Farang Pricing At Its Worst.

[uptheos]

Seems to be an epidemic of people signing up to share their fictional stories.

[paz]

Sorry, but I find this incredibly difficult to believe.

That is because it is a load of crap. I've been here a long time and no Thai is going to lose money to make some imaginary point. They may try to charge you more in the first place, but not refund money and make no sale at all to "get" a farang after something is already sold.

What the OP would gain from saying something that has not happened ?

You're the one talking crap with your assumptions on how Thais conduct business. They are not all alike as you seem to think. Wife indicated she would not buy at inflated prices, end of deal.

[GreenSnapper]

I can't really believe someone chases you for a higher price after the deal was done and you left the shop.

But I was told that the buffet price at Bayoke Sky is also double for Thais when they come with farang. No Farang, half price.

[mad mary]

I wudda paid the extra baht only if the sales assistant agreed to join me & the wife in a 3some.

[johnnybgood]

May all us foreigners [even men who let the wife buy the trousers ]

.......be forever thankful for shopping malls,Tesco / Big C / Foodland /Tops and of course 7/11.

The price stickers don't care where you're from and neither do the cashiers.

Just enjoy the schadenfeude of never having to go to the greedy, ill mannered, rip off "maw +paw" shops again.

LOS just keeps improving with lessons learned...............

[tartempion]

Were house shopping and we both did not like the place, too many negatives.

Before leaving the house the lady owner managed to speak to my lady in private and offered her 30K baht if she would convince me to buy the house...

Nice try

[Nibbles48]

Sorry, but I find this incredibly difficult to believe.

I have had store and market stall vendors trying it on with me on goods that are not priced, but never in my whole 30 years in Thailand had anything so blatant as a store owner chasing out of a shop demanding extra money for priced up items because it was bought for a farang, plus how did the staff member at the beautician’s know the OP`s wife was married to a farang if he was not there? Unless this particular staff member had psychic powers?

That is up to you if you do not believe me, If you have been here 30 years, I trust you can speak Thai. PM me your phone number and you may talk to my wife, or get your wife to talk to her. My If I were a lunatic just posting trash lies, then my wife is hardly going to be a lunatic too and back me up... up to you.

But seeing as you have been here 30 years, then I suppose every single incident that has happened to almost all farang here,, you will have had first hand experience too? ... Yes? Just because you have escaped something, then that is no testament to say it is impossible to happen to others.

The beautician did her make-up for our wedding and was at the house when I arrived on the wedding day. He/she (katoey) knew I was her husband (to be).

[Nibbles48]

Its just plain racism. I have never heard of overpricing so brazen though. Where did this happen?

I wonder when the notion that just because we are foreign we must be rich will disappear?

I am certain I am the poorest person in my building. I am also the only foreigner.

This was in the town center in Korat city. An independent cheap(ish) clothes store. I will ask the wife for the exact location so anyone can avoid it.

I know this post may sound very hard to believe, if I were simply a reader, I admit I may be thinking its a troll story myself, and I also half expected criticism. But I swear this is the up and up truth. I don't need to lie, I am neither bored enough to start a troll post, I get enough entertainment on the news section to keep me amused.

The only reason I started the thread was because I was quite stunned at the level of desperation to screw over a farang. I can not fathom out their motivation to lose a sale for the sake of losing out on a price upgrade. But I have bargained with Thais in the past and they will happily see your money 'walk away' if they don't get their farang price. I am sure most of you have had that happen. But what made this 'post worthy' was the fact that this woman took it to the next level by demanding a price increase after the sale had been confirmed and money exchanged.

That is why I posted this. If you find this unbelievable.

When I a over the UK, I tell stories of Thailand as I am sure you all do, and surely all the listeners may find half the stories unbelievable, yet Thailand never seems to keep coming up with the 'unbelievable'.

It is what it is. Take it or leave it.

