricing. Maybe the sales person tries to overcharge everybody and the OP's wife had a different sales person, maybe the salesperson made a mistake in the first place and realised it too late to return the 25 baht, or thought it not worth it, etc.

OR, she simply took advantage of a farang. Now, I know it's so rare here in Phuket, but, there are these islolated cases. :) :)

Interesting questions are: Was the sales person the owner? If so, just more money for her. If not, who keeps the 25 baht. The sales staff who has got away with the mark up, or are they working under instructions from the owner? Is there a seperate "journal" for this tax free farang rip off income, if the owner has sanctioned it???? If the owner is not in on it, are they aware that their sales staff are hurting their business? What was/is stopping the sales staff going for a 50 baht mark up next time? Does it end when the rip off mark up "meets what the market is willing to pay?"

Now, think of every other transaction you do. It's not just medicine in a pharmacy.

As I have said before, I don't know if the Thai's are racist, greedy, or both - in any case, the two teir price system is alive and well, and by the OP's example, would appear to be based on race. I say this because if an extremely wealthy Thai woman went into the pharmacy, she would have still paid less than a farang who is retired living on a modest pension from back home.

[NamKangMan]

i'm not single, but i dont have a thai partner.. if i'm making a big purchase, i'll do my research and ask a couple of thai friends for advice.

if i discover double pricing, i wont go back, and if i'm paying for a service rather than a product i will always check the price before.. if they take the piss, i'll walk out of there and refuse to negotiate.

Obviously, with a big purchase, most on TV would do their research. I do.

I also only support the businesses who "don't take the piss."

This is a classic case of an everyday, small purchase - and we may make many a day, - where you pay more, because you are farang. Why don't you try an experiment - you go to a shop, or market, alone, and purchase something small. An hour later, send your bf in, just like the OP, and see what he pays. You're a betting girl what odds you give me that you pay more than him, most of the time????

Now, wait for all the "if you are worried about 20 baht here and 50 baht there, you can't afford to live here and should go elsewhere" posts. Or, the "he was drunk so he deserved to get ripped off posts" etc etc. I live here, like it here, and will continue to stay. However, there is no point denying the fact that farang pay more, because they are farang. It's a fact.

As I am single, I notice it more than most on TV who free admit to "just send the missus in."

Edited September 27, 2010 by NamKangMan

[LivinLOS]

Even the food courts.. It does actually annoy me when they have a posted 30 baht price and charge 45 (and you cant stop them cos they swipe the little cards first) when you pull them.. Oh no we make pii-sead or oh no <insert one of 10 different excuses>..

Mostly I can handle small price increases, its simply part of Phuket.. But for some reason those food court ones always annoy the hel_l out of me.

[glassdude007]

I have been in Thailand long enough now to automatically have my telak barter the price for just about everything usually with me hidden out of sight and after a price is agreed too i show myself and the Thai Vendor usually give's me the Frown face when he relies he could have gotten a higher price and some falong money....

I am used to being discriminated against in Thailand but i not get mad i get EVEN...

[MAJIC]

Having like most of us been ripped off more times than I have had hot dinners.

I agee with the OP there is a point of principal here,which is not about walking away and vowing never to shop there again. They dont know this,they only see the extra they have made on the Table today,which is as far as they care to see ahead,with no thought of losing a customer tomorrow.

Also by not saying anything about the overcharge,you are indirectly setting up the next Farang customer for their share of the overcharging.

You owe it to the next customer to complain,because when you walked away the scam will be perpetuated,and is already known to be easy money.

Edited September 27, 2010 by MAJIC

[LivinLOS]

while I understand that point.. And have in the past, and depending on mood sometimes still do..

But your getting done over so much, you end up spending your entire life argueing, fighting, and feeling aggrieved.. The extra cost in money is worth the cost in psychic wellbeing to simply let the small stuff slide.. I generally throw my coins away in a tin anyway, so if its for tiny baht I really cant raise the energy to fight it any more.

[stevenl]

Having like most of us been ripped off more times than I have had hot dinners.

Who is 'us' please?

[MAJIC]

Having like most of us been ripped off more times than I have had hot dinners.

Who is 'us' please?

I was referring to Ex Pats,in general.

If you have never been ripped off? then you have had extremely good fortune.

[stevenl]

I was referring to Ex Pats,in general.

If you have never been ripped off? then you have had extremely good fortune.

Sure I have been ripped off, just like most people in life get ripped off on occasion, in all countries all over the world.

