Lack of quality products and professional labor in Thailand

[kannot]

But you'd want all these tradespeople at minimum price right? So you wonder why these people don't have the motivation to train up, buy better tools etc.

Comes down to what the client is prepared to pay. And in Thailand, that ain't much.

I and some others would prefer better trades people and are willing to pay more for them. I don't need to pay peanuts.. but I do pay peanuts if I am getting monkeys.

I rather pay more for quality.. now i got my old dad putting in a new bathroom upstairs.. new bathroom downstairs.. new kitchen. It was a few trips but he got it all done. Perfect work.. but I rather pay someone to do it and go fishing with dad. He did it at prices lower as a Thai.. paid for his own ticked.. paid for most of his food.. and for his labor he was allowed to sleep in my home

So you don't always get monkeys if you pay less

Gave up a long time ago looking for "tradespeople" everyone in my village calls themselves "Chang" they are pretty clueless and have no finesse whatsoever.

Do it all myself, hard work but sleep easy at night knowing its done well.

[kannot]

It takes time.

I remember getting desperate when the place I was in sold hammers but didn't have any f#$%^ng nails! However after three years now, for a price I can generally find what I am looking for, I don't buy important stuff in BigC apart from baked beans. You need to find a mom and pop store that will look after you. There are many, many 'mai mee' shops and stores around (even if the requested product is just behind them), but there are places that give you 'Mai mee -- but we can find it for you'. I do occasionally travel from Buriram to Bangkok to get stuff from Thaicarpenter, Petberry or IKEA, paying a hotel plus the price that their stuff costs of course. I ask people coming back from Europe to bring me stuff. It is probably easier to do stuff like this in the provinces than it is in Bangkok, which seems counter intuitive initially. That's the way it is, if you don't like this....

By the way Thais don't buy expensive cars primarily because of reliability but, as do many Farangs here, to impress the neighbours and the police.

(Edit) PS: push brooms are the stupidest invention ever imposed on the population of this planet and I speak both as an ex- brush salesman ('Confessions of a brush Salesman' available soon) and someone that had to clean large areas regularly. Buy a leaf blower.

I just did a Honda hhb25 four stroke not available in Thailand but fits inside my baggage just fine, along with some 2.4 metre step ladders as Thai ones just collapse, also got a Honda 4 stroke hedge cutter also not available here, all taken from the Uk to Thailand, All Hondas made in Japan so quality isnt an issue.

They aint cheap but they do last, get tired of throwing away the Thai watsadu crap petrol products.

[samran]

So here's what I don't understand. 1000's of Thais willingly pay 3 million baht ++ for a quality imported car. So they show they are willing to pay more money for better quality. They also willingly pay 4000 baht ++ per night to stay in nice hotels. But when it comes time to do shopping for household items like tools, ladders, cleaning tools or whatever, where do they go? Or do they just buy the Chinese junk at BigC and keep replacing them every month when they break?

And who do they hire to work on their homes? The local dude who has no formal training in anything or a licensed electrician / plumber etc. who is really good at his job?

I never said I wasn't willing to pay more money for better quality but it doesn't have to be a lot more. A simple store like Costco would clean up in Thailand if they could sell items for the same prices as back home. Now the choice is 150 baht for something that will break or go home with nothing.

You aren't very bright are you?

In the west we show off by having a nice house, we invite people around, entertain and show off that way.

Here, Thai people don't do that as much, so they show off with their cars and where they go on holiday. They still might own tonnes of property, like some of my neighbours, but investing in these things to make them nice isn't really some thing they need to do. Property is an investment where they don't over capitalise.

[Crazy chef 1]

i dont doubt you motives or your reasons for wanting better quality but i hope you have done your sums on the import/excise and vat tax you will have to come up with added to this vat is calculated on the complete import ie cost of shipping and carriage at this end pretty scary me thinks

there are exceptions if you are moving to Thailand with the appropriate visa you are allowed one shipment of household goods

better check that out on line for accuracy

Yes, no worries - I've imported enough things that my import agent has a "close" working relationship with the customs inspector. Its not too scary though - its just the stores that lie to you. Jet skis are zero duty, only 7% VAT. Many other items zero as well. Anyways, the agent makes up the import declarations for me and I just hand over the extra money - there really is no shame in this country when it comes to corruption and bribes.

and you support it!complaining about Thainess but as soon you can take advantage of it-it's fine...

