City Hall Hollers For A Marshal To Come To Grips With Pattaya Jet-Ski Problems

[IAMSOBAD]

Today I saw many scams between soi 9 and past J House toward Walking Street.

BIB helped the scum not the victims.

The police own Pattaya.

[patjem]

So the insurance covers the rider and any damage to the jet ski? Every customer will get an insurance surcharge? This I assume is then handed to the operator.

Methinks it will become very cumbersome claiming for a minor scratch what happens to the ski between when it is damaged and before the insurance guy comes to see the damage will it sit on the beach not earning money and will that be insured as well, so many questions.

You think the current damage is being properly repaired and the skis taken out o the water?? That's how the scam works so well, the damage is covered up with a bit of spray paint so that it doesn't show on a casual inspection but a couple of times round the bay it wears off and they scam the renters for the same old damage time after time.

the same level of superficial damage probably seen on some of their pick-up's that transport the jetski's to and from the beach every day, quick patch-up, and no real cause nor reason for an insurance claim.

[moe666]

Since I will never rent a jet-ski let the scamming begin, if the Thais donot care how they look worldwide, why should I.

[bunnaag]

As far as I know warnings about various scams are posted at airports.Mostly arriving passengers are tired and do not reed them.Maybe if in all the hotel lobbies warnings would be posted or receptionists would distribute information about the scams less people would rent jet skies.If they decide to rent them after having been warned then one can not help them.Forbidding to operate them will never work as the passing years have shown.If they have no customers they can not cheat.Anyway they are extremely loud.But maybe all the above has been done already with no result.

Edited August 9, 2011 by bunnaag

[tropo]

Come on, after 14 years they still aren't able to enforce a simple helmet law but they gonna control the real mafia from now on.

....or stopped cops from scamming for money on the streets ... or got Taxi Meters to use their meters ... or managed to get cars to stop at the new pedestrian crossings....

I agree with you. I have zero confidence in Pattaya law enforcement.

[BangkokHank]

If the authorities really would do something to prevent the jet ski operators from scamming tourists, they would not suddenly change to become honest jet ski operators. They would simply find another scam. Their "business" is scamming. Jet skis are merely the vehicle through which they perpetrate their scams. The solution is to lock up these criminal thugs.

[pauljones]

If the authorities really would do something to prevent the jet ski operators from scamming tourists, they would not suddenly change to become honest jet ski operators. They would simply find another scam. Their "business" is scamming. Jet skis are merely the vehicle through which they perpetrate their scams. The solution is to lock up these criminal thugs.

Exactly.

Allowing these criminals to remain on the beach is a CRIME.

Too bad the police don't see it that way.

[kerryk]

I am conflicted about this. On a couple of other threads I have gone on and on about Farangs leaving Thais alone and let them work out their problems without interference. Pattaya is definitely part of Thailand (I checked on the map) and Jet Ski scams are definitely part or Pattaya. For me to be consistent I would have to be in favor of Jet Ski scams but there is something that bothers me about that. So I think my moral dilemma is the corruption allowing the Jet Ski scam extends from the Mayors office down to the lowliest policeman. It is hard to paint them as criminals or all as upstanding Thai people. I would imagine you would have to conclude almost every person in authority in Pattaya as a criminal. That's a lot of people. So many as to quantitatively tip the scales from a unique criminal aberration to a cultural tradition. I have come to the conclusion because of the number of people involved that the Jet Ski Scam is a Thai tradition and should be protected and promoted by the Thai cultural ministry. And in that light it should become a protected job class under the administration of the labor agency to make sure foreign people are not employed as Jet Ski Scammers. It should be added to the list of protected jobs like go go dancers in Pattaya. Everyone, of course knows there are no Russian go go dancers in Pattaya.

Perhaps in the future Thais can be proud of the cultural tradition of Jet Ski Scamming and teach a course on it in school. Since the potential economic rewards are great perhaps it should be a separate degree. Jet Ski Scamming with a minor in Motorcycle Rental Scamming would seem to be a match.

Who am I to go against Thai culture. I invite the Nation or Not the Nation to do an article on the historic and cultural significance of Jet Ski Scamming and perhaps get rid of all this negative publicity.

[tropo]

The police own Pattaya.

Exactly! They are the enemy.

The onus always falls back on the government and police force to protect people. If they are not willing to do that, the game is lost.

Rampant, in your face police corruption is the hardest thing for me to deal with in Pattaya. It's the one thing which could drive me away as I get older.

Every day I see this fat smiling cop sitting in hiding on Pratumnak Road booking foreigners for turning right at an intersection that everyone else turns right at. One day he tried it on me after 3 cars including a baht bus had just turned.

I've seen cops aggressively, very rudely grabbing the keys from foreign bike riders at the Pattaya Tai/ 2nd Road intersection for being over a nearly invisible white line whereas they'll totally ignore cars stopped over this line.

Fortunately jet-ski scammers are easy to avoid, but I feel for the tourists they're preying on each and every day.

We are prey, or from their point of view, good customers.

Edited August 11, 2011 by tropo