Is there a cooling off period with contracts

[AussieSteve]

Hi guys,

I really need to know if there is a cooling off period once a contract to purchase anything here in Thailand is signed.

To cut a long story short my GF was given the high pressure sales talk and bought a beauty/health spa treatment course for 20,000 baht. I was so angry and we had such a row last night she nearly left. She realises she doesn't need it especially at that price. She says the contract states they do not give money back.

I need some advice on whether there is a law (as per Farang-land) that gives a cooling off period. Or is there a body that I can ring about this.

I did put this on the health and beauty forum but haven't yet received any helpful advice yet.

Thanks in advance for any useful help given.

[weegee]

Steve,....your money is gone !!! if you have already paid....from my experiences here. Cool off period is the time between opening your wallet and taking out the money....sadly.

[Bkungbank]

20,000 to buy her back from running away I think worth it, next time as her not to believed sweet talker , consider a lesson by the way you would be happy if your girl friend is pretty and people are looking at her. Most contract written clearly non-refundable don't pay to extension just take what ever the first have to offer, take back her pride better the take back the cash.

[NeverSure]

I'm puzzled as to why she had 20K of your money. Was she supposed to pay something else with it and now you're stuck for that?

20K sounds like a lot of walking around money for a GF to just have. ??

[Ulysses G.]

No. Not in Thailand.

[AussieSteve]

Thanks to all who resonded............. ok money gone lesson learned.

To answer the question from Neversure, she had a credit card to her account I give her a certain amount of money each month and it came out of that. Ok it's her money to do with what she wants but I was still angry about it.

[ABCer]

Thanks to all who resonded............. ok money gone lesson learned.

To answer the question from Neversure, she had a credit card to her account I give her a certain amount of money each month and it came out of that. Ok it's her money to do with what she wants but I was still angry about it.

Steevie, 20 Kbt is not enough to break up ( if she is worth it).

Teach her instead the wisdom of dealing.

- never take first offer on the spot

- never pay in full in cash

- always talk to your B/F or husband

As to your question about any contract in any country

- if paid in full it is extremely difficult to go back (buyer beware rule)

- if you make a contract you can put in a cooling off clause

- in Thailand once money is paid - even the rest of the contract is irrelevant.

Patch up with your G/F and go on with her education before she buys the missing Boeing 777 and puts a cash deposit on it. Cheers

[seajae]

mate, my wife has signed up too, but she wants to trim down a bit and they do help, she actually got me to sign up as well but it cost us 30,000 baht all up for the 2 of us and I know I need to loose some weight. They have guaranteed weight loss with our package though and we do have some comeback if we do not loose a set amount of weight, normally wouldnt look at it but at this price it isnt too steep especiaslly with the weight guarantee and so far I have dropped a couple of kg(wife too) so it is working. What gets me is the amount of "slim" people that are also doing it, if they became any skinnier they would have to run around in the shower to get wet

[Neeranam]

Thanks to all who resonded............. ok money gone lesson learned.

To answer the question from Neversure, she had a credit card to her account I give her a certain amount of money each month and it came out of that. Ok it's her money to do with what she wants but I was still angry about it.

By definition, she really isn't your girlfriend unless the money is compensation for something.

[Andre0720]

Take a 'before' and 'after' picture. so as to prove your point to her...

Money was lost....

[circusman]

No one has to go to a spa to lose weight. Just more mopping the floor, washing the car, and walking to the 7-11. How gullible can people get?

[Oreganobag]

If its a credit card... just get it charged back. Say it was fraud or the service wasn't as stated. In most instances, the consumer always gets their money back. So long as you aren't doing it for everything you put on it, it probably won't get investigated.

[jacko45k]

You asked for advice about the law and a cooling off period....

But I think advice on another issue will be forthcoming..... you may want to heed it.

[Johnnie99]

Far far far too late.

Learn the lesson and move on.

[northengr]

get used to it.They are naive and inexperienced with money and "beauty is their business" after all

[Tanlic]

I'm trying to work out who's the daftest here. Steve or the girlfriend.

If she truly is your girlfriend Steve doesn't she know your financial situation?

It seems to me 20,000 baht is an awful lot to you or you wouldn't be on here looking for help?

If she knew that and went ahead and spent your cash and put you in some kind of financial trouble why is she still there?

Being put under sales pressure doesn't crack it...

Could it be she's still young, never had a real education and really doesn't know anything about budgeting?

If that is the case then kick yourself in the ass because you got no one to blame but yourself.

[slipperylobster]

I'm puzzled as to why she had 20K of your money. Was she supposed to pay something else with it and now you're stuck for that?

20K sounds like a lot of walking around money for a GF to just have. ??

Not in Udon ... Up here the gals pack wads of cash, and live in six million baht farang houses....complete with new care, sin sot, and a farm.

Yep.

[RayHaas]

Cooling off period by law on signed contracts is 7 days. You are entitled to get your money back if there was a contract signed.