[sirineou]

Whole place is full of useless retards

and then you have to put up with the Thais too

[sirineou]

Every time I go shopping, I just give up. Everything is from China, sold at the lowest possible price and breaks, snaps, or strips after a few times. Looked for 4 hours for a quality broom - all the threaded inserts are plastic. Surely to God someone could sell a quality, wooden / metal push broom that you can lean on. Mops, buckets, and on and on. Complete crap for the lowest price.

I understand your frustration, TIT

Thailand is a low wage country, business people import what the general population can afford.Thy could import the high price, western quality products that you would like, but they would not sell and they would loose money.

Business people are not in the market to loose money.

PS: in the Soviet Union they used to have a saying. " they pretend to pay as, and we pretend to work"

Edited October 18, 2014 by sirineou

[mrtoad]

The hilarious thing here is tgat people think they should get quality service from low wage workers just cos they are white. Idiots

[Sabaisabai1]

I never said I wasn't willing to pay more money for better quality but it doesn't have to be a lot more. A simple store like Costco would clean up in Thailand if they could sell items for the same prices as back home.

Unless Costco are able to set-up shop in Thailand for zero cost and avoid all import taxes I just don't reckon they will get close to the same prices as the USA.

True Value Hardware sell a lot of imported (from the USA) products and are very expensive (compared to the USA)..... why do you think this is ?

Isn't it ironic that True Value at home is some bargain discount chain and here it is high priced? Last time I saw a bottle of Armor All for 600 baht and just laughed...When will the Thai government learn that living in a vacuum cut off from normal society where the "Thai way" is considered normal and you try to compete with obscene tariffs is just going to cost you more money in the long term? Placing retarded taxes on superior imported goods so that inferior Thai goods can compete only goes for so long until one day you wake up and have to face reality.

[Sabaisabai1]

Every time I go shopping, I just give up. Everything is from China, sold at the lowest possible price and breaks, snaps, or strips after a few times. Looked for 4 hours for a quality broom - all the threaded inserts are plastic. Surely to God someone could sell a quality, wooden / metal push broom that you can lean on. Mops, buckets, and on and on. Complete crap for the lowest price.

I understand your frustration, TIT

Thailand is a low wage country, business people import what the general population can afford.Thy could import the high price, western quality products that you would like, but they would not sell and they would loose money.

Business people are not in the market to loose money.

PS: in the Soviet Union they used to have a saying. " they pretend to pay as, and we pretend to work"

I'm not saying every store should be high priced and stock quality goods. Even back home, most people prefer the Walmart plastic crap but there is the Costco option if you want something that lasts. And when you think about it, the total ownership costs over a lifetime for many items is actually less if you go for quality and buy something that will give you 20 years and is properly made. Many Thais understand this.....just witness the numerous Audis, Porches, BMWs and Mercedes....they want something that drives well, will last and is made right. I think if these same buyers had the same options for buying everyday things, they would choose the quality and actually save money over the long term.

[Sabaisabai1]

The hilarious thing here is tgat people think they should get quality service from low wage workers just cos they are white. Idiots

The hilarious thing is that only mong like you think like that....thank God. Most people, white, brown or yellow think they should get quality service from people that are trained, experienced and are willing to work for a wage that reflects their finished product. At least in most countries you have a choice. Here in Thailand, its hard to find even anyone for any price. If Western tradespeople were allowed to openly compete here, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and so on would clean up. Who would hire a Thai when you could get a licensed, experienced tradesperson who would show up on time, do the job perfect, use quality materials and only charge 2500 per hour? Way better option than paying 1000 per day and a week later ending up with garbage.

[sirineou]

I never said I wasn't willing to pay more money for better quality but it doesn't have to be a lot more. A simple store like Costco would clean up in Thailand if they could sell items for the same prices as back home.

Unless Costco are able to set-up shop in Thailand for zero cost and avoid all import taxes I just don't reckon they will get close to the same prices as the USA.

True Value Hardware sell a lot of imported (from the USA) products and are very expensive (compared to the USA)..... why do you think this is ?

Isn't it ironic that True Value at home is some bargain discount chain and here it is high priced? Last time I saw a bottle of Armor All for 600 baht and just laughed...When will the Thai government learn that living in a vacuum cut off from normal society where the "Thai way" is considered normal and you try to compete with obscene tariffs is just going to cost you more money in the long term? Placing retarded taxes on superior imported goods so that inferior Thai goods can compete only goes for so long until one day you wake up and have to face reality.