[Nibbles48]

Many years ago we experienced something like the beautician scenario when a girl running a clothing stall chatted to my wife in Thai, hoping she would get me to pay double the correct price for some clothing so they could split the difference between them. Result was a lost sale and one fuming wife

A similar thing happened to us too, but not quite the same and a lot more extreme.

This happened about 3 years ago when I didn't speak Thai.

I had a pretty good business plan for a SME in Thailand, and we were quite excited about it, and we had discussed with an acquaintance (farang) who wanted to come into business with us on a 50/50 stake.

We went around to his house to discuss the details and while we were talking, my wife was chatting with his Thai wife in Thai language. Neither of us could speak Thai at the time, but I speak a bit now. But anyway, after we crossed all the Ts and dotted the Is, we left.

When we got into the car, my wife said 'guess what his wife ask me... not good person'. I asked her what. She told me that his wife had said to her, this is a good business idea, why not we dump these two farang when the business is set up and financed and take over and run the business together. Obviously trying to cash in on the fact that the majority business was going to have to be in the wives names.

Man I was fuming mad. My wife was terrified I was going to confront her over it. But after I calmed down a bit I was just left with a tortured mind on whether to tell this farang or not. My wife begged me not to, because it would look bad on her for telling me and suffering 'face loss' to the woman.

In the end I decided not to make waves, and simply backed away from the business deal.

A few months later when the farang's money ran out, his wife threw him out of the house he paid for.

You think Thai women have any scruples over money?

Edited December 18, 2013 by Nibbles48

[chrisinth]

Its just plain racism. I have never heard of overpricing so brazen though. Where did this happen?

I wonder when the notion that just because we are foreign we must be rich will disappear?

I am certain I am the poorest person in my building. I am also the only foreigner.

This was in the town center in Korat city. An independent cheap(ish) clothes store. I will ask the wife for the exact location so anyone can avoid it.

I know this post may sound very hard to believe, if I were simply a reader, I admit I may be thinking its a troll story myself, and I also half expected criticism. But I swear this is the up and up truth. I don't need to lie, I am neither bored enough to start a troll post, I get enough entertainment on the news section to keep me amused.

The only reason I started the thread was because I was quite stunned at the level of desperation to screw over a farang. I can not fathom out their motivation to lose a sale for the sake of losing out on a price upgrade. But I have bargained with Thais in the past and they will happily see your money 'walk away' if they don't get their farang price. I am sure most of you have had that happen. But what made this 'post worthy' was the fact that this woman took it to the next level by demanding a price increase after the sale had been confirmed and money exchanged.

That is why I posted this. If you find this unbelievable.

When I a over the UK, I tell stories of Thailand as I am sure you all do, and surely all the listeners may find half the stories unbelievable, yet Thailand never seems to keep coming up with the 'unbelievable'.

It is what it is. Take it or leave it.

I'm not quite sure where the problem is here. If your wife paid 450 baht for a priced item in the shop, got the receipt and left the premises, then that to me is the transaction complete, Shop receives the money for the article, customer receives the article from the shop.

It could be that it was handled all wrong from your (and your wife's) end, by not telling the cashier to get a life.

As with other posters here, I have been here for quite a long time, am married and have never come across anything like that. Not saying it didn't happen, but IMHO, could have been handled a different way.

[Nibbles48]

I've been married for 12 years and this has never happened to us.

Maybe it's time to go out shopping more.

Sent from my GT-I9070 using Tapatalk

Life must be extremely difficult for you in Thailand.

I think if some of you chose your partners better and married more attractive wives, than they wouldn`t have to visit the beauticians so often and risk being double charged for being married to farangs.

I agree to some extent, but only in an amused sense.

My wife is anything but 'easy on the eye'. In fact, she is a bit of an ugly duckling. But you will never find a more sincere and honest person, as well as fun loving and adventurous. My wife is perfect for me in every way that I find important. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I can trust my wife to the ends of the earth. She is as honest as they come. I would say she is one of the least attractive of all the local farang wives, but all the local farangs who know us, really like her.