However if she did not sign any contract and purchased "good" as such for the amount of 20K but has not used all you should be entitled to your money minus what is used.

The sales are trained to say that you can NOT cancel. But by Thai law you have 7 days to cancel your contract.

Try and talk to them to cancel the agreement. If they don't listen just go and visit the consumer protection buro. Most likely there will be more complaints against that company so that will speed up the process.

You won't get your money back in full as they did provide some kind of service however you should get back at least 80%

Now if you don't want to go through all of the above thats fine too as all your GF wanted was being more beautiful for you.

[jackvale]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What will she do next??

[Nepsydaz]

The money is gone there is nothing you can do about it. However, what you can do is to make sure that she attends the course and really gets something worthy out from the course.

All the Best.

[jimmym40]

Sounds like the same deal my niece signed up for. After one or two visits, she didn't want/like it anymore. She then tried to "sell" the rest of the treatments to my wife. Wifey said no way. So, maybe have your gf "sell" the rest of the package to one of her girlfriends, at a discount of course.

[soalbundy]

For me that would be an ex girl friend now, she's taking the piss. She almost left? she's not giving up a cash cow that easily

[atyclb]

I'm puzzled as to why she had 20K of your money. Was she supposed to pay something else with it and now you're stuck for that?

20K sounds like a lot of walking around money for a GF to just have. ??

Not in Udon ... Up here the gals pack wads of cash, and live in six million baht farang houses....complete with new care, sin sot, and a farm.

Yep.

Perhaps but those women are typically "walking prizes" beauty and etiquette queens with foreign university degrees (BS if not Masters) and the "crème de la crème" of society, why else would a guy spend that much hard earned cash?

Edited March 19, 2014 by atyclb

[philcobkk]

This is so typical and boring. Stupid farang "taking care of" some isaan, probably bargirl. Get a grip and never forget easy come easy go. It's always easy to spend other people's money. I bet when you go eat she orders loads of food and eat about 10 % of it.

Get her to find a job and learn that money doesn't come so easy, not even for farangs.

But basically if this is how she behaves, it's a lost case. Get rid of her!!

[M12MKD]

20k is only £400, which is not a vast amount. Though I wouldn't walk about with that much in my pocket.

I'm sure she will learn her lesson......they all do right? (Women in general not just Thai women)

[Baerboxer]

I don't know how long you've been together Steve but this is normal Thai behavior. They want something, get it "sold" to them, so they buy it. Whether they (or you) can afford it or not is immaterial. They won't want to loose face and say "no thanks" as we would.

You gave her the mechanism to spend - so she will and won't understand why you're angry.

Also, I'm pretty sure if you look at the credit card sales slip it will have the words "non refundable" on it. Your gf certainly won't want to try and cancel it as she'll loose face if anyone finds out.

Good luck mate.

[realenglish1]

This girl is not intelligent Dump her

[penwithcris]

Seeking a chargeback from the credit card provider is a possibility but only if the health club are in some way in breach of contract.

Seems to me that any cooling off period is well past

I can only hope that joining the spa was more than a whim. If your g/f gets full use out of the facilities then that must be considered a plus

Unfortunately most of the Thai girls I have known suffer from a butterfly mind and flutter from one idea to the next, so it is likely that this health kick lost it's appeal after a couple of sessions

Always be prepared to forfeit some of your money to enjoy the physical pleasures a cute Thai girl can afford you. 20000 baht is very much at the lower end of forfeiture.

It's after the house, the gold, the car, the land and the 'dear John' letter that you should be really upset

Just as Farangs have 'ATM' carved on to their foreheads so Thai ladies should have 'Caveat Emptor', buyer beware, etched upon theirs. Do I sound cynical? You bet!

[chiang mai]

This is so typical and boring. Stupid farang "taking care of" some isaan, probably bargirl. Get a grip and never forget easy come easy go. It's always easy to spend other people's money. I bet when you go eat she orders loads of food and eat about 10 % of it.

Get her to find a job and learn that money doesn't come so easy, not even for farangs.

But basically if this is how she behaves, it's a lost case. Get rid of her!!

You make lots of assumptions about a person whom you know almost nothing about, goodness you even know which part of Thailand she comes from and her profession, how do you do that! Regardless, I suppose you've never ever in your life been pressured into buying something you don't really need, answer truthfully, aha, I thought so.

[Torrens54]

Thanks to all who resonded............. ok money gone lesson learned.

To answer the question from Neversure, she had a credit card to her account I give her a certain amount of money each month and it came out of that. Ok it's her money to do with what she wants but I was still angry about it.

You have my sympathy Steve but as many have commented, "A Good Lesson Learned" and quite honestly 20K in Baht is only about AUD$740.

Not an insignificant amout but it could have been a lot worse and if you TALK it Over....DON'T "Yell it Over", I'm sure she'll know better from now on and love you even more for your understanding.

I would however, put some sort of "agreed Limit" on the Credit Card.....just to be sure, to be sure. (Okay, a couple of days late for the Irish terminology.)