There is no such thing as a free lunch

revenue has to be collected for the Government to govern, there are many different models for doing so,

Would you prefer the western model of, Property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes, telephone taxes, cable tv taxes, high bridge tolls (i pay $31 in tolls to go to work every day, plus over $1000 every month in property taxes))

[Sabaisabai1]

I never said I wasn't willing to pay more money for better quality but it doesn't have to be a lot more. A simple store like Costco would clean up in Thailand if they could sell items for the same prices as back home.

Unless Costco are able to set-up shop in Thailand for zero cost and avoid all import taxes I just don't reckon they will get close to the same prices as the USA.

True Value Hardware sell a lot of imported (from the USA) products and are very expensive (compared to the USA)..... why do you think this is ?

Isn't it ironic that True Value at home is some bargain discount chain and here it is high priced? Last time I saw a bottle of Armor All for 600 baht and just laughed...When will the Thai government learn that living in a vacuum cut off from normal society where the "Thai way" is considered normal and you try to compete with obscene tariffs is just going to cost you more money in the long term? Placing retarded taxes on superior imported goods so that inferior Thai goods can compete only goes for so long until one day you wake up and have to face reality.

There is no such thing as a free lunch

revenue has to be collected for the Government to govern, there are many different models for doing so,

Would you prefer the western model of, Property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes, telephone taxes, cable tv taxes, high bridge tolls (i pay $31 in tolls to go to work every day, plus over $1000 every month in property taxes))

Ah, last time I checked, Thai income tax was 35% over 2 million baht per year. School taxes are zero here but private schools are 300,000 a year. Sales tax is 7%. Yes, property taxes on my place are zero and at home would be 500,000 per year so I'm not arguing that but when you go to the extreme and tax imports to such an extent that people can only purchase inferior goods and services, you're no better off. Why not go after all the 10s of 1000s of small shops that are not paying any tax and then reduce the tax to zero on imports and force Thai companies to openly compete on quality? If they would actually force everyone to pay their fair share that they actually owe, there would be no tax revenue shortages.

[metisdead]

Posts containing derogatory slurs toward Thais have been removed.

[GanDoonToonPet]

My wife recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Win from Big C. Ever since she bought it, it has been randomly, constantly restarting, sometimes taking 10 or more times to switch on. She has taken it to the THAI Samsung repair centre twice already but the problem still persists.

The problem in Thailand is not the build quality, it's the so called after sales service. The wife's phone is guaranteed for 1 year but they refuse to replace a unit with a patently obvious fatal flaw with a brand new one; they will only fix it = bodge job until the guarantee runs out .

[thailiketoo]

My wife recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Win from Big C. Ever since she bought it, it has been randomly, constantly restarting, sometimes taking 10 or more times to switch on. She has taken it to the THAI Samsung repair centre twice already but the problem still persists.

The problem in Thailand is not the build quality, it's the so called after sales service. The wife's phone is guaranteed for 1 year but they refuse to replace a unit with a patently obvious fatal flaw with a brand new one; they will only fix it = bodge job until the guarantee runs out .

My wife bought a Samsung Galaxy tab 6 month ago and she uses it every day with no problems.

The problem with anecdotal evidence in Thailand is it's not worth anything. If there was a real problem with Samsung they would not sell many as Thai women are very well connected with other users.

Thailand makes 40% of the hard drives in the world I think. Must not be too big a problem.

Edited October 18, 2014 by thailiketoo

[Spoonman]

My wife recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Win from Big C. Ever since she bought it, it has been randomly, constantly restarting, sometimes taking 10 or more times to switch on. She has taken it to the THAI Samsung repair centre twice already but the problem still persists.

The problem in Thailand is not the build quality, it's the so called after sales service. The wife's phone is guaranteed for 1 year but they refuse to replace a unit with a patently obvious fatal flaw with a brand new one; they will only fix it = bodge job until the guarantee runs out .

Goes to show how random customer service is. My Galaxy S4 suffered a similar problem and they gave me a new replacement. It was 8 months old at the time.

[luk AJ]

Yep same here, purchased Lenovo computer in Paragon . After 2 weeks fatal crash. Asked for new one but ooh no cannot ... Only possible within 5 days after purchase. Got it back after 2 months (they replaced touchscreen with standard one). After another month I got it finally back but of course meanwhile I bought another new one. Indeed after service is a problem but honestly I don't know if the after service is better elsewhere...