A lot of farangs with stunning wives I have seen, a lot of them I would not trust as far as I could throw them, and some are downright mouthy bitches with an obvious superiority complex showing off all they have because they snagged a man with money, which I personally find quite ugly.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Nibbles48

[paz]

[

I'm not quite sure where the problem is here. If your wife paid 450 baht for a priced item in the shop, got the receipt and left the premises, then that to me is the transaction complete, Shop receives the money for the article, customer receives the article from the shop.

It could be that it was handled all wrong from your (and your wife's) end, by not telling the cashier to get a life.

As with other posters here, I have been here for quite a long time, am married and have never come across anything like that. Not saying it didn't happen, but IMHO, could have been handled a different way.

It has been handled perfectly. after the extra money demand, it was absolutely appropriate to cancel transaction and add few extra words. I would not have taken the item not even for free.

Who cares about trousers when there is a chance to show that not all foreigners are idiotic preys.

Edited December 18, 2013 by paz

[paz]

Man I was fuming mad. My wife was terrified I was going to confront her over it. But after I calmed down a bit I was just left with a tortured mind on whether to tell this farang or not. My wife begged me not to, because it would look bad on her for telling me and suffering 'face loss' to the woman.

In the end I decided not to make waves, and simply backed away from the business deal.

A few months later when the farang's money ran out, his wife threw him out of the house he paid for.

You think Thai women have any scruples over money?

Not to criticize but I would have told him without a doubt even if the wife got a seize over it(I have no Thai wife). Then he would not have believed, "my girl is different" etc, but who cares, a man as to do what has to do - always.

Try thinking, what is the meaning of loosing face to "a bad person"? Your wife may need a little reorganization in that area of judgment too.

[Nibbles48]

[

I'm not quite sure where the problem is here. If your wife paid 450 baht for a priced item in the shop, got the receipt and left the premises, then that to me is the transaction complete, Shop receives the money for the article, customer receives the article from the shop.

It could be that it was handled all wrong from your (and your wife's) end, by not telling the cashier to get a life.

As with other posters here, I have been here for quite a long time, am married and have never come across anything like that. Not saying it didn't happen, but IMHO, could have been handled a different way.

It has been handled perfectly. With the extra money demand, it was perfectly right to cancel transaction and add few extra words.

Who cares about trousers when there is a chance to show that not all foreigners are idiotic preys.

That was exactly my motivation for the course that I took.

As far as I am aware, this story spread across the extended family like a wildfire. I am pretty confident that they will boycott that shop from now on.

I actually get quite amused how much the family protect me from over-pricing. Last mother's day we all went to Pak Chong and stopped at this little roadside restaurant, and ate lunch (about 10 of us) I offered to pay the bill which come to about 1200B and the wife's mother scanned the bill and accused them of overcharging us because I was farang.

It happens all the time. I suppose it doesn't help by rolling up in 3 new cars, but my wife's family have a decent income as do I.

[Nibbles48]

Man I was fuming mad. My wife was terrified I was going to confront her over it. But after I calmed down a bit I was just left with a tortured mind on whether to tell this farang or not. My wife begged me not to, because it would look bad on her for telling me and suffering 'face loss' to the woman.

In the end I decided not to make waves, and simply backed away from the business deal.

A few months later when the farang's money ran out, his wife threw him out of the house he paid for.

You think Thai women have any scruples over money?

Not to criticize but I would have told him without a doubt even if the wife got a seize over it(I have no Thai wife). Then he would not have believed, "my girl is different" etc, but who cares, a man as to do what has to do - always.

Try thinking, what is the meaning of loosing face to "a bad person"? Your wife may need a little reorganization in that area of judgment too.

Yes, I agree, and that is what I wanted to do and my wife knew it. But I think she was also fearful of any reprisals had we got in the way of this woman, her family and their cash cow.