IMO it is not worse here than anywhere else, as I have stated in numerous discussions on this subject.

I just don't like it when other people simply presume everybody thinks the same as they do, and talk about 'us', 'we', when all they mean is their small group of reference.

[Wallaby]

Sure I have been ripped off, just like most people in life get ripped off on occasion, in all countries all over the world.

IMO it is not worse here than anywhere else, as I have stated in numerous discussions on this subject.

I just don't like it when other people simply presume everybody thinks the same as they do, and talk about 'us', 'we', when all they mean is their small group of reference.

I

[stevenl]

I think I have been ripped off more in Thailand than any other country I have visited. It seems to be endemic and part of their culture. I also think he is correct to use 'us' as a generic term. He isn't prsuming you think the same, but you have been ripped off the same. So welcome to the world of 'us' whether you like it or not..

Sorry, I won't be part if all the people here moaning about how bad Thailand is, how bad the people are, how they are ripping you off, etc.

And no, I have not been ripped of more than MAJIC has had hot meals (presuming he is older than a few weeks), nor can I say the Thais were to blame where I have been ripped off.

[NamKangMan]

I was referring to Ex Pats,in general.

If you have never been ripped off? then you have had extremely good fortune.

No. His missus does all the purchasing.

[LivinLOS]

IMO it is not worse here than anywhere else, as I have stated in numerous discussions on this subject.

If you think scamming, cheating, overcharging, corruption etc are no worse here than anywhere else in the world ?? Well I dread to think where you came from to here !!

[stevenl]

We have gone over all this already before.

Also in what are generally called civilized countries lots of scamming of tourists is done.

[MAJIC]

I was referring to Ex Pats,in general.

If you have never been ripped off? then you have had extremely good fortune.

Sure I have been ripped off, just like most people in life get ripped off on occasion, in all countries all over the world.

IMO it is not worse here than anywhere else, as I have stated in numerous discussions on this subject.

I just don't like it when other people simply presume everybody thinks the same as they do, and talk about 'us', 'we', when all they mean is their small group of reference.

Having previously been to 32 Countries,I would have to disagree with your statement,highlighted above! IMO it is worse here in Thailand,compared to the other countries,I have been to.

The TV members, we,us,will no doubt decide to agree or disagree.

[stevenl]

I'm sure they will, just don't see them as representative the the expat community.

[schlog]

It depends on where you live on Phuket or in Thailand and what body language you have.

Living in Patong = rip off / Living in Phang Nga = no rip off..........................................................

[MyphuketLife]

I'm sure they will, just don't see them as representative the the expat community.

you are always funny to me. You can't deny that it is very common for locals (Thai's) to over charge non Thai's 20+ baht. So why upset or defend it? Are there good Thai's (of course), but the number of Thai cons vs cons in other countries seems fairly high to me.

[stevenl]

You can't deny that it is very common for locals (Thai's) to over charge non Thai's 20+ baht.

Yes, I can, simply not true.

Thais that overcharge do exist, of course they do, but i don't think it is common, and I think that where they overcharge they do or try to do the same with their countrymen.

[pmgthailand]

Hardly news.. happens all the time..

Theres even a place we go in lots, should recognize us, go in without the missus, 2 packets of borocca (200 baht a pack every time in this shop) and she rings it up and asks for 450, erm how much ?? 225.. try to look at the screen she rang it up on and she quickly angles it away and types 450 on a calculator as tho that makes it official..

Who can be bothered to argue.. Have the 50 baht.. Lose a customer..

Yes, you're right, it happens far too often. Except that I CAN be bothered to argue. Much rather my child gets a piggy bank bonus of a few baht, than those thieving idiots laughing at me behind my back, or even directly to my face using their own lingo.

So are you going to tell us which pharmacy? Many of the ones in the south are owned by the same family.

Are you really this sensitive that you personalize this and get so angry because they are laughing behind your back and speaking in "their own lingo"?

Are you really this argumentative And so what if they charge us more? Have your wife buy stuff. When it happens I don't get mad, i just don't patronize them any longer. I find ones that give me the same price. End of story. I hope this is not the only way your kid gets money. Perhaps you should stick 10 baht in the kids piggy bank everytime you dont get so worked up as this is what will really bring you misery.

And I hope you do not teach your kid to be as argumentative and as you.

It happens here. So what? shop elsewhere.

I totally disagree with you mate! This is stealing and is unacceptable to me. Me and my friends who have lived here for a while, refuse to buy anything now that does not have a price on it. We are not cash cows and are not all rich!!!