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[seajae]

as a tradesman I agree but here there are no tradesmen as there are no apprenticeships, its everyone for themselves and anyone can do whatever they like, electrical work, plumbing, building, painting, every family member does all of the above, hubbies, wives and kids. Problem is that if there were tradesmen no one would pay for them, they simply want the cheapest they can get, a few may want better quality but they still dont want to pay western tradesmen prices so in reality they get what they deserve/want. You also have to look at the costs here, if you had to pay for better quality everything would be expensive and Thailand would no longer be cheap to live in. I simply try to buy things that are not thai made, they do not last and the warranty is a joke. As for working material, its near impossible to get good quality anything, the paint is absolute rubbish they use cheap materials to keep prices low and you can tell by the finishes, even the best of them is well below western quality. I realize that a lot of us may have a bitch about it but thats because we know what we are talking about, living here though you just have to accept that this is what it is here, sure we can have a bitch session but we cant do much about it, if we want to live here we just have to accept its part of where we are

[JohnnyJazz]

Isn't it ironic that True Value at home is some bargain discount chain and here it is high priced? Last time I saw a bottle of Armor All for 600 baht and just laughed...When will the Thai government learn that living in a vacuum cut off from normal society where the "Thai way" is considered normal and you try to compete with obscene tariffs is just going to cost you more money in the long term? Placing retarded taxes on superior imported goods so that inferior Thai goods can compete only goes for so long until one day you wake up and have to face reality.

Same for Ikea, back home it's cheap stuff for young people, here it seems to be considered high end European furnitures.

Back to the OP, as someone already said go to any Central department store, you will find the same stuff as in Big C but better quality and not more expensive. Even Lotus is better than Big C.

[thailiketoo]

as a tradesman I agree but here there are no tradesmen as there are no apprenticeships, its everyone for themselves and anyone can do whatever they like, electrical work, plumbing, building, painting, every family member does all of the above, hubbies, wives and kids. Problem is that if there were tradesmen no one would pay for them, they simply want the cheapest they can get, a few may want better quality but they still dont want to pay western tradesmen prices so in reality they get what they deserve/want. You also have to look at the costs here, if you had to pay for better quality everything would be expensive and Thailand would no longer be cheap to live in. I simply try to buy things that are not thai made, they do not last and the warranty is a joke. As for working material, its near impossible to get good quality anything, the paint is absolute rubbish they use cheap materials to keep prices low and you can tell by the finishes, even the best of them is well below western quality. I realize that a lot of us may have a bitch about it but thats because we know what we are talking about, living here though you just have to accept that this is what it is here, sure we can have a bitch session but we cant do much about it, if we want to live here we just have to accept its part of where we are

Suchin Katavut, president of the Thai Welding Society, said welders in Thailand receive wages nine times higher than the minimum wage at 300 baht per day, as the job is dirty and dangerous.

There are about 1 million people working in this sector, but with 35-40% of them qualified to work abroad, this has resulted in a local shortage, said Mr Suchin.

[namdocmai]

I agree with the OP for that quality products in Thailand are very hard to find. I want to add to that that also quality brands from the USA (Calphalon, Lazyboy, and some more) are crap as well. They don't last long enough for what they cost.

Truevalue has many shops in BKK, they have all american products which are not bad but also are not German or Japanese quality. Their service is bad though and they can't speak english. They also sell Weber and many more brands.

Quality labour is much harder to find, the level of professionalim is sub zero. I had Thai installing steel bars in my house but because they didn't fit he started his grinder to grind some steel off right infront of my new plasma tv. Bet he didn't know that those sparks can burn into glass/tiles/leather. Also they don't have insurance to pay for any damage they make.

But OP, if you are willing to pay i know German quality labour for you in BKK. It is not only about quality of labour but also how thai labours behave at their customers house.

I ordered a stainless steel carport one day, i thought it would be placed in 1 day but then i found out that a team of 5 welders had to be working in my driveway for 5 days. Now it is leaking, moulding, rotting and worst of all the deadbolts that connect it into the concrete are made of iron which is rotting allready. So one day the whole roof will fly off.

Well live with it or leave it, it will take a hundred years before the thai have the same eye for quality as the western world.

[mrtoad]

The hilarious thing here is tgat people think they should get quality service from low wage workers just cos they are white. Idiots

The hilarious thing is that only mong like you think like that....thank God. Most people, white, brown or yellow think they should get quality service from people that are trained, experienced and are willing to work for a wage that reflects their finished product. At least in most countries you have a choice. Here in Thailand, its hard to find even anyone for any price. If Western tradespeople were allowed to openly compete here, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and so on would clean up. Who would hire a Thai when you could get a licensed, experienced tradesperson who would show up on time, do the job perfect, use quality materials and only charge 2500 per hour? Way better option than paying 1000 per day and a week later ending up with garbage.