There was always the possibility that she would have denied it anyway, or even twisted it to say that my wife was the one that proposed this dastardly deed, and the guy side with his wife on the matter, that would have just left a mouthful of resentment all round.

So I decided instead to back away from the whole affair, and now the guy is back in the USA licking his wounds and in no doubt as to the loyalty of his soon to be 'ex wife'. I do chat to him now and then on facebook, and have even been tempted to bring this up, but I am opting to let sleeping dogs lie. Once he has built his life back up again and gathers together money enough for his wife to want to get back together, then I won't hesitate to tell him.

[biggles45]

A GF and I went to the market in soi buakaow, I went for coffee, she looked around. When she returned she had found a nice dress for 450 baht and wanted me to come and look. When we got to the shop and the owner saw me, she told my GF to say the price was 750 baht and they would split the extra. My GF told her where she could stick the dress.

A few weeks ago I went to a new barbers shop near my room. I was charged 100 baht, which is a bit dear for around here. I noticed a sign high up on the wall, in Thai which I don't read. The same writing was there twice, with a different amount, eg one item was 80 and underneath with the same writing 100, another was 300 and underneath 450. i asked about the pricing and was told the higher amount was farang price. i told him I would never be back and would tell all my friends, which I did.

Those with the rose glasses need to wake up, it happens daily !

[Kilgore Trout]

Sorry, but I find this incredibly difficult to believe.

That is because it is a load of crap. I've been here a long time and no Thai is going to lose money to make some imaginary point. They may try to charge you more in the first place, but not refund money and make no sale at all to "get" a farang after something is already sold.

Oh great, here comes the "it never happened to me so it can't possibley be true" brigade.

Dummy up Ulysses and beetlejuice; it has happened to you, you are both just to cought up in your own hubris to notice it.

[jackr]

Why didn't wife tell her to FO?

[paz]

So I decided instead to back away from the whole affair, and now the guy is back in the USA licking his wounds and in no doubt as to the loyalty of his soon to be 'ex wife'. I do chat to him now and then on facebook, and have even been tempted to bring this up, but I am opting to let sleeping dogs lie. Once he has built his life back up again and gathers together money enough for his wife to want to get back together, then I won't hesitate to tell him.

But if you speak now, chances are that his future money will go to a different woman, call it fairness in deception :-)

[Nibbles48]

Why didn't wife tell her to FO?

Because the wife is very shy and timid and wouldn't say boo to a goose.

She always asks me what I want to do in these sort of circumstances.

It is not her nature to be confrontational.... even with me.

[namdocmai]

In my European country there are amostt no small shops left, everything is franchised and there are only big shops. I see many small shops in Thailand but i started to dislike all of them because of the bad service they give and the fact that they are expensive. I don't care much about the expensive part but the fact that they won't price their goods or give discount if you buy much is starting to aggravate me. Also the fact that they close/open anytime that they like is a frustration to me as customer.

When i shop in Central or any other big shop i feel much better because they price their goods, have aircon, it's clean and organised and so i buy a lot of products there. Bad luck for the private shop-owners but they are ruining it for themselves.

Also the Thai are lucky that i have to keep my temper down because my wife is so polite and doesn't want to have problems with anybody but this saleslady with the trousers would not forget me for a while if she did that to me. I have to say that this case is extreme and i bet this shop will be closed within 2 years. Small thai shops never last long and this is one of the reasons i guess, the owners are too greedy and don't know how to make customers come back. If i saw rich customers visiting my shop i would please them so they would come back.

Anyway, This is Thailand. I also have a pretty long list of shops that i boycot.

[Nibbles48]

So I decided instead to back away from the whole affair, and now the guy is back in the USA licking his wounds and in no doubt as to the loyalty of his soon to be 'ex wife'. I do chat to him now and then on facebook, and have even been tempted to bring this up, but I am opting to let sleeping dogs lie. Once he has built his life back up again and gathers together money enough for his wife to want to get back together, then I won't hesitate to tell him.