Thankfully bwana is not running the joint. No problem with paying for quality, plenty of decent tradesmen around if you look. If you are a clown at home, you will likely be a bigger one here.

[thailiketoo]

I agree with the OP for that quality products in Thailand are very hard to find. I want to add to that that also quality brands from the USA (Calphalon, Lazyboy, and some more) are crap as well. They don't last long enough for what they cost.

Truevalue has many shops in BKK, they have all american products which are not bad but also are not German or Japanese quality. Their service is bad though and they can't speak english. They also sell Weber and many more brands.

Quality labour is much harder to find, the level of professionalim is sub zero. I had Thai installing steel bars in my house but because they didn't fit he started his grinder to grind some steel off right infront of my new plasma tv. Bet he didn't know that those sparks can burn into glass/tiles/leather. Also they don't have insurance to pay for any damage they make.

But OP, if you are willing to pay i know German quality labour for you in BKK. It is not only about quality of labour but also how thai labours behave at their customers house.

I ordered a stainless steel carport one day, i thought it would be placed in 1 day but then i found out that a team of 5 welders had to be working in my driveway for 5 days. Now it is leaking, moulding, rotting and worst of all the deadbolts that connect it into the concrete are made of iron which is rotting allready. So one day the whole roof will fly off.

Well live with it or leave it, it will take a hundred years before the thai have the same eye for quality as the western world.

My god somebody forgot to tell Mercedes! Yikes.....

Mercedes-Benz builds first Thai engine plant

Mercedes-Benz has approved the building of an engine plant in Thailand, the first manufacturing facility the German luxury carmaker has had in the country in its 106-year presence.

Engine production development started two weeks ago, the company said.

http://www.aseanaffairs.com/thailand_news/automotive/mercedes_benz_builds_first_thai_engine_plant

Edited October 18, 2014 by thailiketoo

[sirineou]

There is no such thing as a free lunch

revenue has to be collected for the Government to govern, there are many different models for doing so,

Would you prefer the western model of, Property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes, telephone taxes, cable tv taxes, high bridge tolls (i pay $31 in tolls to go to work every day, plus over $1000 every month in property taxes))

Ah, last time I checked, Thai income tax was 35% over 2 million baht per year. School taxes are zero here but private schools are 300,000 a year. Sales tax is 7%. Yes, property taxes on my place are zero and at home would be 500,000 per year so I'm not arguing that but when you go to the extreme and tax imports to such an extent that people can only purchase inferior goods and services, you're no better off. Why not go after all the 10s of 1000s of small shops that are not paying any tax and then reduce the tax to zero on imports and force Thai companies to openly compete on quality? If they would actually force everyone to pay their fair share that they actually owe, there would be no tax revenue shortages.

I am not arguing in support of one model or for an other, I simply dont have all the necessary information to have a coherent opinion on the subject , but I think most Thais dont make over 2 million baht per year, and given the ability of those who do to evade taxation, amount of gray market transactions and off the books work, I think that the Thai revenue model is one of necessity.

I could of course be wrong as I dont know enough about the subject .

[sustento]

I agree with the OP for that quality products in Thailand are very hard to find. I want to add to that that also quality brands from the USA (Calphalon, Lazyboy, and some more) are crap as well. They don't last long enough for what they cost.

Truevalue has many shops in BKK, they have all american products which are not bad but also are not German or Japanese quality. Their service is bad though and they can't speak english.

Why should they? They're in Thailand. The overwhelming majority of their customers are Thai. Do you expect BMW salesmen in Bangkok to speak German? Ferrari salesmen to speak Italian?

[sustento]

I agree with the OP for that quality products in Thailand are very hard to find. I want to add to that that also quality brands from the USA (Calphalon, Lazyboy, and some more) are crap as well. They don't last long enough for what they cost.

Truevalue has many shops in BKK, they have all american products which are not bad but also are not German or Japanese quality. Their service is bad though and they can't speak english. They also sell Weber and many more brands.

Quality labour is much harder to find, the level of professionalim is sub zero. I had Thai installing steel bars in my house but because they didn't fit he started his grinder to grind some steel off right infront of my new plasma tv. Bet he didn't know that those sparks can burn into glass/tiles/leather. Also they don't have insurance to pay for any damage they make.