But if you speak now, chances are that his future money will go to a different woman, call it fairness in deception :-)

I totally get you. But prefer to just let it lie now. If it really needs to be said later, I won't hesitate.

I don't really want him to resent me for not telling him at the time. But at the time it was really difficult for me being torn between my wife's fear of losing face an a possible backlash. Then there is also the possibility that at the time his wife lied her way out of it and the guy obviously would have sided with his wife.

At the time it was a case of 'damned if you do and damned if you don't...'

[rgs2001uk]

Many years ago we experienced something like the beautician scenario when a girl running a clothing stall chatted to my wife in Thai, hoping she would get me to pay double the correct price for some clothing so they could split the difference between them. Result was a lost sale and one fuming wife

A similar thing happened to us too, but not quite the same and a lot more extreme.

This happened about 3 years ago when I didn't speak Thai.

I had a pretty good business plan for a SME in Thailand, and we were quite excited about it, and we had discussed with an acquaintance (farang) who wanted to come into business with us on a 50/50 stake.

We went around to his house to discuss the details and while we were talking, my wife was chatting with his Thai wife in Thai language. Neither of us could speak Thai at the time, but I speak a bit now. But anyway, after we crossed all the Ts and dotted the Is, we left.

When we got into the car, my wife said 'guess what his wife ask me... not good person'. I asked her what. She told me that his wife had said to her, this is a good business idea, why not we dump these two farang when the business is set up and financed and take over and run the business together. Obviously trying to cash in on the fact that the majority business was going to have to be in the wives names.

Man I was fuming mad. My wife was terrified I was going to confront her over it. But after I calmed down a bit I was just left with a tortured mind on whether to tell this farang or not. My wife begged me not to, because it would look bad on her for telling me and suffering 'face loss' to the woman.

In the end I decided not to make waves, and simply backed away from the business deal.

A few months later when the farang's money ran out, his wife threw him out of the house he paid for.

You think Thai women have any scruples over money?

This happened about 3 years ago when I didn't speak Thai.

So I assume that you speak Thai now.

Why didnt you tell the girl, you wouldnt pay and tell her to phone the police?

If you speak Thai you will know the above is a simple sentence, for the wouldnt pay I would include yom (mai yom jai).

[kikoman]

I also find it exceedingly hard to believe!

As I have been living in Thailand for 13 years, shopped all over Thailand except for the deep south and nothing like the OPs story has ever happened to me.

Let me rephrase that, "has never happened to me where fix prices were posted" In Pattaya I would ask a vendor "how much" many times I received a high price quote, never said a word put the item back and left.

Also in 13 years never had anyone say,"Farang price is more"

I am not implying that it could not happen, but to be as wide spread as some say it is on this forum and I take issue with the OP's statment "every single incident that has happened to almost every Farang here"

Eight (8) different posters stated that has never happened to them, at least five of them are long time residents of Thailand, and aside from the very vocal anti-Thai poster that champions the OP , the majority sentiment is that it has not happened to them.

As it has also never happened to me, I would have to side with the majority opinion!

Cheers

[Kangawallafox]

Never happens to me,why is that. People are always so nice to us.

I have the pink glasses but I find hard to find a suitable case for them.

Know one is saying people don't scam,however clothing has a set price,you can ask for a discount but it does not go up past the set price.

Thanks for posting crap so I had to spell out the obvious of what I meant,next time read between the lines Einstein.

[oxo1947]

I don't know about the particular post , but double pricing is rampant at hotels in Thailand.... of course you never know unless you get your wife to book then turn up. I travel down to BKK quite a lot and my wife likes to stay around the Jatujak area because of the market & the BTS makes it simple for what I have to do---so I tend to stay in Pradipat Road --all the hotels there are extra for farrangs, sometimes 20---50% more--- I wish someone would test this sort of thing out in court---if indeed it is illegal to charge extra because of someones race in Thailand, or if it isn't then let it be more widely known. If any one doubts that this isn't the case, then just go to Agoda or any other site that has customer feed back & look at some of the comments. Below I have put just 3 different peoples comments from Trip adviser on that area. I have removed the hotel names as TV does survive on Advertising---but you can look them up yourselves. These are all about different hotels.

1/ This is the first time I have taken the time to write a review.My wife and I had the same experience .We were told 900 baht and as we got to the desk the price was raised to 1400 because I am white. Too late to change we stayed one night.

2/ the hotel 'The XXXX' wanted to charge me more because I am a foreigner (900 for Thais, 1,200 for you!). I don't agree with that kind of thing which is rife in Thailand (my wife is Thai and I've worked here for a very long time)

3/How can this be allowed to happen anywhere? Why is the XXX Hotel Bangkok behaving border line RACIST? This would never be allowed in the UK, USA, OR Australasia. And I'm sure in Europe. My Wife called to make the booking. Fine at (1000THB) for the night. Anyway a little later we arrived at the checkin desk, and to my shock the Receptionist told my Wife who is Thai, that we would have to pay (500THB) more for the room because I am (Farang, Western) Disgusting that this can be allowed to happen. one to stay clear of.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review

Edited December 18, 2013 by oxo1947

[Kilgore Trout]

I also find it exceedingly hard to believe!

As I have been living in Thailand for 13 years, shopped all over Thailand except for the deep south and nothing like the OPs story has ever happened to me.

Let me rephrase that, "has never happened to me where fix prices were posted" In Pattaya I would ask a vendor "how much" many times I received a high price quote, never said a word put the item back and left.

Also in 13 years never had anyone say,"Farang price is more"

I am not implying that it could not happen, but to be as wide spread as some say it is on this forum and I take issue with the OP's statment "every single incident that has happened to almost every Farang here"

Eight (8) different posters stated that has never happened to them, at least five of them are long time residents of Thailand, and aside from the very vocal anti-Thai poster that champions the OP , the majority sentiment is that it has not happened to them.

As it has also never happened to me, I would have to side with the majority opinion!

Cheers

Here we go again; it has happened to you; you are just too oblivious and misguided to notice.

Your last comment says it all; "I would have to side with......"

There are no sides; just a poster telling us about his experience, and I for one find it hard to believe that he would just make it up.

This is the problem, you feel that you have to "take a side." There is more to the world than "Thais" and "falang." You should get out more

[Ulysses G.]

I don't know about the particular post , but double pricing is rampant at hotels in Thailand....

Maybe, but they don't chase you down the street demanding that you pay more after you have already checked out.

[zyphodb]

Just for curiosity which town is this ?

I'm convinced that these things also happens because foreigners allow them to happen, be that because they don't realize, or misplaced generosity (of the type, "Oh, 100 Bt is nothing to me! And this person works so hard!)

Nakhon Ratchasima Town.

I have noticed every time that I've been to Korat (Nakorn Ratchasima) that the locals in town are Racist towards Farangs in lots of different ways, I don't know why, I live in Isaan & don't have this problem anywhere else, (well maybe a little bit in Khon Khen) Is it something to do with the size of the place I wonder?

Also, or though I'm sure lots live there I rarely see Farangs in the City Centre, maybe they know something that I don't?

[johninbkk]

Just for curiosity which town is this ?

I'm convinced that these things also happens because foreigners allow them to happen, be that because they don't realize, or misplaced generosity (of the type, "Oh, 100 Bt is nothing to me! And this person works so hard!)

Nakhon Ratchasima Town.

I was expecting Phuket, But Korat, holy shit they must be getting desperate...

I enjoyed reading this short story, entertaining until you got to the smoking bit, started coughing all the way down here. LoL...