But OP, if you are willing to pay i know German quality labour for you in BKK. It is not only about quality of labour but also how thai labours behave at their customers house.

I ordered a stainless steel carport one day, i thought it would be placed in 1 day but then i found out that a team of 5 welders had to be working in my driveway for 5 days. Now it is leaking, moulding, rotting and worst of all the deadbolts that connect it into the concrete are made of iron which is rotting allready. So one day the whole roof will fly off.

Well live with it or leave it, it will take a hundred years before the thai have the same eye for quality as the western world.

My god somebody forgot to tell Mercedes! Yikes.....

Mercedes-Benz builds first Thai engine plant

Mercedes-Benz has approved the building of an engine plant in Thailand, the first manufacturing facility the German luxury carmaker has had in the country in its 106-year presence.

Engine production development started two weeks ago, the company said.

http://www.aseanaffairs.com/thailand_news/automotive/mercedes_benz_builds_first_thai_engine_plant

Not just Mercedes either. Thailand is the 7th largest car exporter in the world.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/04/thailands-booming-car-industry

Edited October 18, 2014 by sustento

[sustento]

The hilarious thing here is tgat people think they should get quality service from low wage workers just cos they are white. Idiots

The hilarious thing is that only mong like you think like that....thank God. Most people, white, brown or yellow think they should get quality service from people that are trained, experienced and are willing to work for a wage that reflects their finished product. At least in most countries you have a choice. Here in Thailand, its hard to find even anyone for any price. If Western tradespeople were allowed to openly compete here, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and so on would clean up. Who would hire a Thai when you could get a licensed, experienced tradesperson who would show up on time, do the job perfect, use quality materials and only charge 2500 per hour? Way better option than paying 1000 per day and a week later ending up with garbage.

Thankfully bwana is not running the joint. No problem with paying for quality, plenty of decent tradesmen around if you look. If you are a clown at home, you will likely be a bigger one here.

Do you feel the Bwana Force especially strongly in this thread mrtoad?

[namdocmai]

I agree with the OP for that quality products in Thailand are very hard to find. I want to add to that that also quality brands from the USA (Calphalon, Lazyboy, and some more) are crap as well. They don't last long enough for what they cost.

Truevalue has many shops in BKK, they have all american products which are not bad but also are not German or Japanese quality. Their service is bad though and they can't speak english.

Why should they? They're in Thailand. The overwhelming majority of their customers are Thai. Do you expect BMW salesmen in Bangkok to speak German? Ferrari salesmen to speak Italian?

Well maybe because Bangkok is also a hub for many things? That Truevalue could sell a lot more if the personell spoke english. Up to them. Also all the manuals for their products are in english.

And yes i expected the sales from BMW to speak english on the BKK motor show in Impact, they immediatly offered me a testride in their topmodel as well. But a Toyotasalesman in the biggest Toyotadealer of Bangkok can't speak a word english. Been there done that.

[sustento]

I agree with the OP for that quality products in Thailand are very hard to find. I want to add to that that also quality brands from the USA (Calphalon, Lazyboy, and some more) are crap as well. They don't last long enough for what they cost.

Truevalue has many shops in BKK, they have all american products which are not bad but also are not German or Japanese quality. Their service is bad though and they can't speak english.

Why should they? They're in Thailand. The overwhelming majority of their customers are Thai. Do you expect BMW salesmen in Bangkok to speak German? Ferrari salesmen to speak Italian?

Well maybe because Bangkok is also a hub for many things? That Truevalue could sell a lot more if the personell spoke english. Up to them. Also all the manuals for their products are in english.

And yes i expected the sales from BMW to speak english on the BKK motor show in Impact, they immediatly offered me a testride in their topmodel as well. But a Toyotasalesman in the biggest Toyotadealer of Bangkok can't speak a word english. Been there done that.

Why do you expect them to speak English? Is it because you speak English? Why not Mandarin? Do you speak Mandarin? Why do you expect a Toyota salesman to speak English in Thailand? Shouldn't they be speaking Japanese?

How many languages do you speak? What languages do you speak apart from English?

Edited October 18, 2014 by sustento

[AYJAYDEE]

This is thailand

And? You don't think some Thai people want to purchase quality products that last for a little higher cost or higher competent electricians or carpenters that know how to work? Mercedes and BMWs sell pretty well here so why not quality consumer products or competent tradespeople? Its only cars people will pay the higher price for the quality?

And yes, thank you for reminding me about where I live. Were you considered "challenged" or "special needs" as a child?

theyre not buying quality, theyre buying status.